Liberty University to consider concealed weapons on campus
File Photo by Jill Nance/The News & Advance
Two Liberty University students sit on the steps of DeMoss Hall last month. LU officials say they will consider whether concealed weapons permit holders will be allowed to carry guns on campus.
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By Christa Desrets
Published: October 9, 2008
Liberty University will consider whether to allow concealed weapon permit holders to carry guns on campus at its next board of trustees meeting, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said Thursday.
If it adopted the policy change, Liberty would become one nearly a dozen colleges nationally to allow concealed weapons on campus, according to Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.
Falwell said he decided to bring the matter before the board for discussion after members of Liberty’s chapter of SCCC requested it.
“We just have a group on campus that’s been promoting that idea, and I really don’t have a good feel for whether our community would support it or not,” Falwell said. “So I just decided to take it to the board.”
Currently the university does not allow those with concealed weapons permits to carry a gun on campus, he said.
The board of trustees has 38 members, including Falwell and his brother Jonathan. The next meeting is in early March.
The body may not make a decision on the issue, Falwell said, but will at least consider it.
“I want to make sure that we look at it long and hard before we make a decision,” he said.
“Between now and the board meeting, we’ll have RAs (resident advisers) talking to students and see what they think about it.”
Falwell also has not formed an opinion on the issue, he said.
Liberty senior Ben Neiman, leader of Liberty’s chapter of SCCC, said the group has more than 300 members, mostly students, staff and faculty.
Nationally, the organization has more than 30,000 members at hundreds of schools.
“These are people who already have their concealed carry permits, and you mingle with them in movie theaters and shopping malls around town anyways,” Neiman said. “We’re just all about our own safety. We realize that campuses are generally safe, but in the off chance that we are threatened, we want to be able to defend ourselves.”
Utah is the only state that does not allow any of its nine public universities to restrict people from carrying concealed weapons on campus.
According to the SCCC, Colorado State University and Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Va., are the only other schools that allow concealed carry on campus.
In Virginia, where one must be at least 21 years old to apply for a concealed handgun permit, each college can decide whether to allow guns on campus.
Leading up to the meeting in March, Falwell said board members have much to consider, such as how difficult the process is to get a permit to carry.
He also hopes to ask students and faculty for their opinions, and learn more about the arguments from both sides of the issue.
“I understand all the concern about security, and that’s why I’m even going to mention it to the board,” Falwell said.
“If the board thinks that would enhance security, then it might be something they would be in favor of.”
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( redstone ) on October 13, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I think it interesting that people argue against personal protection? Folk who are bent on harming others are going to respect no policy or posted sign. I believe that CC citizens have more than proven that they are capable and competent.
Some will vent and rant about why we shouldnt, or even why we dont need to carry. And I would agree IF a Police Officer was stationed nearby. But they arent, and if something terrible starts to happen I doubt the wrong doer will wait patiently for help to arrive.
I vote we be allowed to defend ourselves just like any other citizen in Virginia. Kudo’s to the Chancelor for having the kahones to even bring this to the board.
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Posted by ( asforme ) on October 13, 2008 at 11:59 am
Estimated guns in the United States: 275 million (roughly).
Estimated swimming pools in the United States: 2.5 million (roughly - according to Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 2004)
Unintentional firearm deaths ages 0-14 (according to the CDC) from 2000 to 2005: 412.
Unintentional drowning deaths from 2000 to 2005 ages 0-14: 4,993.
If you want to protect people from accidental death, ban pools.
There are 2.5 million defensive uses of firearms in America each year. The event of a mass shooting is very rare, it is the everyday violent crime that is a more relevant focus. Defending against rape, assault and violent theft are extremely important.
With only 10,500 students LU had 4 forcible sex offences last year. BYU with it’s 30,000 students, and with the protected right to carry concealed handguns, had ZERO! Guns save lives even when they’re not used because the knowledge that potential victims are armed is a huge deterrent.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on October 13, 2008 at 11:44 am
[...“The shooter at the New Life Church in Colorado specifically went there to kill Christians.“...]
The shooter WAS a Christian!
Give us stats: How many people are shot and or killed accidentally by handguns in America? How many crazy shooters are stopped by “CC” Dirty Harry wanna-be Rambos?
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Posted by ( TJackson57 ) on October 13, 2008 at 10:57 am
Without exception, each time a State or Locality talks about easing restrictions on carrying concealed weapons we hear the same old “There will be blood in the streets.“ “People will be shooting each other over parking spaces.“ “It will be the wild-west.“ “Young people aren’t responsible enough to carry.“ “There will be accidental shootings!“
In every instance, they have been wrong. Today, 40 States are “Right-to-carry.“ Two States Alaska and Vermont allow carry WITHOUT a permit.
The hysterical responses by those who usually know nothing about guns have been proven wrong in EVERY circumstance.
But we DO have examples of CCW permit holders stopping mass shootings. Some of these have even happened here in Virginia.
The fact of the matter is that there are some crazy people out there who hate Christians. The shooter at the New Life Church in Colorado specifically went there to kill Christians.
Had it not been for Jeanne Assam, a CCW holder armed with her personal weapon, he could have killed dozens. (He had more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, an AR-15 rifle and 2 handguns.)
As a Law Enforcement Officer, I must point out that CCW SAVES LIVES!
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Posted by ( TJackson57 ) on October 13, 2008 at 10:45 am
As a full time law enforcement officer, I am strongly in favor of colleges allowing CCW permit holders to carry on campus. In order for a person to obtain a Virgina CCW permit, they must undergo a criminal background investigation, have their mental health records checked, pass a CCW training course, and be fingerprinted.
The fact of the matter is that law enforcement cannot be everywhere at once. CCW holders can save lives. In the Colorado Church Shooting, a CCW permit holder saved dozens of individuals from being killed.
People seem to forget that if a criminal decides to kill a bunch of people in a mass shooting, they are not going to care about any CCW policy that a school has in place. The only ones who abide by the policy are the law-abiding individuals who will become the defenseless victims of the crazy shooter.
In law enforcement rapid deployment training, officers are taught that every second equals a life, every shot that is fired can mean another dead student. Even with on campus police, a shooter can fire dozens of rounds before anyone can call for help, much less get a police response on scene.
If a CCW permit holder is on the scene, they may well be able to end the shooting immediately. In 2002, At the Appalachian School of Law, a shooter was finally stopped after a CCW permit holder retrieved his weapon from his car. In the time that it took for the CCW holder to get his weapon, 3 people were already dead. Had the CCW permit holder been allowed to carry, the shooting could have been stopped much earlier.
CCW permit holders are ordinary Americans who have decided to take responsibility for their own defense. They are among the most law abiding groups of people in the nation.
Liberty should allow CCW permit holders to carry on campus. After all, we are living in an increasingly crazy society. What if some criminal psycho decides that taking out some “evil evangelicals” might further their cause? If CCW holders were permitted to carry on campus, those individuals might think twice about doing so.
Criminals seek out easy targets. They do not want to face potentially armed targets. As such, CCW provides a strong deterrent factor even if a permit holder never has to use a weapon.
People need to remember that CCW permit holders work with you, eat with you, interact with you each and every day in the general community. Most of the time you won’t even know that they are armed.
Allowing CCW on campus makes sense, and I hope Liberty allows it.
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Posted by ( jero1987 ) on October 13, 2008 at 9:16 am
“If my neighbor believed half of the nonsense they teach at Liberty I wouldn’t really feel comfortable around him if he had a really sharp point on his pencil…. let alone a loaded gun. “
Well guess what the best part about living in America is Cosmo? I could care less how comfortable you feel. This is America and I have the rights to carry no matter what my religion is. If my neighbor is Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Morman, (insert any religion here), or Atheist, he/she can defense themselves and their family. So your opinions on Liberty and or what makes you uncomfortable is meaningless. Thanks for the insight on your personal life, but keep it out of the debate.
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Posted by ( kristyne87 ) on October 13, 2008 at 8:36 am
Thank you Cosmo for so eloquently dismissing everything that I cited as fact for your hatred biased bitterness…it was really a wave of fresh air in this blog. :0) But hey…at least you’re honest about wanting to bash LU.
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Posted by ( asforme ) on October 13, 2008 at 7:24 am
Cool, the elitist Cosmo doesn’t think the second Amendment applies to Christians. My turn, I don’t think the 1st Amendment applies to Cosmo.
You obviously don’t have a horse in this race since you hate LU and probably don’t set foot there. The issue in the article is not whether LU students can carry guns, they already do that, it’s whether or not they can carry ON CAMPUS. For many of us it’s a daily routine to go home after class, put on our sidearm then go about our business the rest of the day. If you happen to run into a crazy Christian with a Concealed Carry permit, chances are they’re already carrying. This rule and the subject of the article have absolutely no application to you at all. So why do you care so much?
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on October 13, 2008 at 4:24 am
In answer to (kristyne87)... it’s clearly a chance to bash the school. There is no getting away from that. The students running around with guns on campus “debate” is long over. It didn’t happen anyplace except Utah (where Mormons are busy marrying your dead relatives to their dead relatives, on paper, so everybody gets into heaven), a back woods Virginia C.C. and Colorado State. [Would that be “Mega-Church U.“?]
What we are left with is the same old “We are from another planet” Liberty nonsense.
I don’t have a problem with guns. I don’t really have a problem with people carrying guns. Again, the real problem is Liberty. You have to remember something here. These are the people who first detected the plot by “Tinky-Winky” to teach children to be gay. These are the folks that informed us that God permitted 9/11 because we here in America tolerate gays, abortions and uppity women. These people hear voices! These folks, like that Texas woman who drowned her kids in the bath tub, ACT on these voices they hear! These people even believe animals, snakes for instance, can talk to them. These characters think geology and anthropology are Satanic plots. (I will stop now, but I could go on for days and fill pages with the “out-to-lunch” lunacy that passes for truth at Liberty)
What does this have to do with these people carrying guns? EVERYTHING!
If my neighbor believed half of the nonsense they teach at Liberty I wouldn’t really feel comfortable around him if he had a really sharp point on his pencil…. let alone a loaded gun.
So now you ask yourself a question. If the little girls at Sweet Briar are not afraid…. why are the future Patriarchs and Soldiers for Christ?
And (jero)... just what is, “That is why the majority of America hates Christians.“ supposed to mean? Other than the paranoid musings of a “gun-nut”.
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Posted by ( kristyne87 ) on October 12, 2008 at 3:03 pm
So quick question, is this a forum to discuss the article and whether, as inhabitants of Lynchburg, we either support or disapprove of this Private University to permit the STAFF and FACULTY, or is this forum chance to bash a school that already has a lot of negative reputation in the area?
If it is the latter that would explain your (Cosmo) weak arguments filled with ad hominem personal attacks, rather than actually debating the issue at hand, which is that of ‘gun carry’ at this specific school. However, I think that it would be more intellectually stimulating to debate with articulate people their views on positives and negatives of concealed gun carry on universities.
According to the article Liberty University would become one of twelve schools nationally to permit (and mostly referring to teachers and staff whom already have to submit themselves to several back ground checks for employment) concealed carry on campus. Some of these people are asserting that LU’s gun carry endeavor is based on their ‘twisted sense of religion’ would be null in void.
According to the article again, “Utah is the only state that does not allow any of its nine public universities to restrict people from carrying concealed weapons on campus.” If we want to argue that it is ‘religious people who carry guns” there is a slight case for this. According to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey 2008, Utah is known for being the most religiously homogenous state in the Union with about 58 percent of its adults claiming membership to the Mormon Church. Contrastingly, Mormonism is generally acknowledged to be a cult in most Christian thought.
Let’s analyze the two schools mentioned within this article: Colorado State University and Blue Ridge Community College. Colorado State University is a school with about 25,000 students. Browsing their school web page I find nothing specifically ‘religious’ in nature. However I do find some interesting links. One such is “Campus Security” where the inform students of specific safety measures in place on campus. They say “CSUPD officers are trained for attacks such as the ones at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University and have procedures in place for that type of situation.” I think that it is safe to infer that a movement for concealed carry is related to their care to protect their 25,000 enrolled students, and realizing the inability for a law enforcement to effectively protect such a large student size. The Tech massacre was only a few hours away from Lynchburg, and universities across the nation are realizing the need to ‘step up’ their security measures. During that incident there were many teachers who self sacrificially blocked the doors with their bodies, in the attempt to save the lives of their students. If they were permitted to conceal carry those teachers would have been able to protect their students with a less chance of losing their own lives.
Blue Ridge Community College, located in the mountains of Virginia does not boast a ‘religious affiliation’; however, perhaps it is safe to assume one, due to its location in the Bible Belt of Virginia. The administrative decision to allow concealed carry on campus is probably due to the fact that that is a much smaller campus, and that is a cheaper and more effective method to protect their students, as opposed to paying a law enforcement body to protect their students.
Now that we’ve researched some specific information in the arguments, can we discuss facts, instead of biases and personal attacks, and affiliations?
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