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Liberty University Allows Concealed Carry in Residence Halls
Liberty University — the Lynchburg, Virginia school where Ted Cruz launched his campaign for president — announced that they are repealing a rule that prohibits firearms in residence halls. This isn’t a ground breaking change, as Liberty has previously allowed concealed carry on campus:
Liberty has allowed students, faculty and staff — who have the proper state permits — to carry concealed guns on campus since 2011, Falwell said, a measure taken in response to the 2007 massacre at nearby Virginia Tech. He obtained a permit himself in 2013. Under Virginia law, residents may obtain a concealed-carry permit if they are 21 or older. About 950 people at Liberty now have concealed-carry permits, Falwell said. He said hundreds more in recent days have signed up for a training course to get a permit.
University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. has long been an advocate of the Second Amendment and holds — and uses — a concealed carry permit himself. He’s one of the more forward-thinking university administrators on this subject, ensuring that those in his charge have the resources to defend themselves.
Campus carry has been an issue elsewhere, too. I live in Texas, where it’s been debated for the past several legislative sessions, and finally passed (with restrictions) during this most recent session. For Liberty, though, allowing firearms in residence halls is not a giant leap, as it already encourages concealed carry on campus, but but stand by for warnings of its residence halls becoming killing fields according to Bloomberg and company.
But how many eligible students living in dormitories will have the time or inclination to jump through the necessary hoops to obtain the license? Very few, I’d guess. How many college juniors live in the dormitories, anyway? How many of them have the free time to demonstrate firearms proficiency to the state’s satisfaction? Of those, how many with $50 of disposable income are looking to hand it over to a county court to obtain a permit, not to mention the $500 – $750 to purchase a handgun and holster?
My hat’s off to Falwell and the board of Liberty University for not bowing to political correctness and ensuring law-abiding students who take their security seriously are allowed to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
In other news, the concealed carry course I’m scheduled to teach on Saturday has sold out and we are working to accept two additional students.
Published in Education, Guns
This is from the Washington Post
Thanks, but the quotes are coming out wrong (looks like *I* said that), and I’d like fire-breathing Herb to provide the source.
Thanks for posting this Brent. This is a local story for me, as well as Whiskey Sam, as he indicated. LU has become less restrictive with regards to its formal firearm carry policy since it was established to formally provide a means for carrying within the school rules in 2011. The story itself indicates that 950 people already have carry permits at Liberty. What the story does not explain is that these are Liberty University carry permits (unless the rules have changed), not exclusively the Virginia Concealed Handgun Permit, for which the number is likely much, much higher.
When the policy was originally instituted the school required that students, faculty, and staff interested in carrying their firearm within the rules apply for the school’s permit, which not only took into consideration the fact that the applicant had a valid concealed handgun permit, but also required a school sponsored firearms course and also addressed whether the student was in good standing with the school and was not subject to certain academic or administrative discipline.
Friends of mine were responsible, in part, for pursuing the initial change at Liberty University to encourage the school to allow for some form of firearms carry permission. Each regularly carried a firearm for defense in their daily life and believed that they and others could do so responsibly even when attending classes or going to their offices on campus. It was as a result of those dedicated to ensuring that students and staff had a means to protect themselves from criminals and potentially terrorists that this topic was pursued with LU’s operators with success.
Prior to Liberty University changing their firearms carry policy, at least one of the Commonwealth’s community college also allowed firearms carry for students. The fact that the school did not deny students their civil rights simply to attend school was not a problem for the school or the students However, that changed about 3 years ago when the state agency that operates the Commonwealth’s community colleges issued a regulation barring the carrying of firearms in community college buildings by anyone other than law enforcement.
Of course those in the Commonwealth’s agency have no desire to answer the question why it is that students attending an expensive private university are more worthy of a recognition of their right to self defense than are the poor who might attend a community college.
Why? Lots of people including me have kept a concealed weapon in my car over decades of time and circumstance without incident.
I think it’s important to note that people who live where guns are illegal have cultural revulsion & seldom fathom how prevalent they are in states where guns are legal. The whole point is to have easy access to a weapon for self defense during the normal course of a day. If it’s locked away in a hidden chamber deep in the bowels of your home, you’ll never have it when you need it.
Also, I’m sure Liberty would do a better job of vetting those on campus who were allowed/sanctioned to carry than our government vets terrorists. No question but that we have a healthy population of sharpshooters who were Master Scouts and all around really good kids who can and should be trusted with this responsibility.
If I were a betting woman I’d bet money that Liberty Univ. is much safer now than it was before this announcement.
To add on to Jmelvin’s comment and to clarify an answer for skipsul, In 2011, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that public institutions can create regulations that are tailored to restrict weapons, including by concealed carry permit holders, only in those places where people congregate and are most vulnerable, but must still allow gun possession on the open grounds of campus. The Board of Visitors at each public college and university has the authority to regulate or ban concealed weapons on campus, excluding public places. Private schools have the authority to regulate or ban concealed weapons throughout the entire campus. My understanding is that this also applies to open carry which is allowed in VA.
The DiGiacinto v Rectors of George Mason University case decided in 2011 did address part of that, but some of it also comes from the Attorney General Cuccinelli opinion. Of course DiGiacinto was foolish in his challenges and the gentleman was absolutely resolute on ignorning the advice that he was asking the wrong question altogether. Instead of a good case related to the limitations of the grant of authority given to bureaucratic agencies and their authority for making weapon prohibitions, we ended up with a judgement related to whether the General Assembly may actually partially delegate its authority to agencies to promulgate certain regulations when done under their observation (as already provided by the Virginia constituation) and a conclusion that somehow a university with open doors, no metal detectors, and no guards controlling who comes and goes is a “sensitive place” with regard to the Heller v. DC SCOTUS decision.
It’s useless background to many regarding the topic here, I suppose, but figured I’d mention it.
I knew it. And they will assign them to zones, I’m sure, and have follow up. Maybe our State Department could come down and learn how to do a proper interview?
All of this will prove moot because just *knowing* there are armed students on campus will deter any of the crazies who always seek out venues where no one can defend themselves.
I wonder sometimes if maybe we oversell on this point, but even so I stand steadfast behind deterrence rather than responsiveness as the proper starting point of the discussion.
It didn’t deter the Garland attack and it was LEO’s that stopped the terrorists.
I don’t think this idea applies as much to Muslim extremists as to other fanatics or disturbed persons doing mass homicides.
Truth, but when deterrence does fail, then response is immediate.
The real concern here is that Falwell has spoken without thinking and drawn a large bullseye on the school’s (possibly even the city’s) back. It’s one thing to encourage your students to provide for their own safety; it is another to invite danger to take its best shot at you. That, though, is not out of character for Falwell which is why he’s a somewhat contentious figure even among other Christians in Lynchburg.
Is this a one day course (or even two)? If so, I’d love to know when the next one is, I’d happily fly down to take it.
CuriosKevmo. CHL is a 1-day certification. Please come for our full weekend Defensive Handgun 1 & 2. You will shoot 6-800 rounds. I will post the schedule later.
Sweeeet!!!
Defensive Handgun 1 & 2 Course Descriptions
Next full weekend is end of February.
Liberty doesn’t need a lot of students to carry. A bad person would not know who and how many are packing and move on to a softer target.