In 2006 VA colleges defeated student/faculty armed carry...

In 2006 VA colleges defeated student/faculty armed carry...
Date: Apr 17, 2007 6:21 PM
No gun control policy, program or law is going to save you from violent,
armed criminals. Gun Safe Zones = Disarmed Victim Environment
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http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/default.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=16184


News from Virginia underscores need for carrying of firearms by law-abiding people, states gun law expert


Arlington, VA 22202


April 17 2007


News from Virginia underscores need for carrying of firearms by law-abiding people


By John M. Snyder


The tragic news from Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia demonstrates the need for the carrying of guns on campus by qualified law-abiding students and faculty.


Such an armed individual could have prevented or interrupted the mass murder perpetrated Monday morning by an obviously deranged gunman who caused the deaths of at least 32 people, including himself. We all know that the police can’t be everywhere at once.


The tragedy is compounded by the fact that Virginia authorities could have enabled such carrying, but blew their opportunity.


The Commonwealth of Virginia has a system under which qualified law-abiding citizens can and do obtain permits to carry concealed firearms. However, colleges and universities are able to prevent such carrying, and that’s what Virginia Tech does. It does not permit students and employees, even if they have state-issued permits to carry concealed firearms, to actually carry them. Virginia Tech and most other universities in Virginia require students and employees, other than police, to check their guns with police or campus security upon entering campus. Students who violate this regulation can be expelled from school and teachers and other employees can lose their jobs.


In 2006 and again this year, Virginia legislators, with the support of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, introduced legislation to change the Virginia law so that a college or university student with a concealed handgun permit would be able to carry a gun on campus for self-defense.


VCDL President Philip Van Cleave warned the Virginia General Assembly that violent crime can, and does occur on campuses throughout the Commonwealth. However, said Van Cleave, “The university and college lobbyists swore that crime was not an issue and that the schools did not want students and visitors to be able to defend themselves with a gun or other weapon. They argued that the schools had little boxes with lights that had a button someone could press if they needed the police. The General Assembly turned a deaf ear to allowing college and university students to be able to protect themselves.”


Last year, when the bill did not even get through the Virginia House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety, the Roanoke News reported that “Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hinckler was happy to hear the bill was defeated. ‘I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.’”


Really? What about the families and friends of Monday’s murdered students? Thank you, Virginia Tech? Thank you, Virginia politicians?


Contrast Monday’s news with a January 16, 2002 situation in which two law-abiding armed students disarmed a murderer on the campus of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, thus preventing further carnage.


In that incident, disgruntled student Peter Odighizuwa of Nigeria shot and killed Dean Anthony Sutin, Professor Thomas Blackwell and student Angela Dales. When fellow students Tracy Bridges and Mikael Gross heard the gunfire, they ran to their vehicles to grab their personal firearms. Bridges and Gross and a third student, Ted Besen, approached the perpetrator from different angles. Bridges raised his revolver and pointed it at Odighizuwa. Odighizuwa then dropped his firearm. Then Besen and other students subdued Odighizuwa.


At trial, Odighizuwa was found mentally incompetent. He pled guilty to the murders in order to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison.


It’s about time university officials and politicians left their dream world and saw reality as it really is. Good people, and that includes good students and teachers, need to be able to carry guns in order to protect themselves from deranged madmen and other criminals.


Virginia Governor Tom Kaine should call the Virginia General Assembly into special session and demand that it pass a law enabling students and teachers with permits to carry concealed firearms to actually carry those firearms on campus.




A former Associate Editor of The American Rifleman, official monthly journal of the National Rifle Association, Snyder is Public Affairs Director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Treasurer of the Second Amendment Foundation. He is author of the book, Gun Saint.


John M. Snyder (GunDean@aol.com)
Manager
Telum Associates, LLC
PO Box 2844
Arlington, VA 22202
Phone : 703-212-9863



The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !