Gun Control Debate Moves Onto College Campuses

America’s colleges and universities have become the most recent arena highlighting the debate over gun possession and concealed carry laws.

Virginia, site of the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 in which a student killed 32, is central to the arguments being made by both sides in the ongoing debate about gun rights.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has sparked the latest debate with a recent ruling. Many universities have instituted a policy in recent years against students or visitors having guns on campus. Cuccinellis ruling has placed those policies in jeopardy. His ruling states that a policy is not specific enough to be legally enforceable and that Universities need to have  very specific regulations in order to restrict concealed carry permit holders from carrying guns inside university buildings especially dormitories and classrooms. The ruling also pertains as to whether the university can extend these policies to those who are visitors to the university campus.
Virginia Tech has a policy that students and staff are banned from carrying weapons on campus. That policy does not restrict visitors from carrying guns in any outdoor space. However, VT does have a policy that restricts concealed carry permit holders from bringing guns inside campus buildings.

The attorney generals ruling came following a recent court case where the Virginia Supreme Court upheld a gun ban at George Mason University. GMU had a policy banning guns by visitors to the university. A concealed carry permit holder who was not a student but used the library sued, claiming infringement of second amendment rights. The Virginia high court upheld the university’s ban.
University officials at Old Dominion University and the College of William and Mary are developing regulations similar to those enacted by George Mason University.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League, a leading gun rights group, is planning a series of campus protests to oppose more restrictive gun control policies on Virginia campuses. “Such policies endanger campus safety rather than improve it”, argues the group.

A similar argument is headed for the Idaho second district court where a student living in campus housing is claiming the University of Idaho restricts his second amendment rights. He alleges the campus wide ban on firearms possession infringes not only on the constitution but also is a violation of Idaho’s law that prohibits state agencies from adopting their own firearms or ammunition regulations.