VA-ALERT: ACTION ITEM: ODU planning gun ban regulation!

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Old Dominion University (ODU), which is situated in an area where crime is fairly high, is planning to use a regulation to ban guns, including those carried by CHP holders, from University buildings and special events. While the University cannot prohibit those who are NOT students, faculty or staff from carrying OUTSIDE of ODU buildings and special events, they can prohibit self-defense in all other areas, which will make ODU more dangerous since gun bans only disarm the law-abiding.

It is worth remembering that in the two years leading up to the Virginia Tech (VT) massacre, VCDL had bills put in that would have allowed campus carry by ALL concealed handgun permit holders. Each bill was aggressively opposed by VT. Applauding the defeat of one of those bills prior to the massacre, Associate Vice President Larry Hinckler said Virginia Tech's strict gun control policy made students, faculty, staff, and visitors "feel" safer. Hinckler didn't say anyone WAS safer and shortly thereafter the University's dangerous gun-free-zone policy provided Cho a building full of helpless victims to do with as he pleased for ten horrendous minutes.

ODU is using the regulation approach because the Attorney General has said that university "policies" are meaningless when it come to CHP holders. Cuccinelli also said that students and employees can be expelled or fired, respectively, if they don't obey a university's gun ban policies.

What can we do to protect the students, faculty, staff, and guests of ODU so that we don't get a repeat of the VT massacre?

First, we need to get the word out to all alumni of ODU to NOT give the university one penny in donations until they eliminate their gun bans against all CHP holders. It is important that ODU hears from alumni on this issue.

Second, we need to flood ODU with emails and calls saying that banning the carry of guns by CHP holders only makes the university more dangerous, putting citizens who could otherwise legally protect themselves at unnecessary risk from criminals.

BTW, James Mason University and Virginia Tech are also looking at doing the same thing as ODU, so expect this battle to expand.

Action items and prewritten emails are at the end of this alert.

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Here is the story from the Virginian-Pilot: http://tinyurl.com/69y2aal

ODU moves to tighten campus firearms ban

By Bill Sizemore

Reacting to an opinion from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that holders of concealed-weapon permits may bring their guns into university buildings, Old Dominion University is moving to prohibit them from doing so.

The ODU administration has drafted a regulation for consideration by the university’s governing Board of Visitors at its December meeting that would explicitly ban all guns, except those carried by police officers, from campus buildings and sports events.

In a July opinion requested by a state lawmaker, Cuccinelli said a University of Virginia policy banning guns from campus does not apply to holders of concealed-weapon permits.

ODU has a similar policy, as do most Virginia state colleges and universities.

University policies do not override a concealed-weapon permit holder’s right to carry his or her gun, Cuccinelli said in his opinion.

However, the attorney general left open an avenue for universities to ban those guns if they wish.

They may do so by enacting a regulation – as opposed to a policy – because, he said, regulations have the force of law. [PVC: Where in Virginia law, where universities get their powers, does it give them the specific authority to control the carry of firearms by CHP holders? There isn't one. The concept that the university can create such a regulation legally needs to be challenged.]

He cited a recent decision of the state Supreme Court upholding such a regulation at George Mason University. ODU is modeling its proposal on that regulation, which reads:

“Possession or carrying of any weapon by any person, except a police officer, is prohibited on university property in academic buildings, administrative office buildings, student residence buildings, dining facilities, or while attending sporting, entertainment or educational events.”

Cuccinelli noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has said the Second Amendment right to bear arms is not unlimited. The high court has said the government may enact “laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings.”

The state Supreme Court found that the GMU regulation meets that test. [PVC: But they did NOT rule on whether GMU ever had the authority under Virginia law to create such a ban in the first place. All the Supreme Court did was rule that the regulation was CONSTITUTIONAL. That is not the same thing and addresses a very different question.]

Cuccinelli suggested, however, that universities can only go so far, pointing out that the state court did not give its blessing to an absolute campus weapons ban.

The court noted that the GMU regulation “is tailored, restricting weapons only in those places where people congregate and are most vulnerable – inside campus buildings and at campus events.” Weapons are still allowed, the court said, “on the open grounds of GMU and in other places on campus not enumerated in the regulation.”

ODU President John Broderick has declared public safety the university’s most pressing issue in the wake of a student’s fatal shooting and a string of robberies in neighborhoods adjoining the campus in recent months. [PVC: If public safety were really the goal here, why are they disarming everybody but the criminals? Public safety? Baloney.]

“The Virginia Supreme Court and Virginia’s attorney general have stated that a university is a ‘sensitive place’ where a person’s Second Amendment rights could be limited,” Jennifer Mullen, an ODU spokeswoman, said by email. “The university is pursuing the proposed regulation to be consistent with what is recommended in both opinions.”

A bill to prohibit such regulations was submitted in the 2011 General Assembly but died in a Senate committee. [PVC: VCDL is going to fight even harder now to get that bill passed. The elections THIS NOVEMBER will determine if Virginia has a Senate willing to clarify that universities cannot create any helpless-victim-zones without the express permission of the General Assembly.]

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ACTION ITEMS

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ACTION ITEM #1

Take the Virginian-Pilot poll: http://tinyurl.com/3e6z594

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ACTION ITEM #2

Tell the ODU President, Board of Visitors, and the Administrative and Finance Vice President that the proposed gun ban is unacceptable.

Email addresses: president@odu.edu, dmeeks@odu.edu, rfenning@odu.edu

Suggested subject: Do not further endanger students, visitors, and faculty!

Suggested message:

Concealed handgun permit holders should be able to protect themselves while at ODU, a campus which is in proximity to areas with a higher crime-rate. Permit holders, who must be at least 21-years-old, are among the most law-abiding citizens, believing in law-and-order to the extent that they get the training and pass a background check to get a permit. A citizen who has a drinking or a drug problem, or who has shown himself or herself to be a violent person is not qualified to get a permit.

Permit holders can already carry a handgun virtually everywhere they go, including the General Assembly, banks, restaurants, malls, state and local government buildings, festivals, and libraries. Some states, such as Utah, allow permit holders to carry in universities and have had no negative consequences. Quite the contrary, Utah universities would be a very inhospitable place for criminals to strike.

The police simply cannot be everywhere at once. Even a delay of one or two minutes for a police response could make the difference between life and death for someone. On top of that, a victim getting to a call box or making a call on their cell phone while in the middle of a violent criminal attack is usually impossible.

The University should not be forcing a permit holder to put his or her life on the line simply to get an education and it is wrong of the University to ask them to do so.

I urge the University to allow concealed handgun permit holders to carry a concealed handgun on campus for self-defense.

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ACTION ITEM #3 - for ODU alumni only

Tell the ODU President, Board of Visitors, and the Administrative and Finance Vice President that the proposed gun ban is unacceptable and that you will not contribute any more money to the University if they proceed with the ban.

Email addresses: president@odu.edu, dmeeks@odu.edu, rfenning@odu.edu

Suggested subject: No more donations to ODU!

Suggested message:

I cannot in good conscience make any more donations to ODU if the University proceeds with the proposed regulation that would disarm law-abiding concealed handgun permit holders. I will also be contacting other alumni to ask that they not donate to the University either.

Concealed handgun permit holders should be able to protect themselves while at ODU, a campus which is in proximity to areas with a higher crime-rate. Permit holders, who must be at least 21-years-old, are among the most law-abiding citizens, believing in law-and-order to the extent that they get the training and pass a background check to get a permit. A citizen who has a drinking or a drug problem, or who has shown himself or herself to be a violent person is not qualified to get a permit.

Permit holders can already carry a handgun virtually everywhere they go, including the General Assembly, banks, restaurants, malls, state and local government buildings, festivals, and libraries. Some states, such as Utah, allow permit holders to carry in universities and have had no negative consequences. Quite the contrary, Utah universities would be a very inhospitable place for criminals to strike.

The police simply cannot be everywhere at once. Even a delay of one or two minutes for a police response could make the difference between life and death for someone. On top of that, a victim getting to a call box or making a call on their cell phone while in the middle of a violent criminal attack is usually impossible.

The University should not be forcing a permit holder to put his or her life on the line simply to get an education and it is wrong of the University to ask them to do so.

I urge the University to allow concealed handgun permit holders to carry a concealed handgun on campus for self-defense. In the meantime, my checkbook is closed.



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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]