ANOTHER TRIUMPH FOR GUN-FREE ZONES

If the teaching staff had all been armed, many lives would have been saved

The background -- from January 31, 2006

A bill that would have given college students and employees the right to carry handguns on campus died with nary a shot being fired in the General Assembly. House Bill 1572 didn't get through the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage, the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.

The bill was proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, on behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Gilbert was unavailable Monday and spokesman Gary Frink would not comment on the bill's defeat other than to say the issue was dead for this General Assembly session.

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker 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." Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, would not comment Monday because he was not part of the subcommittee that discussed the bill.

Most universities in Virginia require students and employees, other than police, to check their guns with police or campus security upon entering campus. The legislation was designed to prohibit public universities from making "rules or regulations limiting or abridging the ability of a student who possesses a valid concealed handgun permit ... from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun." The legislation allowed for exceptions for participants in athletic events, storage of guns in residence halls and military training programs.

Last spring a Virginia Tech student was disciplined for bringing a handgun to class, despite having a concealed handgun permit. Some gun owners questioned the university's authority, while the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police came out against the presence of guns on campus.

In June, Tech's governing board approved a violence prevention policy reiterating its ban on students or employees carrying guns and prohibiting visitors from bringing them into campus facilities.

Source

The result

A shooting spree by a lone gunman has left at least 33 people dead at a Virginia university in the bloodiest mass shooting in US history. The killer first opened fire in a dormitory at Virginia Tech, the state's biggest university, killing at least two people. Two hours later he was able to continue his rampage in an engineering classroom on the other side of the campus. A lone male is believed to have been responsible for the carnage, before turning the gun on himself.

There were unconfirmed reports that the killer was an Asian man in his twenties who may have been motivated by jealousy, believing that his girlfriend was being unfaithful. By lunchtime, local time, the death toll had risen to 33 and a further 26 had been injured........

Source

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