Via The Madman Raves, we have opposing points of view.  Nothing we haven’t heard before, but I love the name “Independent Alligator” for a student newspaper. This is a very difficult issue for us to win on, because it’s too easily painted with imagery of handing out guns to students at frat parties. I don’t think we should call for “arming students” or “arming professors”.  That needs to be banished from our rhetoric, and it’s not what we’re trying to do anyway.
This is a political battle you fight outside the context of any tragedy or incident. Neither the Appalachian Law School shooting, which was stopped by armed students, nor Virginia Tech, which was caused by one, seems to have created any significant movement for getting universities or state lawmakers to change their mind about firearms on campus. That probably will never change.
It’s important to note that there is nothing in Virginia law that prevents a student with a valid CHL from carrying a firearm on any college campus in Virginia. I’ve long said, responsible and well trained gun carriers need not worry themselves about policy issues. The people who make those policies are worried about not getting blamed and/or sued. If you’re serious about carrying a firearm for self-defense, and if you’re doing it, you better damned well be serious about it, you take the risk. Our lives, and the lives of those around us, are worth more than a lawsuit or negative press.
