In 2006, Virginia Tech — whose campus is a gun-free zone — opposed a bill which would have allowed college students and employees to carry handguns on state campuses. In response to the bill’s defeat in the General Assembly, Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said, “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.” Shortly after, Cho Seung-Hui went on a murderous rampage, killing 33 students and faculty members and wounding 17 individuals.
The Virginia Tech tragedy is a striking illustration of the baneful effects of gun-free zones. Fortunately, this brand of failed gun control policy is now under attack. Gov. Bob McDonnell sent a letter to the Department of Conservation and Recreation Jan. 14 directing it to desist from enforcing its ban on the open carrying of firearms in state parks. Previously, the right to bear arms in Virginia state parks was restricted to concealed carry permit holders. The recent order, though, allows any individual to openly carry a legally-owned firearm in state parks. McDonnell also favors a measure that would permit both open and concealed carry by law-abiding citizens in state forests.
These changes indicate an encouraging willingness of state lawmakers to relax effete gun control policies. Gun-free zones — which do little more than disarm law-abiding citizens and thereby enable would-be criminals — represent some of the most inane gun control measures ever enacted. After all, the Virginia Tech massacre proves that potential killers are not deterred by regulations prohibiting the carrying of firearms in certain areas.
Gun-free laws create scenarios in which innocent citizens are left defenseless at the hands of lunatics and criminals. These zones are gifts to killers. Apart from the recent shooting in Tucson, economist and popular author John Lott writes that every public shooting he’s studied in the United States in which more than three people were killed has occurred in a gun-free zone. Shootings elsewhere in the world show a similar correlation. In fact, all multiple-victim shootings in western Europe have occurred in gun-free zones, according to the National Review. Killers do not attack crowds at gun shows or police stations. Rather, they often attack areas in which innocent citizens have been rendered defenseless by ill-advised gun control policies.
McDonnell’s recent executive order shows that Virginia may be moving in a direction that may eventually lead to the elimination of gun-free zones altogether. Allowing the full exercise of Second Amendment rights in state parks and forests is an important first step to relax Virginia’s gun control laws, but bolder action is still necessary. McDonnell and the state legislature must work together to eliminate other gun-free zones — including those currently in place at Virginia’s public universities.
Currently, 25 colleges and graduate schools nationwide permit concealed carry on campus by licensed permit holders. Among these schools, there have not been any instance of gun violence, gun theft, threatened gun violence, accidental gun violence or suicide with a gun since the policy was institutionalized. Gun control advocates repeatedly claim that permitting guns on campus would increase the occurrence of gun violence. Although history does not substantiate this contention, it does show that gun-free zones enable mass murderers.
Permitting concealed carry license holders to exercise their Second Amendment rights on campus would be beneficial in many ways. First, it could be a deterrent and preventive mechanism for would-be killers. Second, it could also help reduce occurrences of less serious crimes. U. Virginia, for instance, has been plagued by a rash of violence — ranging from simple assault to murder — against students during the past year and may benefit if the gun-ban were lifted.
Allowing licensed students and professors to carry firearms would enable them to defend themselves when necessary. Because of the nature of crime, law enforcement typically arrives after the fact. During a crime, only the victim has the ability to defend himself. Disarmed university students provide easy targets for sexual assault and theft. An armed victim, however, is a criminal’s worst fear. There is no tenable rationale for denying UVA students and professors the ability to defend themselves.
Curbing gun violence is a noble and worthwhile goal. Gun-free zones, though, have consistently increased violent crime. It is time to discard this irrational and failed policy and replace it with legislation that permits law-abiding citizens to exercise their constitutional rights. The Virginia legislature should take an important step in this direction by requiring public universities to permit concealed carry on their campuses.