Virginia Delegates seek to loosen gun restrictions

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stori...n_restrictions

Thursday, January 17; 12:00 AM

Many Virginia congressional representatives have increased their efforts to pass legislation in favor of stricter gun control policies since the Virginia Tech campus shootings last April.

Though such bills have had a tough time making it through the largely Republican Congress in the past, many felt that the shootings would bring to light the supposed need for harsher gun-related laws. However, since the General Assembly began its annual session Jan. 9, some bills appear to loosen gun control.

One such bill, presented by Republican Delegate Mark Cole, would prohibit any state entity from restricting the "purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, storage, or transporting of firearms, ammunition, or components or combinations thereof, unless expressly authorized by statue."

"It would just say that state agencies cannot adopt regulations more strict than state law concerning guns," Cole said of his bill. "This bill does not include colleges; it's just strictly state agencies. I specifically left colleges out of it just because I know, with the Virginia Tech tragedy, that it's a very emotional issue right now."

Although Cole said that he did not present his bill in direct opposition to recent legislation promoting stricter gun control, he said that he did not think the tragedy called for such harsher gun-related laws.

"Virginia Tech was basically a gun-free zone (on April 16)," Cole said. "You can't get more strict gun control than that, and that really didn't protect anybody."

A ban on all guns on Tech's campus has been in place for several decades, although Virginia code does not mention guns in relation to public universities.

One bill that Republican Delegate Bob Marshall hopes will help to impede a similar incident regards colleges' full-time faculty members.

Shortly after the April 16 shootings, a professor at George Mason University told Marshall that the knowledge of instructors' possession of guns might discourage attackers. Marshall's bill would allow faculty members who have a valid Virginia concealed handgun permit to carry their firearms on campus.

"I thought that this could be a way to beef up security and not cost a lot of money," Marshall said, adding that anyone who possesses a concealed handgun permit has gone through a clearance process and demonstrated some proficiency handling a gun.

Republican Delegate C. Todd Gilbert proposed a similar bill in 2005, but it dealt with students who have obtained valid concealed handgun permits. The bill was killed in committee.

This session, Gilbert has presented a related bill that would restrict colleges' boards of visitors from prohibiting any person's possession of a handgun on state property if he or she possesses a valid concealed handgun permit. His proposition has been referred to the Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety, where both Cole and Marshall's bills also landed.

Some doubt that more guns on campuses would prevent or help stop events like those of April 16. Chad Ramsey, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, advocated fighting back efforts to get more firearms on campus.

"We think there ought to be efforts made to ensure that the background check database is more complete, so you have all of the mental health and felony records at the state level," Ramsey said. "We think that the gun show loophole ought to be closed to ensure that background checks are conducted on every gun sale."

Among the other six bills proposed since Jan. 9 that oppose stricter gun laws is one which would allow hired security officers to carry guns into private schools and child day care centers, and a bill allowing people who lawfully possess firearms to carry a handgun in his or her car or boat if it is locked in a container or compartment. The General Assembly session is scheduled to last for 60 days, but a longer meeting would not be unusual.