Professor concealed carry-Virginia

[czrami9]

I am an alum of James Madison University and just received this alert from the schools "JMU concealed carry on campus" group.

Today I received a phone call from Delegate Robert Marshall. He is proposing a bill to the Virginia House of Delegates which would allow professors to carry handguns concealed on campus. He asked for our support by emailing the Speaker of the House requesting him to send this bill to committee. I have included below my email to the Speaker. If you have the time, please send something SIMILAR (please don't make it the same email) requesting him to move this Bill along. It would also be nice if you could send a BCC to Del. Marshall so he knows how much support we have behind him. We will still push for students to be allowed to carry, but allowing professors is a step in the right direction.... thanks again guys

Speaker of the House:
- Bill Howell
- [email protected]

Bill Patron:
- Robert Marshall
- [email protected]

My email:

I am a Campus Leader with "Students for Concealed Carry on Campus" representing a chapter at James Madison University. The SCCC is a national organization of 35,000 students and faculty advocating licensed individuals over the age of 21 to carry concealed handguns on campus for personal protection from violent crime.

I am writing in reference to House Bill 1656 from which Delegate Robert Marshall is the patron. While the SCCC would like to see the right to carry not denied to any adult on campus (students included) we see allowing professors to carry on campus a great step in the right direction. We feel by allowing professors to carry their handguns concealed on campus that our universities would be better prepared for an attack similar to the one that occurred at Virginia Tech. That being said, as a representative of the SCCC I ask you to refer this bill to comitte and encourage committe members to vote in its favor. Furthermore, we would appretiate your support as a co-patron on this bill.

Again thank you for your time, and thank you for considering personal protection at our public universities to be a top priority.

I think this is great, and encourage as many Virginians/Virginia college alum as possible to write in support of this legislation

PS. I hope the group leader proofread that email before he sent it!!!!

 

[Jim K]

Since college professors are about 300 percent left-wing, does he suppose any professor will want to carry, even if he was willing to accept universal hatred and vilification by his fellows? They would drum him off the campus, even physically attack him.

Jim

 

[czrami9]

Jim,

I understand where you are coming from. I think it would be prudent for professors to carry without advertising it. I think it is great that young people are willing to do this. It definitely is not the popular thing in a lot of campuses, but in the chemistry department I know I had a few conservative guys as professors. We still have to fight for what is right, even when it isn't popular. Sometimes the high road isn't the popular one I suppose.

It will be a :banghead: process, for sure.

 

[withdrawn34]

Actually, college professors span the political spectrum. While some are vehemently lefty, there are also many who are vehemently right. There is a rough divide by college. In colleges like biology and chemistry, you'll find more left-leaning professors... in business, obviously you will find many devout Republican type folks. Physics, mathematics, and engineering are actually a toss up and there's quite a few on both sides as well as those in between, and apathetic folks.

Or maybe that's just at my college... but my university has near to 50,000 students so maybe it says something.

Hopefully this gets passed. I'm not sure how many professors actually hold licenses and will carry. My gut tells me few, but its good to have the legal ability to do so. Many of the non-sensical arguments given against campus carry by licensed students can't even be "applied" to professors. They are simply employees and researchers at the university... if they are legally able to carry elsewhere, they should also be able to do so at school.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Since college professors are about 300 percent left-wing, does he suppose any professor will want to carry,

It's funny what people will say in public but do in private.

 

[hso]

Since college professors are about 300 percent left-wing,

Since I was a college professor for a while and have friends that still are I can assure you that the above statement is 300 percent incorrect.

Giving staff, not just professors, at universities the opportunity to carry without fear of termination would be a huge help in assuring that the employees of the university could come and go with their CCW secure in their possession the whole time. It doesn't force anyone to get a CCW permit nor does it force anyone to carry with the permit. What it does do is remove the barrier to their exercise of their right under the law.

 

[paramedic70002]

Some are more equal than others.

I would tell him "(very hot place) NO! All citizens are equal. Call me back after you've read the Constitution."

Edit: It just burns my hide that we need to go to the General Assembly and ask, ASK! for a law that says state funded post secondary schools cannot deny us our rights. Such a thing should not be necessary, ever.

 

[mljdeckard]

My parents are music professors at a university that used to be a trade college. Across the hall from their offices, there are windows to the machining technology dept. Including a gunsmithing program. (At least it used to.) They had a storage closet they converted to a test-firing tank.

Of course it's not perfect, there is an ongoing culture war between old conservative faculty and incoming new-age faculty. It came to a head a few years ago when they student council thought it would be a good idea to have Michael Moore come and speak. They got a bad kick in the testes that year for alumni contributions.

(My dad goes hunting with the dean.)

 

[the foot]

Please don't assume that professors won't want to carry. I fall in the professor category, and I know many colleagues who along with me would be glad to use their right to carry at work.

 

[yjt83]

Shouldn't CC and OC be legal on campus since JMU is a public university?

I'm a freshman at JMU. I just started OCing about a week ago where I live (in NOVA). I plan on taking my guns with me next year since I'll be living off campus. I wish I could carry on campus; CC wouldn't be an option for me until I turn 21 in three years.

 

[Blarelli]

Please don't assume that professors won't want to carry. I fall in the professor category, and I know many colleagues who along with me would be glad to use their right to carry at work.

Yup. Last semester, two of my 5 professors very openly said they have a permit and carry on campus. Not the smartest thing to do, but still it illustrates the point that not every professor is a commie. Just the professors in the english, art, and political science departments.

 

[bdickens]

Let's not forget thet there are liberals who carry, too.

 

[GEM]

Jim - you don't know what you are talking about. I'll skip the rest of what I think of your post and say: $_@()$+@()$()$) :banghead:

 

[Jim K]

Come on, folks. Conservative speakers have been terrorized and run off campuses by gangs of left wing students, encouraged by their professors.

Any newspaper on campus or any book in the library that doesn't conform to the current PC policy is burned, while professors and the administration warm their hands.

During the last election, college students and professors voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Any who dared vote for McCain kept quiet about it out of fear for their safety.

Universally true? Maybe not, but I have little doubt that 90% of professors and the same number of campuses are left wing.

Jim

 

[TexasRifleman]

Universally true? Maybe not, but I have little doubt that 90% of professors and the same number of campuses are left wing.

But one of the fundamentals of the left is the idea that what's good for the "unwashed masses" is different than what's good for them.
They are the annointed, therefore deserving of protection.

It's why Rosie O has armed guards, it's why Oprah has armed guards.

They are anti gun, til it comes to protecting themselves then all bets are off.

I suspect there would be a number of left wing professors thinking the same way.

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

I was on the University of Miami School of Law Faculty Hiring Committee last year. They didn't know my political leanings when I was appointed

The University of Miami School of Law WILL NOT hire anyone who could even be construed as a moderate. To be hired, you must be a minority - They have not interviewed a heterosexual, white, American male in years. Further you must write about touchy feely liberal worthless garbage- affirmative action, reproductive rights, gay rights. Anyone who rights about Evidence, Securities law, Corporate Bankruptcy or anything else that is practical and politically neutral is branded as "not intellectually curious" and dismissed.

The other members of the committee ranged from a Marxist (literally) with a picture of Karl Marx on the wall of his office, to an 85 year old moderate who was put on the committee since he is basically off in space and doesn't ask questions.

I am sure other schools are different (George Mason and Notre Dame Law) come to mind, but Miami Law is 300% liberal

 

[athensguy]

I don't really know what Jim was talking about with left wing not carrying, since left and right are economic policies. The Bush Administration has the most left wing economic polices of any executive I've been made aware of. Anyway, If staff were allowed to carry at my University I would certainly be carrying. As it stands, we can bring them on campus but they're legally required to be left in the car. Students are not allowed to bring them even in the car. I'm not sure why there's a distinction.

 

[hso]

Let's get back on topic and not waste any more time arguing about people's assumptions about universities.

Faculty and staff at universities should be able to keep their CCW firearms on them at all times.

 

[Floppy_D]

At Old Dominion University (in VA) CC is legal, but against "school policy." Just sayin'.

 

[Dirty Bob]

I think CCW for profs is a great idea. With the size of some campuses, it's a logistical nightmare to get a tac team into position anywhere at a moment's notice. People on scene will be on their own for at least a few minutes, in the best case scenario.

As a former college prof, I knew a number of professors who hunted, had gun collections, etc. They kept a low profile, but that's not a bad idea in general. Business schools and engineering schools often have a large percentage of possible gun owners. I strongly suspect that a number of those profs would carry if legal, but keep very quiet about it.

Regards,
Dirty Bob

 

[CPerdue]

Faculty is a good stepping stone, staff better, students perhaps out of immediate reach.

Get them letters in!

Edit to add I've sent personal letters to Howell, Sherwood (M&P committee chair), and Griffith (local rep and majority leader).

Carry on Virginia's public college\university campuses is legal, but school rules threaten (perhaps unenforceably) faculty\staff\students. Others can do as we wish.

 

[mljdeckard]

A few years ago, there was a dispute ultimately resolved by our courts, that the University of Utah's presidency claimed academic authority to override state law and ban carry by faculty and students. The courts firmly reminded them that they had no authority of any kind to override state law, and being a state university, they would comply with the law.

The stupidest part was, they could only adminstratively restrict students and faculty, they would do nothing about strangers like myself from walking through campus armed. The students and faculty would be disadvantaged.

 

[shdwfx]

Remember, the professors on THR and their academic friends are a highly improbable representative demographic for teachers in higher education.

Midwestern and southern colleges do not suffer from the malady of idea stagnation as much as west/east coast schools do. However, reality is that the liberal:conservative ratio nationwide still holds steady around 4:1.

 

[Pushrod]

In colleges like biology and chemistry, you'll find more left-leaning professors

I beg to differ, most of my college and graduate professors in Biology and Chemistry were far from left leaning and some were heavy into shooting sports. Being an Environmental Chemist, I sure don't lean anywhere towards the left!!