What exactly kept VT students from CC?

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Can find Virginia Tech Policy here:
http://www.policies.vt.edu/5616.pdf

Under section 2.2:
2.2 Prohibition of Weapons

The university’s employees, students, and volunteers, or any visitor or other third party attending a sporting, entertainment, or educational event, or visiting an academic or administrative office building or residence hall, are further prohibited from carrying, maintaining, or storing a firearm or weapon on any university facility, even if the owner has a valid permit, when it is not required by the individual’s job, or in accordance with the relevant University Student Life Policies.

Any such individual who is reported or discovered to possess a firearm or weapon on university property will be asked to remove it immediately. Failure to comply may result in a student judicial referral and/or arrest, or an employee disciplinary action and/or arrest.
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As mentioned in other venues, a 2006 bill before the Virginia General Assembly would have effectively pre-empted the Institute's policies and "allowed" CHL holders to carry concealed on campus. To the great delight of VT itself, that measure died, leaving the Victim Disarmament Zone intact for Mr. Cho.
 
They were probably told the same thing by campus police that I was: regardless of state law, "college policy is no guns on campus, and you will arrested for failure to comply."
 
They were probably told the same thing by campus police that I was: regardless of state law, "college policy is no guns on campus, and you will arrested for failure to comply."
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That is interesting given that the policy says that failure to comply with being asked to remove the gun after discovery will be arrested, not that if found out the person will be arrested.

Any such individual who is reported or discovered to possess a firearm or weapon on university property will be asked to remove it immediately. Failure to comply may result in a student judicial referral and/or arrest, or an employee disciplinary action and/or arrest.
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As it turns out, VT followed its policy as described back in 2005...
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/xp-21770

University officials confirmed that, earlier this semester, campus police approached a student found to be carrying a concealed handgun to class. The unnamed student was not charged with any crimes because he holds a state-issued permit allowing him to carry a concealed gun. But the student could face disciplinary action from the university for violating its policy prohibiting "unauthorized possession, storage or control" of firearms on campus.
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That is interesting given that the policy says that failure to comply with being asked to remove the gun after discovery will be arrested, not that if found out the person will be arrested.
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I believe that Virginia law would allow for an arrest on a trespass charge for carrying in defiance of VTs weapons policy.
 
VT has decided they are above the law of the state by enforcing this policy.
Making a trespassing charge stick would require providing notice and then having the person refuse to leave.

The only way to get around the policy is for either a court case (and getting standing will be tough for anyone but a student) or an act of the state legislature forcing the school to abide by the law.

An attempt to pass such a law was defeated in committee last session, with the VT spokesman proudly declaring everyone will "feel safer".
Actual safety was not discussed.
 
That is interesting given that the policy says that failure to comply with being asked to remove the gun after discovery will be arrested, not that if found out the person will be arrested.
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I don't know what the exact policy of my school (Colorado School of Mines) is. I was just told by an officer, "If I catch you with that on campus, I will arrest you." Of course, that same officer later saved my ass in a big way, so it might have been an empty threat. :rolleyes:
 
The thing is, the policy is so weak. I would have carried in a heartbeat under those rules, heck, I would read that to mean I'm 'go' to carry.

Here in Ohio it's against the law.

Any such individual who is reported or discovered to possess a firearm or weapon on university property will be asked to remove it immediately. Failure to comply may result in a student judicial referral and/or arrest, or an employee disciplinary action and/or arrest.
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As far as I can tell, it would still be illegal by Virginia law to have a gun in the classroom. CCW exemption only applies to vehicles.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-308.1

I know when I was in college, sometimes my vehicle was very near the door and other times it was a half mile away. I guess "in your vehicle" is better than "at home," but I'd rather it be at my side in that scenario.
 
Actually

This is more interesting than you might imagine. Orginially some one wrote a letter to the school lawyer asking about concealed carry on campus (they were faculty at the time). The school lawyer conferred with various VT officials (police chief I believe and others), and came back saying that they thought it was fine. What they were assuming was that they were only extending this privelage to faculty. However, people other than school faculty became aware of this letter and the school's somewhat official opinion endorsing concealed carry. VT decided they didn't want students knowing about this and pulled the plug on the whole thing.

I had a copy of the letter, but it died with my old computer. It's been a few years since I've read this letter so some of the details are fuzzy. I'll try and get it back.
 
I believe VT campus is considered more like private property. The worst you would be charged with for CC on campus is trespassing, and that's if they ask you to leave and you don't. VT is a land grant school, but they have become somewhat seperate from the state. This has mostly to do with money as they don't want to be told what to do by the state.

They were probably told the same thing by campus police that I was: regardless of state law, "college policy is no guns on campus, and you will arrested for failure to comply."
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Not quite that simple. The campus police have stated in the past that you simply have to store your firearms at the police station. They used the term "reasonable amount of time" when stating how quickly you need to get them there. They probably will tell you something different now, but that was the old policy. There are many many people who bring guns to school with them to got shooting and hunting in the area. They just didn't want people keeping them in their dorm rooms.

As I posted above, the school was orginially okay with concealed carry on campus, but once the found out they couldn't keep it confined to faculty and staff only...
 
I wonder what the reaction would be to a VT student who now asks about changing the policy so that licensed concealed carriers could keep their gun with them while on campus. It would be hard to justify that the absence of guns makes everyone feel safer after what they went through. However, the blind fear and hatred of guns by the anti-gun crowd seems to be unaffected by facts or logic. Just read the posts on the Huffington web site deriding the concept of armed students reducing the scope of the tragedy. The leaders at VT seem to live in the liberal dream world where passing a law or policy is an accomplishment in itself, since the intent is more important than the outcome. Maybe they really believe that their policy would prevent a criminal or maniac from bringing and using a gun on campus. I'll bet that there are those at VT who still believe it, despite what they just went through. They equate all guns as equally bad and dangerous, whether carried by a killer or an honest citizen seeking to protect himself and others from the criminal.
 
"As far as I can tell, it would still be illegal by Virginia law to have a gun in the classroom. CCW exemption only applies to vehicles."

Did you actually read the law at the link you posted?


"the property of any public, private or religious elementary, middle or high school, including buildings and grounds;"

Universities are OMITTED.
It is solely a VT POLICY that prevents concealed carry on campus by students and employees.
They are claiming they have the right to enforce this despite the state preemption law since they are not a 'government'.
Virginia uses the Dillon rule.
Sub-municipalities in VA only have such power as the state delegates to them.
By claiming they are not a government VT is trying to use the private property exclusion in the state law.
 
brickeyee said:
Did you actually read the law at the link you posted?
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Ha! Apparently not. I skipped down to the exceptions to the school prohibition. I had looked at paking.org where it said schools were off limits so I didn't bother to look at the definition of "school." I guess that's the perfect example of why you should read the law in addition to their quick overview.

Thanks for the heads-up. :)
 
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