Colleges Focus On Gun Bill

For what it is worth, the bill has died in committee.

There is no state law in Virginia prohibiting concealed weapons on most college campuses--it is actually prohibited by law at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU, which my father refers to as VietCong University). Virginia has complete preemption of all firearms laws, so there can be no criminal charges brought against the CHL holder. However, many universities try to circumvent this by putting university policies in prohibiting weapons--these obviously do not apply to visitors to campus.. Virginia Tech last year expelled a CHL holder who had his handgun in class. The proposed bill would have prevented this.

I am not even sure why this bill was necessary, though, as the Virginia AG's opinion on the authority of the Parks Department to prohibit concealed hanguns seems to apply to this situation as well (note universities are not prohibited places):

A person’s privilege to carry a concealed handgun is considered universal within the Commonwealth subject to limited circumstances. The General Assembly has specifically set out those places where the carrying of a concealed handgun is prohibited: places of worship, courthouses, schools, places licensed for on-premises alcoholic beverage consumption, and such property as may be prohibited by the owner. Section 18.2-287.4 permits the carrying of concealed handguns in public places where the unconcealed carrying of loaded firearms is otherwise prohibited. Section 18.2-308 does not identify state parks as areas of prohibition for the carrying of a concealed handgun. Under accepted rules of statutory construction, the mention of one thing in a statute implies the exclusion of another.38 Further, the Department’s enabling legislation does not specifically authorize the Department to prohibit the carrying of a concealed handgun by valid permit holders.

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In fact, a student at my alma mater, James Madison University, sued the school a couple of years ago regarding their policy and the Attorney General withdrew as the school's counsel because of the contradiction with this decision.

It seems strange that this would not pass--this is the state where two people were killed by an ex-student at the Appalachian College of Law. That shooting was only stopped by two students who ran to their car to get their handguns and confronted the shooter. Who knows what would have happened if they had not been delayed by the distance to get their weapons and had been carrying instead.