Impact On State and Local Law
In August 2007, the Virginia Tech Review Panel Report recommended that the state's General Assembly adopt legislation "establishing the right of every institution of higher education to regulate the possession of firearms on campus if it so desires" and went on to recommend campus gun bans, "unless mandated by law." The report also recommended gun control measures unrelated to the circumstances of the massacre, such as requiring background checks for all private firearms sales, including those at gun shows. Governor Kaine made it a priority to enact a private sale background check law in the 2008 Virginia General Assembly, but the bill was defeated in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. Pro gun rights parties viewed this larger move as an unwarranted expansion and as a possible prelude waypoint akin to full gun registration for all gun sales.
The incident and its aftermath energized student activist efforts seeking to overturn bans that prevent gun holders (both 'open carry' and 'concealed carry permit' holders) from carrying their weapons on college campuses. Thirty-eight states throughout the U.S. ban weapons at schools; sixteen of those specifically ban guns on college campuses. A new group, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, formed after the massacre; as of March 2008, it claimed to have 16,000 members at 500 campuses nationwide. Several states are weighing legislation to allow gun permit holders to carry concealed firearms on university campuses. They cite cases of actual successful neutralization of active campus shooters by armed students to advance their cause. Another attempt by Delegate Gilbert to pass a law to allow concealed weapons on college campuses in Virginia was defeated in March 2008. This law was for the sake of students and faculty members only since the AG ruled that it did not apply to non-students and non-faculty on campus who could carry concealed without restriction on campus. This law would have largely affected students 21 years or older since younger people are not allowed to purchase handguns.
Read more about this topic: Virgina Tech Shooting, Effects On Gun Politics
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