"Spanberger said that while some regulations already technically banned possession of firearms on Virginia campuses, the lack of a law made that prohibition harder to enforce. The law (House Bill 626/Senate Bill 272) still allows institutions to permit guns in buildings as part of curricula or "as part of any organization," such as the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, authorized by a university to carry weapons in a building."
"UVA president Scott Beardsley said the university, including under former president Jim Ryan, had been pushing for the change for the past four legislative sessions. A UVA spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed that its policies have "long ... prohibited anyone from possessing a weapon inside any University building and in certain regulated outdoor spaces." However, without the law, "police were unable to open investigations or execute search warrants for reports of firearms in University buildings," the university said."
"Democratic Delegate Katrina Callsen, who introduced it, said it "felt like a common-sense next step to actually give police officers the tools that they need to enforce [campus gun bans] and to keep people safe.""
Virginia’s Democratic governor signed a law that generally bans guns and explosives from public college and university buildings. The signing ceremony took place at the University of Virginia, where three students were killed in a 2022 campus shooting. The governor said existing rules technically restricted firearms but were harder to enforce without a specific law. The new law allows institutions to permit guns in buildings as part of curricula or authorized organizations, including ROTC. The university said its policies already prohibited weapons inside buildings, but without the law police could not open investigations or execute search warrants based on reports of firearms. The legislation passed through Virginia’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly and was presented as a common-sense step to give police tools to enforce campus gun bans.
Read at Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs
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