Opinion in Brief

The commonwealth had been considering legislation to allow persons with concealed weapon carry permits to bring their guns on any public college or university campus. Currently, each school decide policies for their campus; VCU’s policy forbids carrying any weapon without special permission from President Eugene P. Trani. This bill has been tabled, partly due to efforts by student groups. If the state trusts someone enough to allow them to carry a firearm, then it should be just as logical that the state would allow someone to carry that weapon on campus. It is not the business of these groups to interfere with the public bringing its state-sanctioned weapons upon places funded with public money, and it was another blow towards personal freedom and responsibility. It isn’t the people with the permits that go around shooting people – people with permits are exercising their right to have a weapon to defend themselves, a reasonable justification, given the crime prevalent in this city.