Tag Archives: conceal and carry

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Falwell calls for an armed Christian campus

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Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. urged students, staff and faculty at his Christian school to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon on campus to counter any copycat attack like the deadly rampage in California.

“Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here,” Falwell told an estimated 10,000 of the campus community at convocation on Dec. 4 in Lynchburg. While Falwell’s call to arms was applauded, his remarks also seemed to target Muslims.

“I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in,” the right-wing Falwell said. The final words of his statement could not be clearly heard on a videotape of the remarks.

However, Falwell told The Associated Press he was specifically referring to Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who shot and killed 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino last week.

Falwell’s remarks generated a sharp rebuke from Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who called the comments “reckless.”

“My administration is committed to making Virginia an open and welcoming Commonwealth, while also ensuring the safety of all of our citizens,” McAuliffe said in a statement over the weekend. “Mr. Falwell’s rash and repugnant comments detract from both of those crucial goals.”

Falwell also said he believed the campus needed to be prepared in the face of the increasing frequency of mass killings. He cited, for example, the 2007 massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, and less than 100 miles southwest of Liberty.

“What if just one of those students or one of those faculty members had a concealed permit and was carrying a weapon when the shooter walked into Virginia Tech? Countless lives could have been saved,” he said.

Falwell’s message is apparently being heeded. He said more than 100 people had asked Liberty police about a free class to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Liberty was founded by Jerry Falwell Sr., architect of the contemporary Christian right and founder of the Moral Majority. His barbed commentary and campaign against LGBT people and their rights made him a reviled figure to some and a pioneering conservative crusader to others.

Following the San Bernardino shootings, which left 14 dead, Falwell said he began carrying a .25-caliber handgun in his back pocket. He said he’s had a permit for more than year.

During his address, Falwell mentioned the weapon and reached around seemingly to fetch it.

“Is it illegal to pull it out? I don’t know,” he said, laughing.

Asked if he was concerned by the prospect of thousands of armed young people on campus, Falwell said Virginia has a minimum age of 21 for a carry-conceal permit. He said that meant only older students would be armed.

More than 14,000 students are enrolled at Liberty.

Falwell said he had also reached out to a first responder in San Bernardino to see if the school could offer scholarship assistance to his children. 

Falwell’s remarks were first reported by the News & Advance.

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Education groups opposing campus conceal-and-carry legislation

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Four national groups representing college educators and trustees said on Nov. 12 they would fight a growing push in state legislatures to allow people to carry concealed guns on campuses.

The groups also called for the repeal of measures in several states that already allow for so-called campus carry, arguing that academic institutions should remain “as safe and weapon-free as possible for students, faculty, staff, parents and community members.”

“Colleges and universities closely control firearms and prohibit concealed guns on their campuses because they regard the presence of weapons as incompatible with their educational missions,” said the statement, signed by the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

The groups said students and professors wouldn’t be comfortable discussing controversial subjects if they thought there might be a gun in the room. “College campuses are marketplaces of ideas, and a rigorous academic exchange of ideas may be chilled by the presence of weapons,” they said.

Supporters such as the National Rifle Association argue that lawful gun owners should be allowed to carry on campuses for self-protection. They argue that having more law-abiding citizens with guns could potentially deter mass shootings or allow bystanders to intervene to limit the deadly consequences.

The statement from the four groups comes amid intensifying debate over how to prevent gun violence on campuses, following last month’s shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. Lawmakers in Florida are considering plans to allow concealed permit owners to bring their guns onto campus, and several other states are expected to consider similar legislation next year.

Texas recently became the eighth state to allow the carrying of concealed weapons on campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The change goes into effect next year, and colleges are considering how to implement it. The law contains a key concession for opponents, giving administrators the ability to mark off certain areas as gun-free.

Seven other states — Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin — now have laws or court rulings allowing the carrying of concealed weapons on some campuses, according to the NCSL.

The higher education groups rejected the argument that more guns could deter mass shootings. They called on colleges and universities to plan for critical incidents, and “rely on trained and equipped professional law-enforcement personnel to respond to emergency incidents.”

Students for Concealed Carry, a group that is pushing for campus carry laws in several states, said the laws don’t have as much of an impact as critics claim. Few students can qualify to carry weapons because they aren’t 21, and those who do have obtained licenses and undergone background checks, spokesman Zachary Zalneraitis said.

“The people in charge, the administrators and professors, are always resistant to it,” he said. “But after it gets passed, it just becomes a non-issue.”

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2-year-old kills mom in conceal-and-carry accident at Idaho Walmart

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A 29-year-old woman described as a “beautiful, young, loving mother” was fatally shot by her 2-year-old son at a northern Idaho Walmart in what authorities called a tragic accident.

The boy reached into Veronica J. Rutledge’s purse and her concealed gun fired, Kootenai County sheriff’s spokesman Stu Miller said. The woman was shopping on Dec. 30 with her son and three other children, Miller said.

Rutledge was from Blackfoot in southeastern Idaho, and her family had come to the area to visit relatives.

She was an employee of the Idaho National Laboratory, The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington, reported. The Idaho Falls laboratory supports the U.S. Department of Energy in nuclear and energy research and national defense.

The woman had a concealed weapons permit. Miller said the young boy was left in a shopping cart, reached into his mother’s purse and grabbed a small-caliber handgun, which discharged one time.

Deputies who responded to the Walmart found Rutledge dead, the sheriff’s office said.

“It appears to be a pretty tragic accident,” Miller said.

The victim’s father-in-law, Terry Rutledge, told The Associated Press that Veronica Rutledge “was a beautiful, young, loving mother.”

“She was not the least bit irresponsible,” Terry Rutledge said. “She was taken much too soon.”

The woman’s husband was not in the store when the shooting happened at about 10:20 a.m. Dec. 30. Miller said the man arrived shortly after the shooting. All the children were taken to a relative’s house.

The shooting occurred in the Wal-Mart in Hayden, Idaho, a town about 40 miles northeast of Spokane. The store closed for the rest of the day.

Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Walmart, said in a statement the shooting was a “very sad and tragic accident.”

“We are working closely with the local sheriff’s department while they investigate what happened,” Buchanan said.

Idaho National Laboratory senior chemical engineer Vince Maio worked with Rutledge on a research paper about using glass ceramic to store nuclear waste, The Spokesman-Review said.

Maio said he was immediately impressed with her.

“She had a lot of maturity for her age,” he told the newspaper. “Her work was impeccable. She found new ways to do things that we did before and she found ways to do them better.”

“She was a beautiful person,” he added.

There do not appear to be reliable national statistics about the number of accidental fatalities involving children handling guns.

In neighboring Washington state, a 3-year-old boy was seriously injured in November when he accidentally shot himself in the face in a home in Lake Stevens, about 30 miles north of Seattle.

In April, a 2-year-old boy apparently shot and killed his 11-year-old sister while they and their siblings played with a gun inside a Philadelphia home. Authorities said the gun was believed to have been brought into the home by the mother’s boyfriend.

Hayden is a politically conservative town of about 9,000 people just north of Coeur d’Alene, in Idaho’s northern panhandle.

Idaho lawmakers passed legislation earlier this year allowing concealed weapons on the state’s public college and university campuses.

Despite facing opposition from all eight of the state’s university college presidents, lawmakers sided with gun rights advocates who said the law would better uphold the Second Amendment.

Under the law, gun holders are barred from bringing their weapons into dormitories or buildings that hold more than 1,000 people, such as stadiums or concert halls.

Wisconsin

Gun-rights advocates oppose Madison bus ban

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Gun-rights advocates say they’re preparing a court challenge to  Metro Transit’s weapons ban on Madison, Wis., buses, claiming the policy violates the state’s concealed-carry law.

But city officials say they’re confident the policy banning “weapons of any kind” is legal and in the best interest of passengers.

Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Carry Inc. said it plans to file a lawsuit in the next few weeks, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. President Nik Clark said the policy infringes on a person’s right to carry, especially for those who rely on public transportation or live in a high-crime area.

“Madison has a gun law stricter than state law,” Clark said. “If we are successful in Madison, other transit systems in the state will follow suit and adjust their policies.”

Clark said his organization wanted to challenge the city’s policy for some time but had to wait until it heard from someone with a concealed-carry license who’d been prohibited from bringing a gun on a bus. That happened last month, he said.

The lawsuit is based on a state law that Gov. Scott Walker signed in July 2011. It allows people to apply for a license that lets them to carry a concealed gun and carry a gun openly in a school zone, and Clark said anyone who has a license should be able to carry a gun, concealed or in the open, on city buses as well.

Madison officials don’t think so, noting that the policy predated the concealed-carry law.

“We don’t want guns on buses just like we don’t let people bring gasoline on buses,” City Attorney Michael May said.

Metro instructs its drivers to calmly ask anyone trying to board to bus with a gun to comply with the policy, transit spokesman Mick Rusch said. If the person doesn’t comply, the driver is instructed to contact a supervisor, who can call police.

“It’s in the best interest of our passengers,” he said. “We have a lot of items we don’t allow on buses in the interest of safety.”

Clark wrote to Metro last month asking it to review the policy and threatening litigation. Metro Transit general manager Chuck Kamp wrote back saying officials did reconsider the policy but concluded there was nothing in the new law that compelled a change.

May said the city’s position is consistent with a state Department of Justice memo from this summer that says private and public entities may restrict transport of weapons. He said the language covers private cab and bus companies.

Viral

Starbucks ad brews gun-control debate

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Starbucks has always set itself apart by taking strong positions on progressive political issues. Now that reputation has landed the company in the middle of the heated national debate over gun laws.

On Thursday, the Seattle-based company ran full-page ads in major newspapers telling customers that guns are no longer welcome in its cafes. But Starbucks is stopping short of an outright ban, exposing the fine line it needs to walk on a highly divisive issue.

“We are not pro-gun or anti-gun,” CEO Howard Schultz said in an interview, noting that customers will still be served if they choose to a carry gun.

The move comes as the company finds itself at the center of a fight it didn’t start. In recent months, gun control advocates have been pressuring Starbucks to ban firearms, while supporters of gun rights have celebrated the company’s decision to defer to local laws. About a month ago, Starbucks shut down a store in Newtown, Conn., early to avoid a demonstration by gun rights advocates. They had planned to stage a “Starbucks Appreciation Day,” bringing their firearms and turning the company into an unwitting supporter of gun rights.

Support for guns runs counter to the Starbucks image. The warm feeling Starbucks customers get when they’re sipping lattes doesn’t always come from the coffee. For some, part of the brand’s attraction is the company’s liberal-leaning support of issues such as gay marriage and environmental preservation.

But with more than $13 billion in annual revenue and about 7,000 company-owned stores across the country -in red states and blue – Starbucks is being forced to tread carefully with its special blend of politics and commerce.

Many states allow people to carry licensed guns in some way, but some businesses exercise their right to ban firearms. They can do so because their locations are considered private property. Starbucks isn’t the only company that doesn’t ban guns, but it has become a target for gun control advocates, in part because of its corporate image.

“This is a coffee company that has championed progressive issues,” said Shannon Watts, founder of the gun reform group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “They’ve positioned themselves about being about the human spirit – that was so at odds with this policy that allowed guns inside their stores.”

Starbucks’ mission statement is to “inspire and nurture the human spirit” and over the years, it has taken strong positions on a number of thorny issues. Earlier this year, the company banned smoking within 25 feet of its stores, wherever its leases allowed. The idea was to extend its no-smoking policy to the outdoor seating areas, regardless of state laws on the matter.

At the company’s annual meeting in March, a shareholder stood to criticize Starbucks’ support of marriage equality. Schultz told the man it was a free country and that he could sell his shares.

Starbucks has also been vocal about its health care benefits for workers. And the company says it only does business with coffee farmers who pay workers decent wages and farm in an environmentally friendly way.

Such stances explain why Moms Demand Action, which was founded the day after the mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., has been urging Starbucks to ban guns with its “Skip Starbucks Saturdays.”

In turn, gun rights advocates have been galvanized by the company’s decision to defer to local laws and staged the “Starbucks Appreciation Days.”

Schultz said the events mischaracterized the company’s stance on the issue and the demonstrations “have made our customers uncomfortable.”

He said he hopes people will honor the request not to bring in guns but says the company will nevertheless serve those who do.

“We will not ask you to leave,” he said.

The Seattle-based company’s ad campaign included major national newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and USA Today. The ad contained a letter from Schultiz that pointed to recent activities by both gun rights and gun control advocates at its stores, saying that it has been “thrust unwillingly” into the middle of the national debate over firearms.

As for the “Starbucks Appreciation Days” being staged by gun rights advocates, it stressed: “To be clear: we do not want these events in our stores.”

But the letter noted that Starbucks is standing by its position that the matter should ultimately be left to lawmakers. Schultz also said he doesn’t want to put workers in the position of having to confront armed customers by banning guns. The AP was provided a picture of a memo to Starbucks employees on Tuesday. The document instructs workers not to confront customers or ask them to leave solely for carrying a weapon.

Phillip Hofmeister, president of gun rights group Michigan Open Carry Inc., said he respects the right of private businesses such as Starbucks to determine its own gun policies. But he noted that the message was confusing.

“They’re trying to make people like myself feel unwelcome but it’s not an outright ban,” said Hofmeister, who said he has been carrying a gun in public where permitted for the past several years.

Even if there’s no ban, Hofmeister said he won’t patronize a business where he didn’t feel welcome.

Several companies do not allow firearms in their stores, including Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Whole Foods. Representatives for those two companies said there haven’t been any problems with enforcing their gun bans.