By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Fox News is reporting that colleges around the country are “on edge” after three separate incidents in Colorado, Georgia and Kentucky claimed four lives over the course of ten days.
But a report from West Virginia University indicates that school is taking what might be a preemptive course of action to deter deadly crimes on its campus. According to WVU Today, the school’s Board of Governors has taken “the next step… to implement the Campus Self-Defense Act which goes into effect July 1.”
The law was signed last year by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice. It allows West Virginians who possess a concealed carry permit to carry a defensive sidearm on the campus of a state college or university beginning July 1.
It’s an interesting development in a nation where most colleges and universities prohibit any kind of weapon on their campus grounds. But the recent deaths in the Fox New focus may have some people re-thinking that position. According to Fox:
- A Campbellsville University student identified as Charles Escalera, 21, has been charged with murder and burglary following the Feb.24 death of 18-year-old Josiah Kilman. The school is in Kentucky.
- An illegal immigrant identified as Jose Antonio Ibarra was arrested in connection with the brutal slaying of 22-year-old Laken Riley on Feb. 22. She died from blunt force trauma while jogging on a trail at August University in Georgia. In reaction, former President Donald Trump, now running to return to the White House, vowed to “immediately seal the border” if he wins re-election, and start the “largest deportation operation of illegal criminals in American history.” He used this slaying to criticize the border policies of the Joe Biden administration, according to Fox News.
- A suspect identified as Nicholas Jordan has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting deaths of Samuel Knopp and Celie Rain Montgomery in a dorm room at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
At West Virginia University, Travis Mollohan, associate vice president for Government Relations and Collaboration, said in a prepared statement, “Although the Campus Self-Defense Act includes several exceptions to the campus carry requirement, those exceptions are not automatically required by law. The Board must decide which, if any, exceptions it will adopt and must do this through its rulemaking process.”
According to the university, “A web page has been established for those who want to learn more about the law and follow updates about how it will be implemented across the WVU System. FAQs and other pertinent information can be found there, with more to be added in the weeks and months ahead.”
April Kaull, executive director of Communications at WVU, told TGM via email the university is required to adhere to the Campus Self-Defense Act. It “allows a person to carry a concealed pistol or revolver on the grounds of an institution of higher education, with some exceptions, if that person has a current and valid license to carry a concealed deadly weapon.”
The university has had a police department since 1961, she noted.
Additional information about the University’s implementation plan is available here with Frequently Asked Questions here.
In January 2002, a 43-year-old former student named Peter Odighizuwa fatally shot two faculty members and a student at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia Two students, both of whom had personal firearms in their vehicles because they were off-duty police officers, retrieved those guns independently of one another and confronted the killer, who was subdued by several students.
This incident is occasionally used to highlight the importance of being able to carry a firearm on campus, rather than leaving it in a vehicle.
