Virginia Tech Responds to AG Opinion on ‘No Guns’ Policy

Larry HinckerFollowing last week’s opinion by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that state university policies are trumped by state-issued concealed handgun permits while properly promulgated regulations are not, Virginia Tech has announced their intent to transform their ‘no guns’ policy into a regulation.

Virginia Tech Associate Vice President of University Relations Larry Hincker, who in 2006 spearheaded the university’s efforts to defeat a bill which would have allowed students and employees to carry handguns on campus, told local media that he expects the Board of Visitors to initiate the process when next they meet with University officials.

In 2006, after the campus carry bill was defeated, Hincker was quoted as saying that “This will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”  As for the possibility of those on campus needing legally carried firearms for self defense in the face of an armed attacker?  Hincker assured the campus community that “Virginia Tech has a very sound policy preventing same.”  But less than a year later, in one of the most tragic incidents in University history, Seung-Hui Cho demonstrated that no policy, regulation or law can stop a criminal or disturbed individual intent on harming others.

However, Virginia Tech has continued to cling to the same flawed policy which left employees, teachers, and adult students disarmed, helpless and locked in a building with a madman. And Hincker says that he expects the wording of the policy to remain the same in any proposed regulation.

2.2 Prohibition of Weapons

The university’s employees, students, and volunteers, or  any visitor or other third party attending a sporting, entertainment, or educational event, or visiting an academic or administrative office building, dining facility, or residence hall, are further prohibited from carrying, maintaining, or storing a firearm or weapon on any university facility, even if the owner has a valid permit, when it is not required by the individual’s job, or in accordance with the relevant University Policies for Student Life.  This prohibition applies to all events on campus where people congregate in any public or outdoor areas.

Any such individual who is reported or discovered to possess a firearm or weapon on university property will be asked to remove it immediately.  Failure to comply may  result in a student conduct referral and/or arrest, or an employee disciplinary action and/or arrest.

Hincker went on to add that it was a simple matter of changing policy into regulation. Generally, this would be an incorrect statement as the process to promulgate a regulation under the Virginia Administrative Process Act (VAPA) requires a number of time consuming steps as the following chart from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission demonstrates:

 

VAPA Overview

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VAPA TimeframesHowever, the Virginia General Assembly has exempted the actions of Educational institutions operated by the Commonwealth from almost all of the requirement of the Virginia Administrative Process Act.

§ 2.2-4002 

A. Although required to comply with § 2.2-4103 of the Virginia Register Act (§ 2.2-4100 et seq.), the following agencies shall be exempted from the provisions of this chapter, except to the extent that they are specifically made subject to §§ 2.2-4024, 2.2-4030 and 2.2-4031:

6. Educational institutions operated by the Commonwealth, provided that, with respect to § 2.2-4031, such educational institutions shall be exempt from the publication requirements only with respect to regulations that pertain to (i) their academic affairs, (ii) the selection, tenure, promotion and disciplining of faculty and employees, (iii) the selection of students, and (iv) rules of conduct and disciplining of students.

Consequently, Virginia Tech is statutorily empowered to negate the clear will of the legislature and enact a regulation having the force and effect of law without any of the due process protections embodied in the Virginia Administrative Process Act.  The University is only required to publish the regulation pursuant to § 2.2-4031 but is not required to accept any public comment unless their own internal policy requires it.

The general assembly granted this blanket exemption to state-run educational institutions in order to facilitate their ability to respond to issues involving the operation of the institutions, not to allow them to thwart the legislative intent of the legislature.

Next session, it is imperative that Virginia voters support the Virginia Citizens Defense League in expanding preemption to apply to state agency action to prevent these types of abuses of agency power.

About John Pierce

Monachus Lex is written by Virginia attorney John Pierce. John is a life-long gun rights advocate, an NRA certified instructor and co-founder of the nationwide gun rights group OpenCarry.org.

He has an undergraduate degree in Computer Information Systems, an MBA from George Mason University and is a 2012 Honors Graduate of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, MN.

Professionally, John is a member of the American Bar Association Second Amendment Civil Rights Litigation Subcommittee and his writings have been published by the ABA Civil Rights Litigation Committee and the ABA Minority Trial Lawyer Committee.

In addition, his open carry advocacy has been featured on Nightline and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.
This entry was posted in Campus Carry, Virginia. Bookmark the permalink.

7 Responses to Virginia Tech Responds to AG Opinion on ‘No Guns’ Policy

  1. TFred says:

    Please explain to me (and more importantly to Virginia Tech), how a regulation which directly addresses “any visitor or other third party” can satisfy the exemption which allows them to bypass the process for “regulations that pertain to (i) their academic affairs, (ii) the selection, tenure, promotion and disciplining of faculty and employees, (iii) the selection of students, and (iv) rules of conduct and disciplining of students.”

  2. John Pierce says:

    TFred,

    The clause to which you are referring is only “with respect to § 2.2-4031” which is the publication requirement and I noted that they DO need to publish this regulation.

    However, in all other respects, they are “exempted from the provisions of this chapter, except to the extent that they are specifically made subject to §§ 2.2-4024, 2.2-4030 and 2.2-4031.” Since 2.2-4031 is the only provision that they are specifically made subject to, and since it only requires publication, they are exempted from all the other due process requirements of the VAPA including executive review, legislative review, notice, hearing and public comment.

    I am not happy that this is the way the law is written but there it is. 🙁

    John

  3. Rich says:

    What do all mass shootings have in common bar none. They all have ocurred in “Gun Free Zones”. That’s right just like Viginia Tech. What do liberals want to do? They want to create more gun free ones, like schools, universities, and Post Offices, thus increasing the killing. A gun free zone is a killers dream. As crazy as they are they realiz they willmeet no resistance. No one in these zones will have a defense except fingernails and pens. The bright thought police in these institutions want more killing. They need to be sued by the next victims relatives.

  4. Pingback: Virginia Tech publishes final ‘Weapons on Campus’ regulation | Monachus Lex

  5. Pingback: Radford University’s self-defense ban goes into effect even as VCU sees huge increase in crime against students | Monachus Lex

  6. Pingback: Senator Deeds may oppose VA state agency preemption bill | OpenCarry.org

  7. Pingback: Senator Deeds may oppose VA state agency preemption bill | Virginia Citizens Defense League

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *