Danny Dales hasn’t always supported guns. Not until coming to James Madison did he begin recreationally shooting. However, after the massacre at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, he realized there was more to guns than he initially thought.
The senior biology major wants to establish a JMU chapter of the national Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. More than 30,000 members of the SCCC support the right for licensed holders to carry concealed handguns on college campuses.
“Virginia Tech was actually the pioneer of the SCCC,” Dales, a criminal justice minor, said. “Now they have over 200 members. They’re the model for everyone else, and definitely the model for what I want to do here.”
More than 20 students have expressed interest in the group since the semester began. Eight committed members are required for a group to gain official university recognition.
“I was very surprised with the response I’ve gotten so far,” Dales said. “I figured as a whole, people would not support this since I didn’t used to either.”
Current university policies prohibit anyone, including students and faculty members, from carrying guns on campus.
Some students want to keep it that way. Eighteen members of the Student Government Association lobbied this March in Richmond against a bill on a related topic. Senior Heather Shuttleworth, a SGA senator, said the student response was overwhelming.
“The idea of concealed weapons on campus and in classrooms just made a lot of people uncomfortable, including myself,” the psychology major said. “I applaud their efforts and I wish that more people would fight for what they believe in, but I just don’t agree with them.”
Shuttleworth does not wish to hinder people’s rights, but would rather rely on JMU police.
“I fully understand the Second Amendment and I’m not in the practice of hindering rights, she said, “but I have complete faith in the JMU Police Department to handle any emergency situation if that were to occur.”
Eleven colleges currently allow concealed carry on campus, including nearby Blue Ridge Community College, as well as nine public universities in Utah and Colorado State University. The SCCC Web site states that through a combined 70 semesters, there have been no incidents with these guns.
Concealed carry off-campus is legal in Virginia. As a shall-issue state, permit holders cannot have a criminal background and must pass a basic firearm safety course along with paying a fee dependent on local authorities. Each state has its own handgun regulations.
Sophomore Kory Verdonk, another member of the SCCC, said that these strict handgun regulations should make opponents feel more comfortable about the issue. The SCCC advocates carrying on campus only for personal protection.
“Many opponents of concealed carry argue that allowing it on campus would create more problems, as they feel college is no place for guns,” Verdonk, a psychology major, said. “The reality, however, is that concealed carry is one of the few ways to guarantee that the weapons are in the hands of qualified and stable individuals.”
The SCCC, which held its first press conference in August, also hosts an empty holster protest, which Dales plans to hold at JMU. He said that having law-abiding permit holders wear empty gun holsters shows the effect of the disarming laws on campuses. This movement shows how many students could carry concealed handguns for personal protection, Dales said.
Dales believes that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion about guns, citing he used to be on the other side of the issue. He plans to use Facebook to organize students at JMU until gaining group status.
“I think that media have glorified guns to be a much worse thing than they really are and as just tools of warfare and gangsters and stuff like that,” Dales said. “We just don’t see news stories every day about permit holders causing any violence.”
