by Kelly Jasper / senior writer

 

With guns on campus, freshman Sara Lunsford said she’d worry about her safety.

So now the student government senator is seeking 13,000 student signatures in support of a proposed bill of opinion, expected to reach the Student Senate by Tuesday’s meeting. The bill backs JMU’s weapons policy, which prohibits carrying a concealed weapon on campus.

"Why is there any need to have guns on campus?" Lunsford said. "There just isn’t."

The bill, Lunsford hopes, will continue to the Virginia General Assembly. "This should be included in the Code of Virginia," she said. "Colleges have the right to make reasonable weapons policies."

Keezletown resident David Briggman filed a lawsuit last week that challenges the university’s authority to prevent him from carrying guns on school property. Briggman, who has a permit and frequently drives through campus, maintains that the weapons policy contradicts state code.

"Bringing up this bill only proves that JMU isn’t acting within state law," he said.

But Lunsford said her concerns ultimately lie in student safety. "If he wins, we won’t be as safe," the senator said.

As a non-binding bill meant to express student opinion, the proposal requires 200 signatures to be considered and nearly 1,600 — 10 percent of the student body — to be passed. She hopes to reach at least 13,000 by collecting signatures on the commons today, Friday and Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m.

In comparison, SGA’s last signature-rallying attempt garnered about 2,700 signatures in support of the dispensing of emergency contraception pills.

Lunsford said the extra signatures would signal how strongly students support the policy.

Students should support the bill because JMU has a legal right to enact a weapons policy, the senator said.

Lunsford cites two court cases as evidence.

One states that a campus is a place set aside for "peaceful use" by students and faculty. The other states a university’s policies are deemed reasonable if they prevent "interference with the ‘normal activities’ of the institution regardless or whether the intent ‘in violating the regulation [is] violent or peaceful.’ "

"I have unassailable legal evidence," Lunsford said. "JMU is acting within its rights to protect students."