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West Virginia’s House of Delegates passed a bill Tuesday that would allow concealed carry permit holders to carry firearms on the state’s public college and university campuses, according to Fox News. The bill, which passed by a sweeping 84-to-13 majority, will now go to Republican governor Jim Justice, who is expected to sign it, The Fairmont News reported Wednesday afternoon.
“When this bill comes to me, it won’t be with me but for a matter of seconds, because I’ll sign it,” Justice is quoted as saying. “It may very well be that we’ve got somebody on [a college] campus that has a firearm who, when something bad starts to happen, may save a bunch of lives. I really, truly believe that the people who have firearms and carry permits are law-abiding, good people with rock-solid credentials behind them.”
Eleven other states have enacted similar legislation.
Gun rights activists celebrated the bill, arguing that there’s no reason to restrict concealed carry permit holders from carrying their weapons on campuses. Republican delegate Mike Honaker, a former Virginia State Police officer who responded to the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, said that citizens should be allowed to use their weapons to protect themselves and others from violent threats on campuses.
Opponents say that allowing more guns on campuses will only lead to more violence, especially in the wake of the deadly shooting at Michigan State University last week, when a man killed three students and injured five.
