imported post
rlh2005 wrote:
I personally feel the ban is illegal since VA has preemption and VT (or any state school) is a government institution.
No no folks - VA preemption, like most states, is only directed at localities, not state agencies like colleges. But when it comes to college carry, for sure there is no law making it a crime for anyone to carry on campus.
But what about administrative restrictions imposed by state agencies?
When it comes to state agencies, the AG opined on state park carry in 2002 that CHP holders have the universal right to carry concealed except as limited by the General Assembly - see
http://www.vcdl.org/new/kilgore_opinion.pdf.
The recent AG opinion on college carry at
http://www.vcdl.org/pdf/OP-05-078.pdfagreed with the universal right to carry doctrine on colleges as a baseline, but then noted that colleges have inherent power to restrict gun carry by employees and students. Unfortunately, this opinion, issued by a temporary AG between Kilgore and McDonnell then
muddied the waters by suggesting that colleges have certain powers to limit gun carry of "invitees" under the common law associated with ownership of property. "Ownership," huh??
Yes, this was a bad AG opinion. But at least it noted generally that the public had a general right to carry, concealed
or openly, & that the college's restrictions must be narrowly taylored to avoid unreasonably burdening the right to carry.
But what about the restaurant ban?
If a stadium is a restaurant, then open carry is required - but "special events" are not covered by the ban at all. As a technical matter, it is not clear generally that a criminal penalty exists for concealed carry in a restaurant, but it might. It is also a question of fact as to whether a stadium is a restaurant just b/c some vender sells beer somewhere - is a mall or hotel a restaurant just b/c somewhere there alcohol and meals are served?
My Opinion: At college stadiums where alcohol is served in VA, carry concealed, don't drink, & stay away from the alcohol serving venders in the stadium. Then after the game, take a nice long open carry stroll thru the common areas of the campus!