Liberty University to Allow Students With Concealed Handgun Permits to Keep Weapons in Their Dorms

LYNCHBURG, Va. (TheBlaze/AP) -- Liberty University will allow students with concealed handgun permits from the state to keep their weapons in their dorms beginning next fall.

The Lynchburg News & Advance reported those students would need permission from the school first. The guns would be kept in safes inside the residence halls at the private Christian university.

Image source: Liberty University

The policy change was given the go-ahead by the university's board of trustees last week.

University President Jerry Falwell Jr. announced last year that eligible students could carry guns anywhere on campus. Previously, students who qualified could carry guns anywhere except residence halls.

“It was because of what happened just an hour and a half up the road at Virginia Tech,” Falwell told students in December 2015. “More than 30 innocent students and facility were just murdered viciously and none of them had the ability to protect themselves.

“From the day that happened, I thought we needed to do something here at Liberty.”

Falwell said he asked the board to approve the change in 2011, according to the Lynchburg News and Advance.

Liberty University has over 14,500 residential students. One requirement for having a concealed-carry permit is being 21 or older.

Falwell says he expects the change to affect few people since not many 21-year-old students live in dorms on campus.