University anti-gun policies like those at Virginia Tech will probably come to a head during next year's legislative session. Virginia Tech and other colleges think that faculty, students, and visitors over 21, who have met the requirements for a concealed handgun permit should be banned from carrying guns on campus. But state law doesn't give them the power to enforce such a ban (although they're trying like hell).

Lawmakers on both sides of the issue said this week that they fully expect the issue to come up during the 2006 General Assembly session, which begins in January.

Del. Albert Eisenberg, an Arlington Democrat, said he plans to reintroduce legislation that would give public colleges the explicit right to regulate firearms on campus. Virginia code bans guns on K-12 school grounds in most circumstances, but does not mention college campuses.

Eisenberg said he realizes that attitudes toward guns likely vary from campus to campus. Students and employees of an urban university may feel less comfortable knowing guns are allowed on campus than those at a college in rural Virginia, where hunting is more popular, he said.

For that reason, his bill would not require college officials to enact a policy but merely grants them the authority.

Eisenberg sponsored identical legislation this year, but the measure died in committee.

"The issue is not for the state to dictate a one-size-fits-all policy," Eisenberg said. "It just makes sense for the institutions to decide for themselves. This is not pro-gun. This is not anti-gun."

Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, is considering the opposite: Legislation that would block colleges from prohibiting guns on campus, at least among visitors.

Eisenberg's record on guns is typical of Arlington Democrats. He proposed banning .50 caliber rifles, proposed banning concealed carry for university students, and voted for restrictions on gunowners picking up their kids from school (the gun in the glove-box law) before he voted against them. From Eisenberg's website:

According to the Justice Department, from 1995 to 2000, 410 assault weapons were traced to crime scenes in Virginia. Despite the national assault weapons ban, which President Bush and Senators Warner and Allen explicitly support, there are numerous such weapons that are available outside the current ban.

These weapons are capable of shooting down a commercial airliner and piercing the armor of public safety officers. They are 50 caliber, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, with more than twice the firepower of an AK-47 and an M-16.

Actually, although George Allen at one time voiced support for reauthorization of the Clinton Gun Ban, he eventually changed his mind based on the ineffectiveness of the ban. Also, Eisenberg's attempt to blur the line between so-called "assault weapons" and .50 caliber rifles is dishonest at best. The Clinton Gun Ban never addressed .50 caliber rifles.