The NRA has announced a special program designed to help educate college level students about gun rights, current legislation, and the gun control debate. I for one am very excited about this program. No matter what side of the issue people stand on, we can all use more EDUCATION. Granted you could expect this 2 hour seminar to be a little one sided but there are sure to be many golden nuggets of information.

Here is the press release from the NRA:

Thursday, December 01, 2011

In an effort to educate the next generation of gun rights advocates on exercising and maintaining their constitutionally guaranteed Right to Keep and Bear Arms, NRA has developed a comprehensive program for college students called “NRA University”– NRA U for short.

NRA U is a two-hour training seminar for college students interested in learning more about NRA, the Second Amendment, gun safety, legislative threats to gun rights and the gun control debate. NRA-ILA staff will travel to a college campus and provide seminar attendees with the tools they’ll need to become more effective activists in the fight to protect our freedom, both on and off campus.

Staff will address the myths of gun control, covering topics such as the history of the Second Amendment and the use of guns for self-defense, and provide the NRA’s solutions to reducing gun crime and accidents.

In addition to ensuring a more balanced discussion of this issue on campus, NRA staff will talk about the various NRA programs in which students can participate. Students will also learn about opportunities to work with like-minded activists in their area.

Students will receive free fraternal items, such as NRA U hats, t-shirts, and stickers.

Upcoming NRA U Seminars are scheduled for:

University of Nevada – Las Vegas January 23

Stetson Law School (Florida) February 27

Florida State University February 28

University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia March 15

Indiana State University March 26

Washington & Lee University TBA

 

Contact NRA-ILA today to bring NRA U to your campus this spring! And be sure to join our group on Facebook too.

For more information, please visit the NRA University Home Page at http://www.nraila.org/nrau/, e-mail us at NRAU@nrahq.org, or call us at 800-392-VOTE (8683).

Guns on campus are a sensitive issue in Virginia after the 2008 Virginia Tech incident. Now a private Christian University has removed a ban that previously banned all firearms from campus property. The new policy allows visitors, students, faculty, and staff with valid concealed weapons permits to store weapons in locked cars. Students can also apply for permission from campus police to carry a firearm on the exterior grounds. The policy also allows some faculty and staff to carry weapons inside buildings with permission granted on a case-by-case basis by campus police.

Read more here…

Recently Sen Orrin Hatch wrote an article entitled “Protecting our constitutional right to keep and bear arms requires constant vigilance.” Its a great summary of some of the wins that we have achieved at the national level over the last several years. It also speaks out clearly as to the Utah philosophy in regards to firearms.

The original article is found here: http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2011/11/04/protecting-our-constitutional-right-to-keep-and-bear-arms-requires-constant-vigilance-opinion/

For your convenience I’m posting an excerpt here.

Gun owners in America know they can never rest easy. That’s because Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms is always under fire from the political left and their allies in the White House, Congress and the media.

It doesn’t take much to prompt another assault on our Second Amendment Rights. All it requires is one high-profile case involving a criminal and a firearm, and there’s no shortage of liberal legislators and pundits willing to tar law-abiding gun owners with the same brush and call for gun control.

In that never-ending war, I have found it better to be proactive than reactive. It is better to take the legislative initiative rather than wait for the next incursion from the anti-gun crowd before taking action. That is why I have spearheaded many important initiatives over the years to uphold our right to bear arms.

In October, for example, Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and I introduced the Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act, which brings gun laws into the 21^st century by allowing the interstate sale of firearms and getting rid of antiquated and unnecessary restrictions on interstate firearms transactions that hurt business and jobs.

Specifically, the legislation would remove a number of restrictions from the Gun Control Act of 1968, which only allows dealers to sell rifles or shotguns to residents of a different state subject to a tedious series of conditions. These restrictions are aimed at stopping buyers from evading background checks.

Since 1998, however, all people buying firearms from dealers in the U.S. are subject to a sophisticated computer background check under the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is much more advanced and renders the restrictions in the 1968 law obsolete. The current restrictions, unless changed, will continue to interfere with interstate commerce by hindering or preventing these sales. This bill would put a stop to that.

On another front, Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and I, along with 43 other senators, recently wrote President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, to oppose ratification of the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty that could jeopardize our national sovereignty and restrict the rights of American gun owners.

Utahns and other Americans won’t tolerate this White House or Congress surrendering our national sovereignty to U.N. bureaucrats so they can dictate to us our liberties and freedoms. As your elected representative, I won’t tolerate it either.

Read more…

The legislative commission in Nevada has repealed a law that prohibited carrying firearms in State parks. The law still prohibits discharge of a firearm in state parks with obvious exceptions. Nevada state law still protects the rights of self defense of course.

As you know Federal law in regards to National Parks echos that of State Parks where the National Park is located. That means that the carry of firearms inside of National Parks inside of Nevada are also allowed.

Well, the house finally passed a bill that essentially would make all states who issue concealed carry permits, honor permits from any state. This would take a lot of the guess work out of the national travel problems that current concealed carry holders face.

Currently only Illinois and DC do not honor any form of a concealed carry permit meaning that your current permit would be valid in the remaining 49 states if this bill were signed into law.

This still has to go through the senate etc and in an election year like 2012 this bill could be a topic that comes out in some debates!