The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the George Mason University weapon’s policy banning guns inside Mason facilities and at university events on Jan. 13. The decison was reached after the ban was challenged in court by a visitor to the university.
Mason regulation bans the possession of weapons in campus buildings and at Mason sporting, entertainment or educational events, by anyone except police officers.
“Visitors are prohibited from bringing a weapon into our facilities,” said Christine LaPaille, vice president for university relations.
Rudolph DiGiacinto, who filed the lawsuit against Mason, said the regulation violated his constitutional rights under the Virginia Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. DiGiacinto is not a student or employee at Mason, but described himself as a user of the Mason libraries and in court documents said he has the right to carry an unconcealed handgun on the Mason campuses and in its facilities.
“I frequented the Fenwick Library and the Arlington law school library for legal research,” DiGiacinto said in an e-mail.
DiGiacinto is the founder of Virginia1774.org, which states that it is “the legal research and information site on the right to a well regulated militia and the right to keep and bear arms in Virginia.” DiGiacinto said he used documents from Mason library resources to help in his research for the website and to help him file a “friend of the court brief” during the District of Columbia v. Heller case. This case ruled that the district’s ban on handguns in private homes was unconstitutional.
However the Virginia Supreme Court sided with Mason, saying in its ruling that the Mason regulation did not violate the Virginia Constitution, or the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
DiGiacinto maintains that the Virginia Supreme Court was wrong regarding the rights granted in the Virginia Constitution. “the Court … decided to subvert the Virginia Constitution to the United States Constitution when the Virginia Constitution predates the U.S. Constitution,” DiGiacinto said in the e-mail.
However, LaPaille defended the Mason regulation.
“I think the board acted wisely in extending the same prohibitions to visitors to our campus that we have to abide by, as employees and students,” LaPaille said. “We need to keep our buildings safe.”
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