Virginia Governor Tim Kane is clueless, or worse.

From his own mouth. Let's see...

1. Responsible, law-abiding adults exercising their human right of self defense shouldn't be allowed how or where to defend themselves.

2. Responsible, law-abiding adults should depend on rent-a-cops to protect them. (Governor Kane obviously has had little exposure to campus security.)

3. Responsible, law-abiding adults should depend on career liberal/progressive/leftist college administrators to make self defense decisions for them.

4.Responsible, law-abiding adults should have to be experts on the various regulations that may exist where there is no applicable standard across the state.

5. Kane thinks responsible, law-abiding adults exercising their 2nd Amendment rights is "not a good state response" to the VA Tech shootings, but introducing a law to close the "gun show loophole" is.

6. Kane thinks passing state bills to mandate something already mandated by Federal law is a good idea. (adding those "deemed mentally ill" to NICS)

7. "There’s new laws and the enforcement of existing laws," he said. "One of the things I learned when I was in local office in Richmond, when we did [the anti-gun program] Project Exile, was you can make a lot of headlines enforcing existing laws." Gee, and here I thought we enforced laws to protect society. Silly me.

Come on Virginia, you can do better that this.

By Drew Houff
The Winchester Star

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WINCHESTER — Students carrying concealed weapons on college campuses is not a good state response to the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine says.

During a visit to Winchester on Thursday, he said regulations regarding concealed weapons should be left to university police chiefs and other officials on campuses.

"I tend to really trust the campus security people and presidents," the governor said. "I think the folks who are running campus security have a pretty good sense what’s the right thing on their campus or not.

"A system that allows the colleges and their own campus security to make these determinations and make rules, I support. I would be reluctant to say, ‘Hey, you’re wrong. I know more about this than you.’"

Kaine added that he had no problem with one college campus having a policy different from another’s.

Locally, Shenandoah University, which is private, and Lord Fairfax Community College, which is state-funded, prohibit students from carrying guns on campus.

According to LFCC’s employee policy manual, unauthorized possession or use of firearms, dangerous weapons, or explosives is deemed unacceptable behavior for which specific disciplinary actions may be warranted.

The LFCC student handbook also notes that possession on one’s person or in one’s automobile of illegal or dangerous weapons, including knives or guns, is subject to disciplinary action.

Although a private institution, Shenandoah’s policy is similar.

Claressa Morton, SU vice president for student affairs, said on Thursday that no student, faculty member, staff member, or employee is allowed to have guns on campus.

"The only person who will have weapons, concealed or otherwise, is a law enforcement officer," she said. "That’s a very safe policy for Shenandoah University."

Morton said SU, which has a campus security, benefits from a strong relationship with the Winchester Police Department and the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, and those officers provide additional safety at the school.

Kaine said much had been learned from the Virginia Tech tragedy, including the need to do a better job of caring for and keeping track of the treatment of the mentally ill.

He has proposed legislation to excise the gun-show loophole in Virginia, under which non-registered gun dealers can sell firearms at shows without conducting a background check on the purchaser.

"There’s new laws and the enforcement of existing laws," he said. "One of the things I learned when I was in local office in Richmond, when we did [the anti-gun program] Project Exile, was you can make a lot of headlines enforcing existing laws. It’s not all about the new laws, but by enforcing existing laws."

Kaine said another bill that makes sure anyone deemed mentally ill would be added to the criminal database used by gun dealers to screen buyers also would help.

"That’s not going to be controversial, because I think everybody realizes that’s a good thing," he said. "The attorney general [Robert F. McDonnell] and I worked on that together, and that’s going to happen."

Kaine said in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech incident, enforcement of existing laws would go a long way toward prevention.

"If we have made the determination that a dangerously ill person should not have a gun, I think we should stick with that," he said.

Kaine said these steps make sense to almost everyone.

"The fix is not an onerous fix or a challenge, as most people who buy weapons go through the instant-records check and they know it."