Yeah, he tries to add a different context too it later, but did he not realize how it sounds? And if so, what does that say about his leanings?The president of Liberty University urged students, staff and faculty at the Christian school to carry concealed weapons on campus to counter any possible armed attack like the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
“Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here,” President Jerry Falwell Jr told an estimated 10,000 students at the weekly convocation held on Friday in Lynchburg.
The call-to-arms was met with rousing applause from students, but some said Falwell went too far when he appeared to be referring specifically to Muslims, the News & Advance reported.
“I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in,” Falwell said. The final words of his statement could not be clearly heard on a videotape of the remarks.
Questioned by a student on social media, Falwell said he was referring to Islamic terrorists. “I was referring to ‘those Muslims’ that just carried out attacks in Paris and California,” he said in response on Twitter.
Reached later by the newspaper, Falwell said, “There are many good Muslims, many good, moderate Muslims.”
Falwell told the Associated Press on Saturday he was specifically referring to Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the husband and wife who shot and killed 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino on Wednesday.
In his call to arms, Falwell encouraged students to take a free class offered by campus police to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Falwell’s message is apparently being heeded. He said more than 100 people had asked Liberty police about a free class to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon. More than 14,000 students are enrolled at Liberty.
Following the San Bernardino shootings, which left 14 dead, Falwell said he began carrying a .25-caliber handgun in his back pocket. He said he’s had a permit for more than year. During his address Friday, Falwell mentioned the weapon and reached around seemingly to fetch it.
Advertisement
“Is it illegal to pull it out? I don’t know,” he said, laughing, drawing some hoots from the audience.
Asked if he was concerned by the prospect of thousands of armed young people on campus, Falwell said Virginia has a minimum age of 21 for a concealed-carry permit. He said that meant only older students would be armed.
Falwell also said he believed the campus needed to be prepared in the face of the increasing frequency of mass killings. He cited, for example, the 2007 massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech, the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, which took place less than 100 miles south-west of Liberty.
“What if just one of those students or one of those faculty members had a concealed permit and was carrying a weapon when the shooter walked into Virginia Tech? Countless lives could have been saved,” he said.
Falwell said he had also reached out to a first responder in San Bernardino to see if the school could offer scholarships to his children.
Unlike his late father, the Rev Jerry Falwell, the younger Falwell has been a low-key leader at Liberty. His father’s barbed statements on contemporary issues made him a reviled figure to some and a pioneering conservative crusader to others.
“That’s not my thing,” Falwell said in an interview with the AP earlier this year at Liberty, which was founded by his father.
Students are required to attend the weekly convocations, although they may skip one convocation per term for personal reasons. Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders held a campaign event at the university in September.
So... bigoted idiot, or pro-genocide and too cowardly to even stand by what he really thinks, as repulsive as it is?
