Jerry Falwell Jr., president of the conservative evangelical Liberty University, told students on Wednesday that he will allow firearms to be carried in residence areas of the school. This is following his comments made on Friday, urging his students to obtain their concealed carry permits in order to protect themselves against Muslims.
He uploaded a video to the school's website in which he stated that changes were being put into place to help students obtain their firearm permits more quickly. "Because of a lot of requests I've received from you, from students, about it not being a good idea to have gun-free zones in the residence halls ... we're making that change at your request," Falwell said.
"If some of those 14 who were killed..." Falwell said in reference to the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings, according to Yahoo! News. "If just one or two or three or four of those victims had carry permits and guns, maybe there would have only been three or four deaths."
It had long been policy that dormitories were gun-free zones on campus, but students - concerned for their well-being - conveyed to the university president that firearms left in their cars in the parking lot were too far from the student residences on campus should danger arise, according to NBC News.
Around 950 students at Liberty University have concealed carry permits, but many more have signed up for the course in the last several days.
Falwell has received criticism for his comments made against the Muslim community during Friday's convocation, in which he suggested that all Muslims wish to do harm to students in the school and that students need to be protected.
