The shooting and its aftermath energized student activist efforts seeking to overturn bans that prevent gun holders (both "open carry" and "concealed carry permit" holders) from carrying their weapons on college campuses. Thirty-eight states throughout the U.S. ban weapons at schools; sixteen of those specifically ban guns on college campuses. A new group, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, formed after the shooting; , it claimed to have 16,000 members at 500 campuses nationwide. Several states considered legislation to allow gun permit holders to carry concealed firearms on university campuses. They cited cases of actual successful neutralization of active campus shooters by armed students to advance their cause. Another attempt by Delegate Gilbert to pass a law to allow concealed weapons on college campuses in Virginia was defeated in March 2008. This law was for the sake of students and faculty members only since the state attorney general ruled that it did not apply to non-students and non-faculty on campus who could carry concealed without restriction on campus. This law would have largely affected students aged 21 years or older, since younger people are not allowed to purchase handguns.
