Virginia Delegate Garrett McGuire (D) argued that ROTC students who killed the Old Dominion University (ODU) terrorist without a gun proved that you do not need a gun to defend yourself.
The New York Post noted that 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh allegedly entered a classroom in ODU’s Constant Hall on March 12, 2026, “asked if it was an ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps] class,” then began shooting after being answered in the affirmative.
Breitbart News reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indicated Jalloh said, “Allah Akbar” as he commenced his attack. He shot and fatally wounded the instructor before being killed by ROTC students.
While arguing in favor of gun control bill HB 1525 — a bill banning people under 21 years of age from being able to “knowingly and intentionally purchase, possess, or transport a handgun or assault firearm anywhere in the Commonwealth” — McGuire used the example of unarmed ROTC students to contend you do not need to have a gun in order to defend your life.
McGuire pointed out that HB 1525 exempts “cadets in a college ROTC program” from the proposed ban, than added, “Even though we know that it’s not always true that you need a gun to fight back someone with a gun, because those hero cadets did it.”
While the ROTC students were able to overpower and kill the armed ODU terrorist, their instructor, 42-year-old Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, was shot and fatally wounded in the attack.
The attacker, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, was a former National Guardsman who was convicted of working with ISIS in 2017 and sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was released early from prison and entered ODU’s gun-free campus Thursday, where he carried out his heinous attack with a Glock 44, chambered in .22 lr.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at [email protected].
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