The president of Liberty University has urged students at the Christian school to carry concealed weapons on campus, saying that "we could end those Muslims before they walked in".
"Let's teach them a lesson if they ever show up here," President Jerry Falwell Jr told students Friday.
The call 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.
He 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 California on Wednesday.
Falwell told the newspaper, "There are many good Muslims, many good moderate Muslims."
Falwell also told the AP he believed the campus needed to be prepared in the face of the increasing frequency of mass killings. He cited the 2007 killing of 32 people at Virginia Tech, the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
"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's decided to carry a gun after recent attacks.
