Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday delivered a sharp rebuke to the president of a prominent Christian university who two days earlier encouraged students to acquire concealed carry gun permits to “end those Muslims”.

The school president, Jerry Falwell Jr, was speaking to students at Liberty University in Virginia after the FBI announced it was investigating the lethal attack in San Bernardino, California, as a terrorist incident.

“Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here,” Falwell said. “I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in.” It was difficult to make out his final statements in a videotape of the remarks.

Clinton told ABC News on Sunday that Falwell was aiding Islamic State militants with such comments.

“This is the kind of deplorable – not only hateful response to a legitimate security issue, but it is giving aid and comfort to Isis and other radical jihadists,” she said.

“With respect to the gun issue, it’s legal to buy a gun in America. If you are eligible to buy a gun, you can go buy a gun – and hundreds of thousands of people apparently are in the aftermath of what happened in San Bernardino.”

Falwell himself said he began carrying a .25-caliber handgun in his back pocket after Wednesday’s shooting in California. He told the approximately 10,000 students attending his convocation speech that he’s had a permit for more than year. Falwell mentioned the weapon during his address and reached around seemingly to fetch it. “Is it illegal to pull it out? I don’t know,” he said, laughing, drawing some hoots from the audience.

Falwell’s call to arms 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.



Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe called Falwell’s comments “reckless”.

“My administration is committed to making Virginia an open and welcoming commonwealth, while also ensuring the safety of all of our citizens,” McAuliffe said in a statement issued on Saturday. “Mr Falwell’s rash and repugnant comments detract from both of those crucial goals.”

Challenged on his remarks at the weekend, Falwell, the son of an influential televangelist by the same name, tweeted: “I was referring to ‘those Muslims’ that just carried out attacks in Paris and California.”

“There are many good Muslims, many good, moderate Muslims,” he later told a local paper.