Mock Mass Shooting on UT Campus, Texas

Texas – -(Ammoland.com)- Holding a mock shooting massacre in Austin, on or near the campus of the University of Texas may be well-intended but is definitely not well thought-out.

SB 11, CHL on Campus, took 4 legislative sessions to pass, 8 years. Besides Texas State Rifle Association the major stakeholders were NRA and Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a national group organized post Virginia Tech. Students have graduated but others stepped up and took their place as well as faculty and staff.

We expect action to be taken by the Texas Attorney General on an opinion request by Senator Birdwell. There are also opinion requests dealing with the nuances of other pro-gun bills before AG Paxton.

While we appreciate free speech and we believe the Second Amendment protects the First; all Texas gun owners must look at what might be gained or lost at this time.

Please see the press release below from Students for Concealed Carry on Campus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 12/09/2015

CONTACT:
Antonia Okafor, Southwest Regional Director, Students for Concealed Carry (SCC): [email protected]
SCC Board of Directors: [email protected]
Wes Lewis: [email protected]

STUDENTS FOR CONCEALED CARRY DENOUNCES MOCK MASS SHOOTING PLANNED FOR UT-AUSTIN CAMPUS

AUSTIN, TX – Often, the hardest thing about fighting for licensed concealed carry on Texas college campuses is undoing the damage done by the small subset of gun rights activists who believe that theatricality and intimidation are adequate stand-ins for rational discourse and fact-based arguments. Case in point: the open carry activists who plan to stage an open carry march and mock mass shooting on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.

Antonia Okafor, Southwest regional director for Students for Concealed Carry, commented, “I’m astounded that eighteen months after most of the state’s open carry groups figured out that carrying rifles and shotguns into restaurants and grocery stores isn’t a solid public-relations strategy, one such group apparently thinks that introducing openly carried long guns, fake blood, and the sound of gunshots into a university community that is highly uncertain about the new campus carry law and understandably concerned about recent high-profile mass shootings is a smart idea.”

When SCC held its first empty holster protest in 2007, the organization instructed participants to provide advance notice to campus security and school administrators (using a provided form letter) and gave participants a list of six steps they could take (e.g., never placing anything inside a protest holster) toavoid even the slightest chance of alarming someone or causing confusion over the intent of the protest. The groups Come and Take It and DontComply.com, on the other hand, seem to be going out of their way to invite fear and confusion with their planned protest.

Retired SCC Director of Public Relations Wes Lewis, who served on SCC’s original board of directors and helped plan the first empty holster protest, remarked, “Some of these so-called gun rights groups seem to be little more than anarchists cloaking their antics in the legitimacy of the Second Amendment. Whoever and whatever they are, they need a remedial course in how to win friends and influence people.”

Responding to the suggestion that this type of public protest is why open carry legislation finally passed in 2015, Lewis added, “Anyone who credits these in-your-face protests with the passage of open carry legislation is choosing to ignore the two 800-pound gorillas in the room-this past [legislative] session was the first time the NRA made open carry a priority and the first time gun rights advocates in the Texas Legislature weren’t hamstrung by the Senate’s old two-thirds rule.”

Asked what, if anything, this type of protest has accomplished, Lewis replied, “If anything, I’d say these antics are responsible for making gun rights a much more partisan issue in the Texas Capitol. When [SCC] lobbied for campus carry in 2009, we enjoyed the support of several high-profile Democrats. Now, thanks in part to the public backlash caused by certain open carry groups, most Democrats wouldn’t touch a gun rights bill with a ten-foot pole.”

ABOUT STUDENTS FOR CONCEALED CARRY – Students for Concealed Carry (SCC) is a national, non-partisan, grassroots organization comprising college students, faculty, staff, and concerned citizens who believe that holders of state-issued concealed handgun licenses should be allowed the same measure of personal protection on college campuses that current laws afford them virtually everywhere else. SCC is a single-issue organization and has no official positions on open carry, unlicensed concealed carry, or concealed carry on the campuses of primary or secondary schools. SCC is not affiliated with the NRA or any other organization. For more information on SCC, visit ConcealedCampus.org or Facebook.com/ConcealedCampus. For more information on the debate over campus carry in Texas, visit WhyCampusCarry.com.

In conclusion: Have a safe and Merry Christmas

Be careful out there and

Keep the Faith

Alice Tripp
Legislative Director
Texas State Rifle Association
the NRA state affiliate