Posted on 04/03/2010 5:40:13 AM PDT by marktwain
College students across America will once again strap on empty holsters in an act of silent protest against laws and policies banning licensed concealed carry on campus.
The protest, sponsored by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), will take place April 5-9, 2010 and comes on the heels of college administrators discriminating against concealed carry permit holders, and censoring students who disagree.
According to the group, colleges have repeatedly ignored or attempted to keep students from discussing the issue. In Pennsylvania, one college banned SCCC member Christine Brashier from handing out fliers about the group, stating, "You may want to discuss this topic but the college does not, and you cannot make us." Another college in Texas tried to block students from wearing the symbolic empty holsters on campus until a federal judge ruled that their ban violated the First Amendment. And a recent decision at Colorado State University overturned a long-standing policy that allowed concealed carry, despite the fact that crime on campus decreased rapidly since allowing concealed carry on campus, and no problems were reported among permit holders. The ban was opposed by students, Student Government, and local law enforcement.
"Colleges aren't content to ban the right to self-defense anymore," said David Burnett, a spokesman for SCCC. "Now they're trying to suspend the right to freedom of speech. They want to silence us and hope we'll go away. It's outrageous and our membership cares too much about self defense to remain silent."
The group was formed shortly after the Virginia Tech shooting, and advocates that persons with state-issued permits be allowed to carry concealed handguns on college grounds.
"Compulsory defenselessness doesn't make students safer, it makes them less safe," said Burnett. "A piece of paper taped to the door saying guns are against the rules has yet to stop a criminal, whether a mass shooter or an armed rapist. It merely assures the criminal that victims are incapable of effective resistance. There are no security checkpoints or metal detectors to pass through in order to enter a college campus and absolutely no way for colleges to control what a criminal brings on campus. Until they can take responsibility for our safety and guarantee our protection, colleges can't be allowed to deny us the right to self-defense."
Contact:
David Burnett
Director of Public Relations
David.Burnett@concealedcampus.org
www.concealedcampus.org
Bang
I'm encouraged ... I hope they understand that some of them may be forced to become embeds in the system and organization(s) they will become part of as they grow, age and develope.
I took my son on a campus visit to Penn State this week. I was pleased to see a young man wearing a Gadsden flag t-shirt on campus. Not only am I happy to see an aware young man, but one who is unafraid to "speak out" on campus.
It seems that the college where Christine Brashier encountered a problem has since been set straight. It now recognizes a campus chapter of SCCC.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=125608
Interesting. My state has a statute forbidding firearms on campus.
Though to be absolutely technical, such a law is invalid due to the State’s Constitution:, Art II, Sec 6:
No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms. (As amended November 2, 1971 and November 2, 1986.)
As you can see, concealed carry is another matter entirely.
When you examine the situation comparing Article II, section 6 vs State laws prohibiting concealed carry without a state granted permit, IMO the Constitution wins out simply because it was written first and therefore is superior.
>When you examine the situation comparing Article II, section 6 vs State laws prohibiting concealed carry without a state granted permit, IMO the Constitution wins out simply because it was written first and therefore is superior.
Nope, Art 2 Sec 6 says “but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons.” That is as amended in `86, more than a decade [IIRC] before any sort of CCW permitting was even available.
Conceal Carry and Open Carry are two entirely different things, if not in law, then certainly in the mentality of the practitioner... there is CERTAINLY another dividing line between the mentalities of those who do carry concealed: those who DO carry legally will tend to have a high regard for the law [or at least moral behavior], while those who do not are virtually certain to be criminals. Put another way: CCW holders are one of THE most law abiding groups [statistically speaking], but of people who carry concealed they are only a fraction and the complementing-group is [statistically speaking] certain to be criminal even disregarding the crime of concealed weapons.
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