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« 2d Amendment year in review | Main | My 14th Amendment paper is online »

FIRE on 1st *and* 2nd Amendment infractions

Posted by David Hardy · 1 January 2009 08:31 PM

Article here:

"In the spring, the South Campus of Tarrant County College (TCC) declared that wearing empty gun holsters, even during an officially sanctioned protest in the school’s tiny free speech zone, was too much for its fragile students to bear in this scary, post–Virginia Tech massacre world. TCC student Brett Poulos had notified administrators that his group would be engaging in an “Empty Holster Protest,” collaborating with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), a national organization that “supports the legalization of concealed carry by licensed individuals on college campuses.” SCCC promoted a coordinated national protest for April 2008 in which students would peacefully attend class and perform other daily tasks while wearing empty holsters to signify opposition to state laws and school policies denying concealed handgun license holders the same rights on college campuses that they are granted in most other places.

In an April 10 response Juan Garcia, Vice President for Student Development, “granted” Poulos’ request to stage a protest on the South Campus, but he changed the fundamental nature of the protest by banning the protesters from wearing empty holsters anywhere on the South Campus, including in the designated free speech zone. The tiny free speech zone on the South Campus, according to Poulos, is an elevated, circular concrete platform about 12 feet across. Poulos met with Garcia on April 18 and was told that TCC would take adverse action if SCCC members wore empty holsters anywhere, strayed beyond the campus’s free speech zone during their holster-free “empty holster” protest, or even wore t-shirts advocating “violence” or displaying “offensive” material.

Later, in a May 29 radio interview with the National Rifle Association on NRA News, Garcia explained that after the Virginia Tech and Northeastern Illinois shootings, students were “on edge,” so “any kind of equipment for guns” was something that TCC would not accept because it was “threatening” and would “disrupt our learning environment.” Garcia admitted that no students had said they were afraid of empty holsters and also said (seeming to contradict himself) that the VT/NIU incidents had “nothing to do with Brett Poulos.” Nevertheless, Garcia said, corralling the student protesters in the free speech zone was appropriate because “we want students in an area where we can provide security for both sides” and TCC would not allow protests anywhere on campus without knowing about it because that would just create an “open field” for anyone to protest anywhere.

It bears mentioning that TCC was the only public college in the country that banned empty holsters from campus during the nationwide protest.

If you think that case is nuts, take a look at what happened this fall at Lone Star College–Tomball, which used an even crazier rationale for censoring a tongue-in-cheek “Top Ten Gun Safety Tips” flyer during a student activities fair. After college officials banned the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) from distributing the flyer, the general counsel for the entire Lone Star College System invoked the specter of the Virginia Tech shootings, suggesting that even a “mention of firearms and weapons” is inherently a “material interference” with the school’s operations. The new group’s status as a student organization was even threatened simply because of the flyer, although recently FIRE learned that the group would be allowed to exist after all. We await word from school administrators, however, about whether the flyers will remain censored."

7 Comments | Leave a comment

Jim | January 2, 2009 2:36 PM | Reply

Ah, liberals and the bill of rights. The rights specifically enumerated don't count, but those we find in the penumbra are sacrosanct. Although some do feel the 1st is sacred, but only for themselves.

JJR | January 2, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply

There were loads of Pants-sh*tting Hysterics over the Faculty/Staff email list at the mere mention of the SCCC protests last year on our campus (no students that I saw participated). It was simply an advisory email letting faculty members know about the event and to not be alarmed if students wore empty holsters that day. But many faculty took the opportunity to grandstand and denounce guns and indignantly asked to be taken off the list (which was stupid because the email list is mandatory for staff and faculty to belong to as this is how administration mainly disseminates information). Eventually some faculty argued for others to cool it and to respect free speech even if they don't like the message. I thought about posting a 'pro' message in favor of SCCC but I was brand new on the job at the time and didn't want to make waves. Now that I've been here a year and feel more secure, if the sh*tstorm starts up again, I may join the fray at least electronically. I might even wear an empty holster myself, although the part of the library I work in is behind closed doors and not open to the public. I hope this will all be fixed by the Texas Legislature eventually. I've already written my reps in advance of the next session.

Robert | January 2, 2009 4:53 PM | Reply

The Tarrant county protests were mentioned in a state wide terror email alert circulated on the web by the Texas Department of Public Safety. I think they were even item one.

Andy Freeman | January 2, 2009 4:58 PM | Reply

Next time, they should carry dildoes in their holsters and say that it's a sexual freedom day protest. You might even get the college to buy holsters for folks who don't have them.

JC | January 4, 2009 7:41 PM | Reply

I thought the whole country was a "free speech zone"

Deavis | January 5, 2009 2:54 PM | Reply

"I thought the whole country was a 'free speech zone'"

Not on private property and DEFINITELY not when that free speech goes against the tolerant Progressive ideals.

Chuck | January 6, 2009 6:51 PM | Reply

"Not on private property and DEFINITELY not when that free speech goes against the tolerant Progressive ideals."

It may be private property, but I wonder how much federal funding they recieve in the form of student finacial aid?

I have partisipated in two empty holster silent protests as a faculty member at a private university, but I have tenure. The chancellor got kind of weird the second time.


Chuck

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