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View Full Version : National Collegiate Empty Holster Protest - October 22-26


Douva
10-01-2007, 10:13 AM
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On April 16, 2007, twenty-seven students and five faculty members at Virginia Tech lost their lives to a madman who possessed one distinct advantage over his victims—He wasn’t concerned with following the rules. Undeterred by Virginia Tech’s status as a “gun free zone,” this mentally unstable individual carried two handguns onto the university campus and indiscriminately opened fire.

During the week of October 22-26, 2007, college students throughout America will attend classes wearing empty holsters, in protest of state laws and campus policies that stack the odds in favor of armed killers by disarming law abiding citizens who are licensed to carry concealed handguns virtually everywhere else.

In thirty-nine U.S. states, thousands of collegiate students and faculty—age twenty-one and above—are licensed to carry concealed handguns throughout their day-to-day lives. And they do so without incident. However, despite the absence of any compelling evidence that these licensed individuals might pose any more threat to college campuses than they do to office buildings, shopping malls, movie theaters, grocery stores, banks, etc., they are currently prohibited, either by state law or school policy, from carrying their firearms onto most college campuses. On October 22 these students, through their Empty Holster Protest, will ask for a change.

In the last twenty years, the vast majority of the mass shootings in America—from the Texas Luby’s massacre to the Columbine High School massacre—have happened in “gun free zones.” Labeling an area “gun free” may make some people feel safer, but as the shootings at Virginia Tech taught us, feeling safe and being safe are not the same thing.

For over a year, state law in Utah has allowed licensed individuals to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. This has yet to result in a single act of violence. Numerous studies, including studies by John Lott, David Mustard, William Sturdevant, and state justice departments, show that license holders are five times less likely than non-license holders to be arrested for violent crimes. Clearly, license holders pose little threat to college campuses.

While some may argue that guns have no place in institutions of higher learning, the students of the Empty Holster Protest contend that it is the threat of uncontested, execution-style massacre that has no place on America’s college campuses, and these students respectfully ask that steps be taken to take the advantage away from those who seek to harm the innocent.

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T-shirts are now available for anyone wishing to support the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) empty holster protest.

http://www.shirtmagic.com/shop/concealedcampus

Please note that these shirts are being sold at cost. Nobody but the print shop makes a profit from them.

DAN
10-01-2007, 10:33 AM
Thanks Douva for posting this information. Please keep us informed on the outcome and what readers can do to help.
DAN

nodaywithout
10-01-2007, 05:58 PM
Thank you for posting this information, i have already begun passing this information to my friends who are in college.

Bill of Rights
10-01-2007, 06:17 PM
I will take particular pride in the fact that the day chosen for this was the birthday of my recently-deceased father. He was not a proponent of CCW, having received an injury after WWII from a supposedly unloaded gun that was placed in his hand, however he was a man who fought injustice as long as God allowed him to do so, and this is an injustice that needs fought. (Edit: Oops. I misread. The day of the Va. Tech attack was Dad's b'day. My error.)

I also take just a wee bit of pride in the fact that my own birthday falls on what I've seen referred to as the 2nd Amendment holiday, St. Crispin's day, upon which was fought the Battle of Agincourt. This battle was won by the ancestor of the rifle: The English longbow. A vastly numerically superior force was beaten by men skilled at the use of arms.

Blessings,
M

VegasGeorge
10-01-2007, 08:26 PM
There's not much time to do anything on a large scale. But, I would be glad to help any students here in Las Vegas that need a holster to wear. I have a few laying around, and I'm sure my friends do too.

I really like this "empty holster day" idea. How about we try to get in contact with whoever is organizing this and start supporting it through our Forum? Maybe it could be a monthly protest or something like that, and would raise public 2nd Amendment awareness and get us some favorable publicity (for a change).

Douva
10-01-2007, 09:29 PM
I'm sure that Students for Concealed Carry on Campus would appreciate all the help they can get. These sites contain the contact information for the protest organizers:


http://concealedcampus.org/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2383535699

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2359003596

Raccoon
10-02-2007, 03:43 PM
Do you think if a college tells a student to take off the holster, that the ACLU would backup the student for infringement of 1st amendment rights?

humm. . .

nodaywithout
11-03-2007, 12:37 AM
College students across the country have been strapping empty holsters around their waists this week to protest laws that prohibit concealed weapons on campus, citing concerns over campus shootings.

"People who would otherwise be able to defend themselves are left defenseless when on campus," said Ethan Bratt, a graduate student wearing an empty holster this week on the campus of Seattle Pacific University.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a group of college students, parents and citizens who organized after the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech University in April, launched the protest.

A national debate over gun laws on campus began in the wake of those shootings, in which a deranged student killed 32 people in a classroom building before committing suicide. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Campuses are prime targets for people intent on harming others because laws prohibit concealed weapons there, Bratt said.

But others believe college is no place for firearms.

"You don't like the fact that you can't have a gun on your college campus? Drop out of school," said Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

When someone pulls out a gun and starts firing in a crowded environment, it's more likely that additional victims will be harmed, Hamm said.

"Let's be grateful that those holsters are empty," he said.

A group of 12 students chose to wear empty holsters to class this week at the University of Idaho as part of the nationwide protest.

Aled Baker, a junior, said he loses his constitutional right to protect himself and others when he steps on campus.

"It's null and void when you go on campus," the mechanical engineering student said.

Baker, a sportsman and hunter, has a license to carry a concealed handgun and hopes the protest will get people talking about the issue.

Many universities, like George Washington University, prohibit carrying concealed handguns on campuses.

"We do not allow weapons on campus for the safety and security of our student body and faculty," said Tracy Schario, spokeswoman for George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Justin Turner, a senior in criminology and history at Florida State University, also wants the ability to carry a concealed handgun on campus.

"I'm hoping that people actually realize that this is something that college students are serious about moving forward and realize that it's not about taking the law into your own hands; it's about taking personal responsibility for yourself," said Turner, chairman of the Florida State chapter of Students for the Second Amendment.

Congress is considering legislation that would tighten background checks and give states funding to submit information to a national database that would prevent guns from being sold to dangerous buyers. House lawmakers passed the legislation, but it remains in the Senate.

"It fixes the problem that the states are not submitting the necessary records of people who have been found by a court to be dangerously mentally ill," Hamm said.

Family members and survivors of the Virginia Tech shootings recently visited members of Congress to urge lawmakers to pass the legislation they believe could help prevent future tragedies.


Courtesy of FOXNEWS.comhttp://www.foxnews.com/images/317192/0_61_102207_holster_empty.jpg

Bill of Rights
11-03-2007, 01:47 AM
"You don't like the fact that you can't have a gun on your college campus? Drop out of school," said Peter Hamm, a spokesman for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

When someone pulls out a gun and starts firing in a crowded environment, it's more likely that additional victims will be harmed, Hamm said.

"Let's be grateful that those holsters are empty," he said.


Why yes, of course, that's a wonderful idea from the Brady Bunch... If you want to exercise your fundamental and Constitutional rights, give up on the idea of higher education and bettering yourself by your own effort.. It's much better that you depend on the government to support and "take care of" you.

As for the "legislation" that would "tighten background checks" that "House lawmakers passed but is stalled in the Senate", isn't it convenient how the House passed that by voice vote so we don't know who to blame, under suspension of the rules? I hope the senators realize that since they cannot do likewise, any who vote for this law to pass will be looking for work when they next come up for re-election.

Cogito, ergo porto.

Blessings,
M