How would you feel seeing someone openly carrying a gun onto our campus? Would it be okay, seeing someone readjust their gun during class? That’s a question we at the Collegiate never thought we would ask. However, on June 13, 2015, The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed into law an open carry bill in which those over 21 years of age can legally carry concealed handguns in most places at public colleges. This bill did not take effect until Jan. 1, 2016.
Some University of Texas students were are not happy about this, so they started the protest “cocks not glocks.” In this protest, they bring the most colorful, obnoxious sex toys to campus. They are also signing a petition to voice their opinions.
With this news breaking, the Collegiate set out to find our campus gun laws. “The possession or use of firearms, firecrackers, explosives, toxic or dangerous chemicals, or other lethal weapons, equipment or material is not permitted on College property at any time,” Delta College’s Police Chief, Robert Battinkoff, cited from The Delta College Regulations and Rules of Conduct.
The Chief also gave his personal opinion on the matter, “I generally support people’s right to responsibility own and use firearms,” Battinkoff explained. “However,” the Chief continued, “I believe that considerable deference should be given to the College Administrators and the elected Board of Trustees to determine what is appropriate for their College.”
Though the Police Chief explained that hunters may bring their carry arms on campus as long as the weapon is approved beforehand and locked in the Public Safety office or inside a locked vehicle.
Though we were all generally relieved to hear this information, we still took to wondering what we would do in the position of University of Texas. Would we strap inappropriate adult toys to our backpacks? And why, exactly, were these specific things chosen to protest with?
After some investigative journalism, we found that the University of Texas, all sex toys are banned. What they’re trying to fight is the hypocrisy of openly and legally carrying a concealed weapon at school, but you cannot bring a harmless toy strictly used for self-pleasure.
Bringing this all back to home, Delta’s Police Chief explained Michigan’s current laws on firearms. Batinkoff stated, “Michigan presently requires only minimal training and evaluation to receive a Concealed Pistol License (CPL). I do not believe that the level of training and evaluation presently required for a CPL in Michigan should be sufficient to allow a person to carry a gun on a college campus.”
He continued expressing his opinion with, “I think that training for anyone carrying a gun on a college campus, or similar area, should be more in line with the nature and degree of training received by police recruits. The training should include shoot/don’t shoot scenarios, decision making evaluation, the use of firearms under stress, and extensive training on the legal and civil ramifications of using a firearm, at a minimum.”
As college students, we at the Collegiate agree that having concealed weapons on a college campus is ludicrous. The sex toys are a little extreme. However, they are standing up for what they believe in, and we respect that.
Though we all agree on the craziness that is the issue at Univeristy of Texas, we’re grateful that it brought us the knowledge of our own gun laws. We all agreed that it was something that was unthought of. No one would have ever thought that a gun on campus would ever be okay. That idea seems like something of fiction. Though we’re grateful that we don’t fall into the same category as The University of Texas, we hope that they fight with all that they have– inappropriateness and all.
