If any of my family members found out I engaged in such a rally, I would be pulled out of college faster than you can say Jack Robinson. But if that would be before or after the butt whooping I would receive... I couldn't tell you.
The College Fix reported that the Campus (Dildo) Carry protest will take place on August 24 at the University of Texas at Austin. The anti-gun demonstration was organized on Facebook by three current students: Jessica Jin, Ana López and Kailey Nicole Moore.
According to the group's Facebook event page, the demonstration will entail “strapping gigantic swinging dildos to [their] backpacks in protest of campus carry.”
“Just about as effective as protecting us from sociopathic shooters, but much safer for recreational play," the event adds, explaining, “ANYBODY can participate in solidarity: alum, non-UT students, people outside of Texas. Come one dildo, come all dildos.”
I don’t know what is more ludicrous: the fact that these students don’t believe that guns can save lives, that students are willingly participating in such a sexually graphic protest, or that they actually believe their demonstration will have an impact on this policy.
These students are also fully aware that they will be violating a basic campus rule, referencing the policy handbook which states:
Subchapter 13–200. Prohibited Expression
Sec. 13–201. Obscenity
No person or organization will distribute or display on the campus any writing or visual image, or engage in any public performance, that is obscene. A writing, image, or performance is “obscene” if it is obscene as defined in Texas Penal Code, Section 43.21 or successor provisions, and is within the constitutional definition of obscenity as set forth in decisions of the United States Supreme Court.
The organizers state on the event page to “participate at your own risk. But can you imagine the gongshow that would be UTPD/APD trying to chase down thousands of students wielding harmless dildos around campus.”
So students are planning to break the rules and engage in a sexually explicit protest, all because of a bill Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law on June 1 that authorizes those with a concealed carry license to carry a handgun on private and public college campuses in Texas.
S.B. 11 states:
… may establish rules, regulations, or other provisions concerning the storage of handguns in dormitories or other residential facilities...
… shall establish reasonable rules, regulations, or other provisions regarding carrying of concealed handguns by license holders on the campus of the institution or on premises located on the campus of the institution.
But colleges are allowed to implement their own policies, so long as they don't prohibit “license holders from carrying handguns on the campus of the institution.” Schools like the University of Texas at Austin have put in place several restrictions of their own, including various "gun-free zones" throughout the campus and a stipulation that students cannot open-carry, but instead must place their gun in a backpack or handbag.
The gun must be in a holster, the trigger area completely covered, and secured enough so that it does not move if the handbag is jostled. It must be kept close enough to the owner at all times so that “the license holder can grasp is without materially changing position.”
Of course, these regulations are not enough. About 10,000 Facebook users said they will be “going” to the dildo demonstration, while 3,400 are “interested.”