UW students to emulate failed ‘cocks not Glocks’ protest
University of Wisconsin, Madison students are planning to replicate a failed protest at the University of Texas, Austin, where hundreds of students strapped dildos to their backpacks in protest of campus carry.
While UT, Austin’s protest made national headlines, with more than 4,500 dildos and an estimated 10,000 protesters descending upon the state school’s campus, the measure still ultimately passed, allowing concealed handgun license holders to carry on campus.
Nonetheless, UW, Madison students are in the planning stages of an identical protest, saying they will mimic the “successful protest that originated at the University of Texas, Austin” but then immediately noting that “campus carry passed.”
[RELATED: Dildos descend upon Austin for ‘Cocks not Glocks’ protest]
A campus carry measure, however, has already failed at least once in Wisconsin, but one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Rep. Jesse Kremer (R), is reportedly redrafting the legislation, which he plans to introduce in January during the new legislative session.
Despite no official measure yet being introduced, students and Wisconsinites are already reacting harshly to the mere thought of its return, with one petition garnering more than 1,000 signatures in just a week, according to The Cap Times.
The “Cocks not Glocks” protest, though, will likely be smaller than the one out of UT, Austin, since one the event’s organizers, Kat Kerwin, has indicated that only “200 sex toys [are] on their way right now” to be used when the bill is officially introduced.
Kerwin predicts that a campus carry measure would scare away prospective students and professors, telling The Cap Times that “it’s going to make professors feel unsafe and make professors want to leave and seek other big research universities that don’t have campus carry.”
“Campus carry isn’t something that’s going to make campus safer,” she added, arguing that “it’s going to make students uncomfortable, [and] it’s going to make them wary to express their views in politically charged classrooms.”
[RELATED: Texas prof worries campus carry endangers free speech]
Unfortunately for Rep. Kremer, Kerwin appears to have the support of UW administrators and public safety officials, who have recently voiced their opposition to campus carry.
“Many parents would have concerns about sending their children to a campus that may have guns in dorm rooms or at football games,” Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in a press release. “Adding concealed weapons to the many challenges our police department has to deal with would put everyone at risk. We remain absolutely opposed to any changes that would weaken the current prohibition on concealed weapons in campus buildings.”
Similarly, Briand Bridges, interim chief of the University of Wisconsin Police Department, called Rep. Kremer’s legislation a “giant step backward.”
“We have devoted significant resources to security on campus. Allowing concealed weapons into buildings like the Kohl Center would be a giant step backward,” he continued. “Having guns in the classrooms, stadiums, and dorms would be an enormous challenge for us that would put the safety of our students, faculty, staff, and guests at risk.”
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