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Texas Students Protest Guns with ‘Cocks Not Glocks’
(Photo: Wikimedia, Creative Commons)
Students at the University of Texas arrived on campus openly displaying sex toys earlier in the week in protest of the new state gun law that makes the carrying of concealed handguns while in college classrooms across the state legal. The act of carrying sex toys in the open is currently illegal under local indecency laws.
Jessica Jin, leader of the protest called “Cocks Not Glocks: Campus (Dildo) Carry,” said the students were “fighting absurdity with absurdity.” Planning for the event began 10 months ago when the Campus (DILDO) Carry Facebook event was created on October 9, 2015.
The movement gave out hundreds of sex toys to students during a rally held on Wednesday, the first day of classes at the flagship campus for the university system.
“Texas has decided it is not all obnoxious or illegal to allow deadly concealed weapons on campus. But walking around with a dildo could land you in trouble,” Jin said.
The “campus carry law” went into effect in the state on August 1. Backed by Republican political leaders in the state, the law made it legal for concealed handgun holders who are at least 21 years old to bring handguns into classrooms and other facilities on campus, writes David Philipps for The New York Times.
Lawmakers argued that the law not only protects the rights of gun owners, but could help to prevent a mass shooting on campus. However, Jin mocked their suggestion, saying that dildos were, “just about as effective at protecting us from sociopathic shooters, but much safer for recreational play.”
At the same time, hundreds of university staff members and students had lobbied to block the law, saying adding firearms to an environment already full of youth, academic stress, and alcohol could have deadly results, writes Jon Herskovitz for Reuters.
More recently, a US district judge denied the motion from three University of Texas professors looking to have guns banned from their classrooms after the state gave that right to some students in the state under the new campus carry law.
Protestors could be heard shouting slogans such as “If you are packing heat, we are packing meat” at the school on Wednesday while they handed out sex toys, many of which had been donated by area stores. Plastic zip ties were also handed out allowing the sex toys to be strapped to backpacks as a sign of defiance against the new law.
“It’s scary to think that at any moment you could be next to a person carrying a gun. And if they go off their rocker, like a lot of people do in college, it is game over for anyone nearby,” said Bianca Montgomery, a second year student.
Organizer Ana Lopez said the sex toys would remain hooked to backpacks so long as guns are allowed on campus, writes Alfred Ng for The New York Daily News.
Although the sex toys break obscenity rules at the school, the university has decided to allow their distribution, saying the protest falls under protected political speech.
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