Antonia Okafor, Southwest regional director for Students for Concealed Carry, commented, “The people of Texas and the University of Texas will always owe Mr. Martinez a debt of gratitude for his heroic actions on August 1, 1966, but his views on campus carry are rooted in ideas that are a quarter-century out of date”.
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“We have put signs up that say campus carry is not allowed in our clinical facilities”, said Short.
University of Texas at Austin student Raeann Garcia said the new campus carry law makes her nervous.
The post 50 years after UT Austin clock tower shooting, new campus carry gun law goes into effect appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
Universities in the Central Texas area have finalized their policies for implementing the state law, known as Senate Bill 11, which permits concealed carrying of handguns on college campuses and requires public institutions to allow guns on parts of their campuses with exceptions.
According to interim communications director Jill Cloud, the university has received no last-minute questions or concerns from students. At private schools, meanwhile, administrators can choose to opt out of the law.
He also made it clear that Monday’s memorial is about the victims who died that day, and not a commentary on the new law.
They contend that “Compelling professors at a public university to allow, without any limitation or restriction, students to carry concealed guns in their classrooms chills their First Amendment rights to academic freedom”. This is to mark the 50th anniversary of the University of Texas horrific mass shooting at the school’s landmark clock tower.
Bells tolled for the victims, and a new memorial replaced a smaller plaque.
Additionally, the handgun license holder must comply with Texas statutory law and Tarleton Rule 34.06.02.T1, Carrying Concealed Handguns on Campus at all times. UT student and Marine-trained sniper Charles Whitman had killed his wife and mother earlier that morning before going to the tower observation deck and opening fire on all who walked by. Private schools can prohibit guns on campus, and many have.
Survivors found each other in an informal 2014 remembrance and through the making of a documentary called Tower on the shooting that came out this year, with many saying in the movie they still feel emotional scars from that day. James, then eight months pregnant, survived the attack but lost her baby. Campus Carry laws on those campuses don’t go into effect until 2017. “I just hope it will help, especially other people”, James said.
Texas has become the center of the political debate surrounding campus carry after passing the state law.
But supporters say that’s irrelevant.
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The university’s previous attempt to recognize those who suffered through Whitman’s August 1, 1966 shooting rampage involved the creation of the Tower Garden in 1999, with a plaque to commemorate the incident.
