“East Carolina University professor Tracy Tuten [above] said she had never been interested in guns and had never owned one,” washingtonpost.com reports, “until she felt the need to protect herself when a student stalked her several years ago. Now, the marketing professor wants to be able to carry a weapon at school and even said that she intends to practice her right to bear arms on campus — a violation of state law.”
Tuten began speaking of her Second Amendment rights about a week ago, when members of the university’s marching band kneeled during the national anthem to protest police shootings of African Americans. After the university’s chancellor issued a statement supporting the students’ right to express themselves, Tuten sent him an email saying she, too, will exercise her Second Amendment right to bear arms.
An American who cherishes her “God given” right to keep and bear arms to the point where she’s willing to face arrest and the loss of her job. That’s more than enough to qualify Professor Tuten for TTAG’s Gun Hero of the Day award.
That said . . .
Tuten has since backed off from her original statements and hasn’t carried a gun on campus. She said she doesn’t want to break the law, but she’s started advocating to local and state representatives about allowing people to carry concealed weapons on college campuses in North Carolina.
Interesting that Post writer Kristine Guerra buried that backpedaling bit further down in her article. I wonder if Professor Tuten is now operating under the assumption that concealed means concealed. If so, that’s entirely understandable, and doesn’t entirely negate our attaboy for her campus carry crusade.
But it’s also true — as the late Mike Vanderboegh believed — that every great civil rights movement needs a hero. Martyr? Someone willing to make a public stand to defend their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected rights. Be that guy.