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Thanks to a bill OK’ing concealed carry on Texas campuses that was signed into law last year, campus carry goes into effect on University of Texas campuses today. UT has produced a FAQ document for its largely hoplophobic faculty on the new procedures, but for whatever reason doesn’t want the general public to see it. TTAG, though, has friends in low places and has obtained a copy. We’ll be going through it with a fine-toothed comb, but in the mean time here’s the letter they sent out to the professoriate last week along with a link at the bottom so you can view the FAQ document.

Dear faculty,
Next Monday, on August 1, the campus carry law goes into effect. Since I sent my last email to you, I have received numerous messages that have helped me think through this complex issue.

Many of you have concerns with this new law; concerns I share. Some expressed your clear dissatisfaction with the law and voiced unease with the policies the university has adopted to comply. Many of you had very specific questions looking for guidance about how to implement the new policies.

Your thoughtful questions raised issues that were not addressed in the previous message, and I asked the Implementation Task Force to help me develop additional guidance.

What does this mean in my classroom? How should I provide oral notice to my students? What about my syllabus? These are just a few of the many questions I received and I have thought about them extensively.

To everyone who took the time to share your thoughts with me, thank you. You have posed questions shared by many faculty.

Based on this feedback, we have created a detailed, faculty-specific FAQ document addressing the questions you raised. While they may not answer every question posed, we have tried to address the most frequently encountered issues.

Download FAQs as a PDF (EID required)

View the faculty FAQ webpage (EID required)

Visit the campus carry webpage for faculty

Many of you were also curious how students would learn about the campus carry policies. Based on your feedback, the Implementation Task Force has improved information for students. This includes a webpage on the campus carry website geared towards students, and an updated training module that emphasizes critical information about the law and new policies. It also includes information about exclusion zones, oral notification for faculty offices, and urging those who choose to carry to think through their day.

View the student information here.

I will also take this opportunity to let you know that during this process, I have tried to put myself in your shoes and I will continue to do so. The safety of our faculty, staff, and students is my first priority. And as we work together to navigate the implementation of this new law, I will not lose focus on supporting the academic mission of the university, promoting your work and making sure you are able to do what you came here to accomplish.

When this new law goes into effect, I am certain more questions will be raised and we will need to address them. When you have questions, please let us know. We will continue to update the faculty FAQ document as new issues are brought to our attention.

Moving forward, I will ensure we do our very best to respond to your concerns quickly and responsibly, and I look forward to getting to know you all better in the coming months.

Sincerely,
Maurie McInnis
Executive Vice President and Provost
The University of Texas at Austin

Click here to view the UT campus carry faculty FAQs

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41 COMMENTS

  1. It wont take long for this to become a non issue as long as there are no ND incidents in the first few months. Everyone will settle back down and the calls for blood in the streets will be gone until the next vote and then the same arguments will come out and no one will remember this.

    • Yes and no. They’ve been screaming about blood in the streets since the advent of concealed carry in Texas in 1995. Every time there’s some new little bit of firearms freedom, the pearl clutching crowd fires up the blood in the streets talk.

      This specific angle may end at some point, but the overall hysteria never ends. Even in the the FAQ they distributed, they instruct people to call 911 if they see a gun. Just one incidental, accidental glimpse, and they want every snitch, I mean, student, on campus to call in an emergency.

      The sick thing is that these school satraps probably want something to go wrong, anything so that they can say “I told you so!” and try to get campus carry repealed.

  2. August 1st, 2016… The day that the streets of Austin were awash in urine as hundreds of academics, whiny summer school students, manic moms and local Dems collectively peed themselves over what is likely to be the biggest ho-hum non event since open carry began in January.

  3. Well, here’s a problem. If a handgun is visible, dial 911.

    I think every long time carrier has printed or accidentally flashed part of his pistol. This wording leaves no room for the honest mishaps that everyone will eventually experience. I don’t think it likely to result in prosecution, but having the campus freak out and go into lockdown if your butt prints slightly is going to make for a media frenzy. Maybe fanny packs will come back into fashion … That would solve that problem. I’ve carried in a fanny pack for decades and don’t have flashing issues, even if it makes me look like a dork. I don’t care. I am a dork!

    • “Printing” does not equal “visible.”

      Many things could be carried on a belt, underneath an outer layer of clothing, including medical devices and the ubiquitous cell phone.

      If anti-gun folks started calling-in any bulge under a shirt or jacket, I’d start baiting them with cell-phones in holsters, deliberately positioned to print like a handgun grip. After the first few people hit the arrested/detained-for-no-good-reason jackpot, that crap will stop, fast.

      • Yea I don’t remember where I saw this advice, but if someone asks you about the bulge under your shirt just tell them it’s your colostomy bag, should shut them up quick.

        Hasn’t happened to me yet at least….

        • I use that trick or its my insulin pump. Then I try to make them feel bad about making me feel like less of a human. If I can turn them to tears or they run away my day has been made

    • Yup, the intent seems to be to harass those exercising their 2nd Amendment right to protect themselves. Once a firearm is seen (visually or via printing), the bed wetting anti-rights leftist commie staff will call 911 each and every time they see you in, what they used to believe was, their safe space. As they cannot kick you out or punish you in any way legally, they can make it so you are taken out of the classroom/lecture hall every time by campus police. Effectively removing you from their class and or punishing you to the point you cannot learn the assignments nor turn them in (which will impacts your GPA).

  4. I had two questions when I started college. The first was where are the bathrooms and the second was where are the vending machines. All this money spent on task forces and feedback sessions and for nothing. If they would have just went to school and said nothing the world would have just kept on spinning. Bed wetting snowflakes.

  5. I’m not generally a fan of off body carry but college is the kind of place where discrete backpack carry can work well.

    I dunno about the rest of you, but when I was in college I never, ever left my bag unattended. The threat of a missing laptop and $1000-$2000 worth of books I need to replace to-freaking-day so I could stay current in my classes insured that my bag was with me at all times unless I was in my residence.

    • Given how many students manage to have their backpacks (with $1-2,000 laptops included) stolen I don’t think that’s a particularly wise option. Some of those students had them stolen in robberies rather than by leaving them around. By putting a gun in your backpack you have now made it easier to grab by the bad guy and harder to use by yourself.

  6. In other news, a new enterprising college position has just opened up. Firearm Babysitter. such employed person would carry a backpack containing several firearms of students whom are involved in classes that concealed carrying a firearm would be rather difficult.

  7. What do I do if I see a handgun in my classroom or on campus?
    If you see a gun, call 911.
    Campus carry requires that handguns remain concealed at all times with no exceptions, and if a handgun is visible, however briefly, it may be a violation of university policy and law.
    Notify law enforcement via 911 and UTPD will arrive and assess the situation.
    Persons who violate these laws and policies are subject to penalties and fines in addition to disciplinary action imposed by the university.
    Does Texas law make it a crime to inadvertently expose?

    I do not have my own office, but I would like to conduct meetings in a gun-free exclusion zone. What should I do?
    Many graduate students and some faculty do not have their own office, and have expressed their desire to be able to meet with students in a gun-free exclusion zone.
    Rooms are available for meetings with students the in Student Services Building (SSB).
    They are: G1.104, G1.106, G1.116, G1.402, G1.406, G1.410, 3.406 and 4.212

    What if the student wants to meet the instructor outside the gun-free exclusion zone?
    I think your FAQ glossed over that part. Or was UT-Austin not the institution that announced faculty must arrange to meet students in a weapons-available zone?

    • OK, so you’ve seen a gun, and dialed 911. What now? “If you succeed in dialing 911, and an operator answers, while the person with the gun has not yet shot you in the face, tell the operator ‘never mind’ and go change your panties. IOW, if someone DRAWS a gun in class, call 911 from 5 blocks away, fine, first thing is to run, or to attack. If you see a print, MYOB.

  8. The other troubling part is that the only way faculty notify students their offices are no-gun zones is orally. There is no signage allowed and even the standard 30.06 is specifically disallowed.

    How the hell is someone supposed to remember which faculty member excludes guns from their office? What if I am not in the professor’s class and want to talk about an upcoming class? What if I took a class from the dude three semesters ago and drop by to talk about changing majors?

    Frankly, that is bullshit and a gigantic hole in the process.

      • From A&M’s Procedures for Implementation document:

        “Texas law allows license holders to carry a handgun on campus but the handgun must be concealed. To “break concealment” is to knowingly or intentionally allow a handgun to be seen by others. Breaking concealment on campus is a criminal offense and a violation of Texas A&M rules and procedures.”

        Knowingly or intentionally. Not accidentally leaned forward. Thanks and Gig em.

  9. OH, and an entrepreneur could have a big truck with multiple safes and charge for gun storage, by the day, hour, etc. I wonder if that would be legal.

    • What, exactly, is the point of Campus Carry if you are willing to disarm and store your pistol before going on campus?

      And have you ever heard of the “Phony Valet Parking” scam? Google it.

    • Already being done at various sporting events. Well, the licensing is a problem, but the service is being tried out.

  10. Here is my input from far away in Kentucky, that absolutely nothing will happen and this whole event will result in no news at all and in a month the discussion will disappear because no normal student who is permitted to carry will wipe out a professors because he/she disagrees with an opinion.

    • Well, here is my input from the belly of the beast, Moscow on the Colorado. I had a patient in my office today who was looking at the Austin Monthly magazine, which has a mashup of a Smith and Wesson semiauto and the UT tower on the cover. He asked me what I though would happen. I told him “exactly nothing”. The leftists are having a hissy fit, but nothing is going to happen. If anyone on the UT campus planned on assasinating their professor, a “no guns” policy would no more retard it than a LTC policy would facilitate it.

  11. Well there ya’ go-watching a somewhat negative story on NBC snooze RIGHT NOW. Golly I hope those panties don’t get too bunched 🙂

  12. “If your class is in a location where your cell phone does not get reception, identify the
    nearest location you can make a call at the beginning of the semester so you know where to go, if needed.”

    Can we even imagine the level of obsessive-compulsive paranoia that would be required to go through that process for every class, every semester, so that you know where to go to piss yourself? Ridiculous. Absolutely no one will EVER do this, not even the nutbar instructors.

  13. The left isn’t afraid something is going to happen with campus carry. They’re afraid nothing is going to happen with campus carry, thus nullifying their argument. There’s nothing more pathetic than a liberal being proven wrong.

  14. Revealing word choice: “urging those who choose to carry to think through their day.” In other words, urge students to think about how hard it will be to navigate the minefield of exclusion zones and other rules, so they’ll give up on the idea of carrying.

  15. 50 years ago today Charles Whitman began a killing spree shooting a rifle from the
    Texas Tower observation deck — he killed 14 people and wounded 32 others. At the time Austin police were armed with revolvers and shotguns. Armed civilians rushed to the scene and police returned home to secure rifles and returned fire. Whitman was killed when police officers Ramiro Martinez, Houston McCoy, and Jerry Day and armed civilian Allen Crum climbed the stairs to the 27th floor observation deck and shot Whitman. Martinez later credited the numerous civilian shooters for saving “many lives” by forcing Whitman to take cover, limiting his range of targets.

  16. I do not have my own office, but I would like to conduct meetings in
    a gun-free exclusion zone. What should I do?

    Many graduate students and some faculty do not have their own office, and have expressed their desire to be able to meet with students in a gun-free exclusion zone.
    Rooms are available for meetings with students the in Student Services Building (SSB). They are: G1.104, G1.106, G1.116, G1.402, G1.406, G1.410, 3.406 and 4.212.
    To schedule a meeting in one of these rooms, visit this webpage.

    1). If you are a guy, get a nut job. Because you have none.

    2). Since you are at a place of higher learning, learn something – accept that you are totally delusional about the law and guns. If someone was going to shoot you, your gun free exclusion zone booked in room G1.104 does absolutely nothing whatsoever to prevent this.

    3). Accept that you hate common gun owners, not criminals with intent to harm, because that is all that room G1.104 protects you from.

  17. Calling 911 if people catch a glance of a handgun is a horrible idea. I’m interested to see how this will square with the legal protections concealed-carriers now have with regards to accidental/unintentional reveals of there firearm.

    • Had to do some research yesterday at my old stomping grounds (Law Library at UT Law School). Mirable dictu, the hardware in my pocket didn’t cause me to turn into a homicidal maniac or even have the irresistible urge to chill the free speech rights of nearby SJW’s . . . . .

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