Brickbat: Gun-Free Zone

Colby Lysne / Dreamstime.com

The University of Utah has reassigned a graduate teaching assistant after the assistant passed out a syllabus that said concealed carry permit holders who brought guns to class would be restricted to a 3-foot-by-3-foot "Second Amendment zone" in the rear of the classroom. State law allows concealed carry holders to carry weapons on campus, but the syllabus said bringing a gun to class is "absurd, antisocial, and frightening behavior."

Comments

[Rat on a train]

Follow the US Navy-New Zealand doctrine. State that you will stay in the zone regardless of whether you are carrying.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

"absurd, antisocial, and frightening behavior."

Control freaks, always with the projection.

[Miter Broller]

3'x3'? This obviously wasn't a math course.

[Rat on a train]

Ok. 3x3x3. Are you happy now?

[Deconstructed Potato]

This one?

[sarcasmic]

Is 10x10 better?

[sarcasmic]

Well, yeah. Students with weapons would interfere with a mass shooter's First Amendment right to free expression.

[Rat on a train]

I call my performance art "Snap, Cackle, Pop, Pop, Pop".

[perlchpr]

Wow, nice. 😀

[Radioactive]

is that the same caliber as "Snap, Crackle, pew, pew, pew"?

[MasterThief]

I get kinda annoyed that "antisocial" is so frequently used as a slur. When it is used against people who are prepared, self-reliant, and independent it reeks of the hive mind screeching at an unassimilated unit. Why do we not ever use the term "hypersocial" as an epithet? It seems that the person who is capable alone is far more stable than the one constantly feeding into and off of the collective.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

I never thought about that, but you're right. I'm sure if you being it up the response will be something along the lines of antisocial people are more likely to do bad things.

The funny thing is that the hyper social are most likely to do a LOT of bad things to many more people. The difference is they do it over a lifetime. The line wolf, as they like to say, does it once, twice, or slightly more.

[sarcasmic]

The answer is pretty easy. Antisocial people don't have many friends, so it's easy to pick on them. Hypersocial people tend to be quite popular, and you just don't bash on popular people. Besides that, every single mass shooter was antisocial. Even the ones who weren't were, because the initial media reports said they were.

[Cynical Asshole]

Antisocial people don't have many friends, so it's easy to pick on them.

Yeah, pretty much. No one likes loner freaks, so even people aren't friends with them aren't going to stand up for them out of fear of being socially ostracized themselves. The more time goes on, the more I get the feeling that society as a whole is devolving back to a high school level of maturity.

[Griffin3]

You sure the slur used to describe "hypersocial" people isn't already "sheeple"?

[perlchpr]

It doesn't really fit. Hypersocial people are more like overexcited puppies than sheep.

[Radioactive]

how about we call them what they are "shit weasel twatwaffles"?

[Deconstructed Potato]

I'd be up for handing out some tongue-in-cheek flyers for other unenforcible nonsense.

"All students wishing to wear sunglasses indoors must obtain a permission slip from Amen-Ra declaring that Xer Celestial Rays can penetrate the walls of this learned institution and that they wearing of sunglasses on campus is in deference to, and respect for, Xer Awesome Cosmic Power. Furthermore, only students who identify as Ancient Egyptian may be permitted to approach Xer Greatness Amen-Ra for aforementioned permission slip, or charges of cultural appropriation will be filed and the infidels found guilty at the Tribunal of the Eternal Pharaohs. All who are found guilty will suffer dismemberment at the hand of Xis Greatness The Immortal Set. Giant eye, dead fish, cat head, cat head, cat head, guy doing *this*. Thank you for your cooperation.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Concealed carry is protected under your Second Amendment rights," the teaching assistant acknowledges in the syllabus. "However, because the University of Utah reserves the right to restrict elements of the First Amendment on campus to specifically sanctioned 'free speech zones' I am reserving the right to restrict elements of the Second Amendment in my own classroom.

"If you feel that it is somehow at all appropriate to bring a gun to class (hint: it is not ? this is absurd, antisocial, and frightening behavior), you are restricted to spending your time in class in my 'Second Amendment zone' a 3x3 taped square on the floor in the very back of the classroom, that will be shared with all other gun carriers."

Maybe she was satirizing the concept of free speech zones. Budding academics are super pro-1A, right?

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Yeah, this isn't really an anti-gun story. It's a pro-1A story using guns as a plot device.

[perlchpr]

No, it's an anti-2A story using supposed 1A violations as an excuse.

[Deconstructed Potato]

The TA using the syllabus/class as a soapbox is arguably devaluing that particular syllabus for students who have paid tuition, whose education may be adversely affected by said soapboxing. It's something for the parties involved to work out to best suit everyone; university, TA, students.

[Cynical Asshole]

I'm sure no one will just ignore this pinhead and continue to carry their concealed weapon while sitting in their usual seat.

[prolefeed]

The fun part would be if about half the class decided to fuck with this ruling and unsuccessfully try to jam into a 3' x 3' area, and then file a formal complaint about it being a hostile classroom atmosphere or whatnot.

[prolefeed]

Or call the professor the moral equivalent of racist, by bringing up the back of the bus civil rights protests.

[Wizard4169]

Yeah, that's the nice part about carrying concealed. Unless you offer me violence, you'll never know my gun is there.

[sarcasmic]

Segregating one's self to the back of the class reveals that you are armed, which goes against the first rule of carrying concealed.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

And Fight Club?

[Radioactive]

first rule of ccw...or the first word anyway.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

I did think about standing in the square regardless just to draw her ire.

[Griffin3]

I thought about this, and my first response was concealed is concealed, sit uncomfortably in the class ... but then immediately thought, no. If you saw this, your proper response would be to march immediately back to the square, carrying or not, drag a desk over there, and sit down. And then wait for any excuse, a question, a glare, a look, to shout in your best drill sergeant/dad voice: My fathers carried and used arms to fight for the freedoms you enjoy today! I will defend my right to bear arms, against enemies of this country, both foreign AND domestic! ... and sit down, again.

Here in West Florida, you'd have half a dozen people Spartacussing with you, before you reached the second line.

[Radioactive]

don't ask, don't shoot!

[Jerryskids]

Well, at least the university reassigned the TA, so they apparently believe it was wrong.

[Longtobefree]

No, it means that they had to 'do something' to avoid the inevitable lawsuits. They should have applied the same punishment as has been applied to any other bill of rights violator. I suspect a search of their records will tunr up a few suspensions or expulsions for improper speech.

[Flinch]

The incident is basically bullying - which might eclipse any second amendment thoughts by the university, so permit holders might not want to dance and shout. I arrived at a point years back of assigning inability to reason to professional educators until they prove otherwise. It's not fair... it's a percentage play.

[Rich]

"This zone also does not include a desk, because desks are reserved for students who respect the personal and psychological safety of their classmates and instructor."

Sheesh, Lady, get a grip!

[Bender B. Rodriguez]

"and their instructor..."

Of course, it's all about her.

[Flinch]

That would be denial of services/breach of contract. A school doing this after taking tuition needs to offer more than an apology - they need to pay triple damages. A refund and a free pass [for administrators] is not going to cut it.

[Bender B. Rodriguez]

Academic freedom is not always exercised with sanity... Does anyone know what the course subject was?

[Cynical Asshole]

Does anyone know what the course subject was?

For maximum irony, I'm kind of hoping it was "intro to constitutional law" or something.

[Cynical Asshole]

the syllabus said bringing a gun to class is "absurd, antisocial, and frightening behavior."

You know what I consider "absurd, antisocial, and frightening behavior?" Restricting other people's rights because of your god-damned feels.

Fuck off, slaver.

[loveconstitution1789]

I'm armed. Make me move to the back of the classroom.

[prolefeed]

Decorate the space with a Come and Take It flag. And an MLK quote:

"If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they haven't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights. And so just as I say we aren't going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around."

Soooooo many ways to fuck with this rule.

[Duelles]

If carrying a gun is allowed on campus it should be considered an obligation much like requiring freedom of speech. Sooo, those not carrying a wePon should be relagated to the broom closet or some other safe space.