Cocks Not Glocks: Texas students carry dildos on campus to protest gun law | US gun control

Cocks Not Glocks: Texas students carry dildos on campus to protest gun law

Hundreds protested ‘campus carry’ law that permits licensed gun owners aged 21 and older to carry concealed handguns in most places at public colleges

It was a typical scene at the start of the new school year – student groups setting out tables and trying to sign up recruits for sororities, clubs and religious organisations. Until the end of the row, that is, where hundreds of people had gathered to pick up free dildos.

Wednesday’s Cocks Not Glocks protest against Texas’s “campus carry” law was held on the first day of classes at the University of Texas at Austin, which has spearheaded resistance to the new rule from students and faculty members at colleges in the state.

The rally took place along a tree-lined avenue beneath the tower at the heart of the campus from where Charles Whitman embarked on a shooting spree on 1 August 1966.

The new law, passed last year by Texas’s Republican-dominated legislature, came into effect on the 50th anniversary of the massacre. It permits licensed gun owners aged 21 and older to carry concealed handguns in most places on public university campuses, including dorms and classrooms.

Demonstrators gathered to brandish sex toys in the air or strap them to their backpacks. Or other places. “We have crazy laws here but this is by far the craziest, that you can’t bring a dildo on to campus legally but you can bring your gun. We’re just trying to fight absurdity with absurdity,” said Rosie Zander, a 20-year-old history student.

“We wanted something fun that people could really engage in. Because it’s hard to get involved in the political process at our age, people our age don’t tend to vote or get involved, and this is so easy. Strap a dildo on and you’re showing the Texas legislature this is not a decision we wanted.”

Standing near a pile of empty boxes and a decorative small forest of upright phalluses, Zander said that Cocks Not Glocks has distributed more than 5,000 dildos in the past five days, donated by sex shops. A few metres away, someone waved a poster that declared “Cock and Load” near a sign fixed to a lamppost advising passers-by that this is a tobacco-free campus.

The Campus (Dildo) Carry movement began last year when Jessica Jin, a University of Texas alum, organised a protest aiming to satirise the apparent absurdity of weapons being allowed on campus but not the showing of sex toys, which arguably contravenes university rules and a state law against displays of obscene items.

The choice of device also aims to challenge perceptions that carrying a gun is normal. Jin told the crowd on Wednesday that she felt self-conscious shopping at Home Depot this week with a dildo strapped to her backpack, but protesters should “deal with the discomfort, deal with the weird looks – that’s the way we should be treating gun culture”.

Proponents of campus carry argue that the law will apply to only a small number of responsible gun owners who want to exercise their constitutional rights and enhance their personal safety and that other states have had similar laws for years without major problems.

Critics claim the measure is opposed by the vast majority of students and staff, as well as police; will have a chilling effect on free speech; is more likely to reduce safety than promote it, especially given that many students are young people under stress; may cause “brain drain” among faculty and discourage students to apply; and was introduced not because of public demand but so politicians can appease powerful pro-gun groups such as the National Rifle Association. Attempts to pass further permissive gun laws are likely when the Texas legislature reconvenes next year.

Miguel Robles, a 19-year-old political communications student, wielded a poster that said: “You’re packin’ heat, I’m packin’ meat.” He said that he feels “less safe now that campus carry exists. During class you’re not sure if you can argue or have discussions any more because if someone gets very offended at any moment, [violence] could just spill out … It’s just very unnerving, really,” he added. “I haven’t met anyone that thinks it’s a good idea.”

Someone who does is Jason Buckelew, a 36-year-old who was one of several gun rights advocates mingling with the protesters. He wore a black T-shirt with the slogan “Welcome to Texas. Notice: this is not a gun-free zone.” The bulges in the pockets on the right side of his camo shorts were made by a Glock and a Ruger LCP pocket pistol.

“Shooting sprees happen in gun-free zones. It’s just crazy not to arm yourself. You should be able to defend yourself wherever you go,” he said. “They say that having guns on campus will stifle their free speech but then they’re walking around with sex toys, so they’re not very stifled, really.”

Buckelew would have been committing a crime if he had displayed his weapons openly on the campus, but under a state law introduced in January, he can carry handguns visibly in most other public places in Texas – and does. “People think it’s cool that I do it,” he said.

On Monday a federal judge in Austin denied a request by three professors for a preliminary injunction blocking the law. They argue that it infringes free speech by creating an intimidating atmosphere that will stifle the unhindered discussion of controversial issues that is an important part of academic life.

“I do believe in the second amendment and the right to own guns and bear arms, however I don’t think that public university is really the place for that,” said Zenyth Gale, a 22-year-old burlesque dancer and doughnut shop worker with a substantial green phallus attached to the front of her skirt.

“Every mass shooting they say, ‘Oh, if everyone has their own guns, someone will be able to stop it.’ But that just isn’t how it’s turned out. It’s devastating. I mean, after Sandy Hook there’s been no gun reform or anything and I don’t know what it’s going to take after that.”

Jennifer McKay, a senior majoring in history, said she is “very uncomfortable” about the new law. “I think that having guns in classrooms is absurd and this protest is equally absurd and we may as well be sex-positive while making a political statement,” she said.

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