Students for Concealed Carry protest for adults with pistol permits to be able to carry on campus.
The nonpartisan, grassroots organization, which was started nation wide after the Virginia Tech shooting, fights for the right for students to allow themselves the option of protection against a shooter on campus.
"The idea of the organization is that someone who can legally carry a pistol off campus, someone who has a permit that can legally carry in grocery stores, movie theaters and banks should be allowed to carry (a pistol) on campus," said David Shamp, vice president of Auburn's Students for Concealed Carry club.
Currently the University prohibits students, faculty and staff from carrying a gun on campus. Students could be expelled if caught with a gun and faculty and staff can be fired for carrying one as well.
Shamp said Alabama does not have a law against people carrying concealed weapons.
"We just feel that if you can carry off campus why should you lose your right to self-defense right when you step on campus," Shamp said.
Transportation to and from campus without concealed carry protection is also a concern for the club.
"I have friends who live off of Glenn and Magnolia who have to walk back from the library late at night," said Nathan Young, president of Auburn's Students for Concealed Carry club. "Things can happen, so the ability to defend themselves shouldn't be taken away because they're coming from campus."
Young said that since Auburn is a public institution, students, faculty and staff should be guaranteed all the rights that the government guarantees. Concealed carry is one of those rights.
The protest will include a booth station set up on the concourse as well as each member of the organization wearing an empty holster on their waist while going through daily activities.
"It's just an attention getter to let people say 'Oh wow you have a holster with nothing in it,'" said Steve Gulley, adviser for the club. "It's a conversation starter really."
Another feature of the protest will include an opposition table set up down the concourse called Criminals for a Gun Free Zone, which will include people in orange jumpsuits or ski masks demonstrating the views of criminals.
"When (students) see a similar protest down the concourse with a guy in a ski mask saying I like gun control, they'll say 'Woah maybe they have a point,'" Shamp said. "'The idea that criminals want me to be unarmed makes their job easier. I don't want that."'
The group does not want to cause any tension between the students and officials on campus, Young said.
"We want to keep it completely honest and above board at all times," Young said. "Causing difficulties in identification for police officers is not on the agenda."
Universities such as Utah, Colorado, Texas and Oregon all allow students, faculty and staff to carry on campus.
The club set up forms for students to fill out addressed their state senators and congressmen asking for changes in the concealed carry laws.
"We have computers for students who need to look up who their representatives are," Shamp said.
Although the club is passionate about their ideas on guns, they have also addressed the opposition.
"People will say 'Oh they're just college kids, they're only 21, they're drinking alcohol and doing drugs,'" Shamp said. "If you're doing those things you're breaking the law anyway on carrying a pistol. You're not supposed to be inebriated when carrying a pistol and you obviously shouldn't be doing drugs because that's illegal, so that's a moot point."
Many people said they might not feel safe on campus with students carrying concealed guns, Shamp said.
"I ask them if they feel safe off campus because people can carry there," Shamp said.
Allowing concealed weapons on campus does not mean everyone can join in.
"We're not trying to be 'Welcome to Camp War Eagle, here's you 45,' Shamp said. "It's about people who are normally able to carry being allowed to carry on campus. If random shooters were to come on campus we want to give people the option to defend themselves."
The club's main concern is the University's official policy on an on-campus active shooter.
"What the University asks you to do is run, hide and at the last, fight the guy with bullets by throwing books at him," Shamp said. "That's not the right answer."
The offical policy does not condone engaging in physical combat with the shooter.
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