Gun Rights Group Moves Mock Mass Shooting — Event To Feature Fake Blood, Victims

When it comes to preventing the next mass shooting, is more guns — in the hands of the “good guys” — the answer? For one group in Texas, the answer is yes, and they’re staging a mock mass murder to prove it.

Come and Take It Texas and Dontcomply.com had initially planned to hold the mock mass shooting on the University of Texas campus, but administrators there have threatened the group with criminal charges if their event wasn’t moved, the Austin American Statesman reported.

The group has complied, announcing that they’ve moved the Open Carry Walk and Crisis Performance Event to a location very close to UT — it will serve as the “backdrop” for the mock mass shooting on Saturday.

The university asked the mock event to be moved because they don’t allow any outside groups to conduct demonstrations on campus.

BREAKING: Mock mass shooting would be considered trespassing, @UTAustin says https://t.co/MX3xzJdHRV pic.twitter.com/ubo1AAYjm6

— Austin Statesman (@statesman) December 9, 2015

The idea behind the demonstration is that responsible gun owners could help prevent another shooting, such as the one in San Bernardino, from taking place. Based on the comments of some of the organizers, the prospect of a public packing heat could deter potential shooters, and people carrying weapons could somehow defend against attackers.

“We want criminals to fear the public being armed,” said spokesman Matthew Short. “An armed society is a polite society. We love freedom and we’re trying to make more freedom.”

The now-moved, mock mass shooting will feature actors “shot” by perpetrators holding cardboard weapons; they will bleed “fake blood,” and gunshots will fill the air via bullhorns. Other actors will pretend to be rescuers — and they will carry cardboard firearms, too.

The mock mass shooting is also an attempt to eliminate gun-free zones. According to the Washington Post, the group has called these zones “target rich environments” that are “killing us.”

According to the groups and its spokesman, Short, good guys with weapons are the key to safety in public spaces. “People were able to be murdered” in San Bernardino or Paris, for example, “because no one was armed.”

“Criminals that want to do evil things and commit murder go places where people are not going to be able to stop them. When seconds count, the cops are minutes away.”

But at UT, professors, students, and gun control activists aren’t moved, and the question of whether more guns will prevent violence is clear cut — they won’t.

There is a contentious debate going on at the UT campus right now. State lawmakers have voted to let gun owners carry their weapons on campus, starting next year, the Associated Press reported. These people will be able to bring their weapons into classrooms and dorms, and soon, the university will release guidelines specifying exactly where guns will be allowed.

Gun rights groups plan mock mass shooting at Univ. of Texas to show need for more guns: https://t.co/xAkimxyLas pic.twitter.com/QBa7qTtDpO

— Slate (@Slate) December 10, 2015

At the same time they asked for the mock mass shooting to be moved — threatening to charge demonstrators with criminal trespass — students and faculty have spoken out against this new law. Some teachers have threatened to quit if guns are allowed in their classrooms.

“Staging [this] during an anxious time for students — finals week — not only breaks rules but shows real disrespect for the feelings of students, faculty and staff who don’t want to have guns around them in the first place, but will be forced to put up with guns in public places in 2016,” said UT history professor Joan Neuberger, who helps lead Gun Free UT.

And though the argument put forth by Come and Take It Texas and others like it seems like a sound one, the reality may be much different. Umpqua Community College wasn’t a gun-free zone, and Oregon is actually one of seven states that let people carry firearms on college campuses, according to an analysis by Politico. The FBI explained that such crimes can occur in plenty of environments where people are carrying.

And then there’s this from clinical psychologist and school shooting expert Dr. Peter Langman — mass shooters won’t be moved from their missions just because weapons are present at their intended target. What they want is plenty of victims, which they can find in schools, theaters, and churches.

“Many of these shooters intend to die, either by their own hand or by suicide by cop. There was an armed guard at Columbine. There were armed campus police at Virginia Tech. The presence of security does not seem to be a deterrent. Because they’re not trying to get away with it. They’re going in essentially on a suicide mission.”

[Image via CLS Design/Shutterstock]