This morning I had an excellent conversation with the University System of New Hampshire General Counsel Ronald Rogers and Plymouth State University Vice President for Student Affairs Richard Hage. I got a genuine sense that these two professionals were doing their very best to balance what is understandably is a difficult situation to deal with.
That situation is, of course, the informational outreach event scheduled for Friday at 9:00AM on their campus.
In response to the respectful way that the General Counsel and Vice President’s concerns were addressed to me, Tommy and I have decided that during our educational outreach we will have unloaded weapons with both trigger and breech locks securely affixed. In other words, the firearms we intend on carrying for symbolic speech will be rendered absolutely non-functional.
If you are a member of the PSU community and our outreach event has caused you concern, I do genuinely apologize for any uneasy feelings you have. I would respectfully ask you to consider the fact that every day in New Hampshire you live with, work with, and attend school in close proximity to law-abiding individuals who have decided to be proactive in ensuring their (and your) safety.
As we learned from the tragedy at Virginia Tech, criminals and murderers don’t care about the law. This is about you, your right to protect yourself, and the government failing to follow the rules.
As members of a free society, it is important that everyone understands the rights we have and the obligations that come with those rights. We encourage those who feel uncomfortable with firearms to come out and discuss our exercise of our fundamental freedoms – we have no agenda other than to expose the unlawful conduct of the University System of New Hampshire and educate our fellow Granite Staters about their basic rights.
