Share
Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
FORT WORTH — A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order Friday allowing two Tarrant County College students to stage their "empty holster" protest at the community college campuses.
U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means said in his ruling that Clayton Smith and John Schwertz Jr., who attend TCC Northeast Campus in Hurst, can wear empty gun holsters and hand out fliers in "public-forum areas including, but not limited to, public streets, sidewalks, and common or park areas." TCC wanted to restrict the protest to a small designated area.But the students cannot wear their holsters in classrooms or hallways. They are protesting for the right of licensed gun owners to carry concealed handguns on college campuses."I am pretty excited and happy for all of the students at TCC, whatever their cause is, to speak freely and get their message out," said Smith, 20, of Euless.Smith said four students will wear holsters and hand out fliers next week but aren’t planning a mass protest. TCC attorney Angela Robinson said the college is pleased that the ruling prohibits wearing the holsters in classrooms and hallways and recognizes that TCC "is providing for the safety and security of faculty and students." TCC has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which seeks to strike down portions of the student handbook that allow protests only in designated free-speech zones and require a permit. The school says the suit should be dismissed because the students did not apply for a permit. A hearing on the lawsuit has been scheduled for Nov. 16. "This decision means that at least for next week, students on TCC’s campus will be able to freely exercise their First Amendment rights," said Lisa Graybill, legal director of the ACLU of Texas, which filed the lawsuit.TCC had denied a request by Smith to stage an empty-holster protest last April, and one in 2008 by student Brent Poulos on the South Campus. He was told that he could protest in a designated free-speech zone but could not wear the holsters around campus.A year after the April 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, in which a gunman killed 32 people and himself, students at 600 colleges nationwide wore empty holsters to protest for the right to carry concealed weapons on campus. A bill in the Texas Legislature that would have allowed licensed concealed-handgun owners to carry weapons at Texas colleges and universities failed to pass last spring.BILL HANNA, 817-390-7698
@Nyx.CommentBody@