Remember when teachers would turn up for class wearing a bulletproof vest? You probably don’t, because it never happened – until now.
Film and media professor at the University of Kansas, Kevin Willmott, walked into the first class of the screenwriting course on Tuesday wearing a bulletproof vest, leaving the students startled. Willmott then explained he decided to wear it in protest of a Kansas law that allows students to carry concealed handguns on 30 public college campuses across the state.
“Try to forget I’m wearing a bulletproof vest and I’ll try to forget that you could be packing a .44 Magnum,” Willmott told students, according to local news reports.
In a note published by the Kansas City Star, the said: “This is not the Kansas I grew up knowing and loving.”
Kansas has joined Arkansas, Georgia and other states with laws that allow students and faculty to carry guns on college campuses. California and South Carolina are among 16 states that ban the practice.
The concealed carry law has prompted some faculty members to leave state universities, according to the Topeka TV station KSNT, even as campus administrators offered guidance and information to help students and staffers understand the new requirements.
In its latest scorecard, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said, “In 2016, Kansas weakened its already abysmal gun laws by prohibiting employers from imposing restrictions on employees carrying concealed guns at work.”
{{/usCountry}}In its latest scorecard, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said, “In 2016, Kansas weakened its already abysmal gun laws by prohibiting employers from imposing restrictions on employees carrying concealed guns at work.”
{{/usCountry}}Kansas does not require background checks on private sales of firearms or allow local governments to pass gun laws. It also lets people carry concealed firearms without a permit, the center said.
With inputs from AFP