Firearms ‘Will Not Be Tolerated’ on UNC Campus After Weekend Protest
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 8 months ago
From reader Jack, news from UNC:
Monday’s statement from the university confirmed that “members of a ‘Confederate heritage’ group walked onto the UNC – Chapel Hill campus from the Town of Chapel Hill via Raleigh Street to Cameron Avenue. At least one individual was in possession of a handgun. They were approached by UNC Police officers on the sidewalk in front of Memorial Hall and were asked to leave campus, which they did.”
It is generally legal in North Carolina for an individual to openly carry a firearm, unless otherwise prohibited.
“Due to immediate uncertainty Saturday about the application of these laws to the Cameron Avenue right of way, which is maintained by the Town of Chapel Hill, no arrest was made in this case,” university officials said Monday. But the statement continued by saying that any person bringing a firearm onto the campus in the future will be arrested and trespassed from the campus.
“The University is committed to the safety of our campus community. As it regularly does, UNC Police continues to monitor any information indicating a threat to the campus community from any group.”
First of all, I don’t believe the police would have had any right to force removal of the protestors should they have not been voluntarily willing to leave.
Second, if this area is a “right of way,” what right does UNC have to issue regulations? Open carry is legal in North Carolina. These protestors were doing nothing wrong or illegal as best as I can tell. If they’re going to throw some piddly-ass assembly permit requirement at them, they’ve got to shut down every hippie playing his guitar on the sidewalk in Raleigh.
On March 20, 2019 at 6:32 am, Redclay said:
What are the implications for NC CHP holders who are traversing the campus by vehicle? Do we just avoid campus altogether? What is the implication for CHP holders who have business there and intended to leave their sidearm in their locked vehicle? Open carry, of course, is another can of worms, here. Redclay
On March 20, 2019 at 8:07 am, jayne cobb said:
Good question, RedClay. I drive through there all the time, and I always have firearms on me. Am I subject to arrest now? I suppose CHPD could answer that, but I think I’ll just avoid CH-Carrboro altogether. The place has an ill effect on me anyway; Like a dog going to the vet, I start bristling when I get near the city limits.
On March 20, 2019 at 10:40 am, Fred said:
The University of Tennessee is also a sprawling campus nestled within but among the town. I doubt that the UTPD patrolmen even know from one minute to the next whether they have jurisdiction or not. It might be that at times I’ve been a federal felon, state or city misdemeanor, or maybe a campus trespasser all without knowing it. This is the problem with all law in general that are narrow in scope and assume guilt.
Going armed and being educated are in fact, required of one another. We either have both or neither.
The people have granted authority (apparently) for the State to educate adults. The People have granted to themselves authority to go armed. There is NO conflict here, until the State, and feds in the case of Biden’s gun free kill zones, take power not granted in authority. So, the State has created it’s own problem.
Given this backdrop I think that the police did an OK thing here. Not wanting to arrest the protesters or whatever they were, and trying themselves to avoid the tentacles of the State, realizing that I’m not siding with them, I tend to give them some benefit in this case. Noting of course that the bigger problem is an Illegal Gun Control scheme.
In fact, the campus PD, at least the ones here, might be the last cops left in America. They keep order and it’s a thankless job. Everybody hates them, the students, the parents, the administrators and the legislators. Why does everybody hate them? Because they merely keep order. They try VERY HARD not to saddle students with arrest records around here, while still making it clear that rich mommy’s poor little innocent Timmy should not be running around the girls quad naked half drunk and on X, while reporting all the way up to the State legislature. Want that job?
All cops used to have discernment of authority power like this, now they are mostly just enforcer thugs.
This will warm your heart. I don’t remember if I was armed or not when a campus PD pulled up next to me and told me that I was doing at least three things wrong, and then a fourth, windows rolled down, side by side. ( I don’t dispute his claims.) After he drove off 5 or six well dressed, articulate (with that southern accent, I should have been born down here, er, maybe not), clear eyed, obviously middle class, millennial women students started saying the most unpleasant things about Police in general. It almost brought a tear to my eye. I have a glimmer of renewed hope for the next generation after this.