This law damages my sense of safety, my feelings about my job, my belief that my family should ever meet me on campus, and my trust in the state of Texas. This feels like an overzealous interpretation of the 2nd amendment—which was originally adopted to protect local peoples from the potential tyranny of a State, in this case federal, oppressor (“being necessary to the security of a free State”)—an interpretation which ironically tramples on the sense of security, desires, and freedoms of local peoples (in this case, the vast majority of the university population). And worse, this unwanted law is reinforced by a sinister assault on the spirit of the first amendment to oppose said tyranny (“the right of the people peaceably to assemble … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”), since Texas state workers are prohibited by Texas state law to lobby the legislature or strike. I don’t feel overdramatic in saying that the government of Texas is actually pointing guns at our heads, all in the alleged name of our rights.
Elana Wakeman AUSTIN, TX