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I work at a university. Its always bothered me that i'm not allowed to carry my weapon to work. Its always been at the back of my mind that I should really ask for written permission from the administration in order to carry at work. It's a risky move though and could easily get you branded as a "gun nut" which is not a good title to have in most academic environments, especially in mine. Our university police officers aren't even allowed to carry guns. I've weighed my options for the last few months and sort of quietly waited for the right chance to act.

Last night I had to stay late for a project at work. By the time I walked outside it was pitch black. My university is not in the best of neighborhoods, especially in the evening so I was suddenly made keenly aware that I was unarmed. It also made me keenly aware that the walking cane i've had to use lately to get around due to back and hip problems also made me an easy target. I decided at that point it was time to make my case. I thought about it for the rest of my evening and decided on a few goals and a plan of action.

My primary goal was to get written permission from the administration that would allow me to either carry my weapon while on campus or at least secure it in my office during working hours. (both for my protection and so anyone breaking into my car couldn't get the gun)

My secondary goal was to make the university leadership aware that there are responsible and non-nutty staff members that are being harmed by their current policies.

My final goal was to accomplish as much of the above as possible while retaining my employment and trying to ruffle as few political feathers as possible :)

My plan of action was to work my way up the chain of command one at a time so that as many leaders as possible would be aware of the request. I began emailing at 9:08 am today and the discussion had essentially run it's entire course by 5:00pm. The emails are as follows, names have been changed to keep me out of any more trouble that i may have dug myself into today :)


My initial email to our campus police chief

From: Me
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 9:08 AM
To: Mr White - the Chief of our campus police department.
Subject: CHL & securing my weapon

Greetings Mr. White,

I don't believe we've met, but I'm' a staff member over in IT and have been with the university for coming on a year now. I have a question that I hope you can point me in the right direction on.

I have a state issued Concealed Handgun License and have carried for years religiously due to the neighborhood I live in. Normally when I get to work I secure my weapon in my car in the parking lot as is allowed by state law and generally standard practice for a school/university. However, due to the recent time change it's now dark when I leave the office most nights and I'm uncomfortable leaving the weapon in the my vehicle for fear of a break in as is prone in the area of the university after dark.

I don't want to lose the weapon or have it fall into the wrong hands if my car gets vandalized. Not-carrying is not really a legitimate option for me given the need to have the weapon on me when going to and from my home.

I understand that Texas law allows me to keep the weapon on me (say secured in my office or on my person instead of in my car) if I have written permission from a school official. Who should I talk to about getting written permission so that I don't have to leave my weapon vulnerable in my car?

His response:

From: Mr. White
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 1:02 PM
To: me
Subject: RE: CHL & securing my weapon

James,

I would recommend that you start with HR Director Mr Orange. I do not have the authority to grant such permission.

My email to Mr. Orange

From: Me
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 1:04 PM
To: Mr. Orange - Director of HR
Subject: FW: CHL & securing my weapon

Greetings Dr. Orange,

The police chief says you're the man to speak to about my issue mentioned below. Please advise at your convenience.

Rather than respond in email Mr. Orange opted to call me rather than commit his response in writing. He also asked that I take him off speaker phone for the conversation, which I of course did. The summation of his response can be seen in my next email to the VP in charge of my division, Mr Blue.

From: Me
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 2:31 PM
To: Mr Blue, one of the university Vice Presidents.
Cc: Mr Yellow (My boss), Dr Orange
Subject: FW: CHL & securing my weapon

Howdy Mr. Blue, (I have spoken with him several times so I tend to take a more casual tone. he's a cool guy, good people)

When you get a few moments can you please see my original request to Chief White at the bottom of this thread and see my further notes below?

I spoke with Dr. Orange briefly over my request stated below. He indicated that he believes it's unwritten university policy to not grant such written permission, but also stated that he is still newly settling into his position and that this is the first time any such request has been made. Dr. Orange also said he would not take offense to further discussion/appeals on the topic since it's never come up before now. Dr. Orange, please feel free to speak up if I've misquoted.

Dr. Orange kindly advised me that you would be my most appropriate and direct form of appeal to that preliminary decision given that this topic has not been addressed by the university before now.

The gist of the situation is this. I'm licensed by the state to carry a weapon and have done so responsibly for quite some time. However I am normally required to leave my weapon in my vehicle here at work since this is a school. Usually, that's not an issue, but I'm concerned about vandalism in the parking lot and losing the weapon to a thief. Since it's getting darker earlier now and since my personal schedule may require me to stay later than normal working hours this has become a keen concern. State law would allow me to secure the weapon in my office or on my person on school grounds if I have written permission from a school official. Any official up my chain of command should suffice.

A few states have recently passed state laws addressing this issue for people like myself who are licensed to carry and have decided to allow individuals who are licensed to carry by their states to allow carry on school grounds. There is quite a lot of speculation that Texas will also adopt such a law during the next legislative session which would solve the issue on its own. However, that is not the case as it stands at the moment so I'm still forced to leave my weapon in my vehicle and risk of theft, which would put a weapon in the wrong hands which is actually one of my biggest concerns. Written permission to allow me to secure the weapon in my office or on my person would completely resolve that.

I'm fairly well versed on the legal aspects of the issue, and would be happy to provide the exact text of the law where it applies. I would also like to note that I am responsible lifetime member of the NRA and licensed by the same state officials that oversee peace officer certifications. I'm also more than happy to provide any number of references as to personal character, responsibility and knowledge on the topic if needed.

I would love to talk to you when you get a few minutes. No immediate hurry on my end.

Mr. Blue's Response:

From: Mr. Blue
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 3:16 PM
To: Me
Cc: My Boss
Subject: RE: CHL & securing my weapon

James:

I don't have problem talking with you about this issue, but I doubt very seriously that your request would be approved. Several times in the past and as recent as a couple of years ago, the Board of Directors have rejected requests from Campus Security for certified police officers to carry weapons on campus.

At that point Mr Blue called my boss (Mr Yellow) since he is personal friends with him and knowing that Mr. Yellow is a good friend of mine. He then explained that he would be happy to send my request on to the president if that's what I really wanted, but that on a personal level he didn't recommend me doing that due to the president not being in the best of moods lately due to political and financial issues at the university. My boss, then communicated that to me so it's not reflected in email. So I responded to Mr. Blue with the email.

From: Me
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 4:50 PM
To: Mr. Blue
Subject: RE: CHL & securing my weapon

sounds good, but may not be necessary. I just talked to Mr Yellow and he has a suggestion that's workable for me.

I honestly don't expect anyone here on campus to take on what could be perceived as a liability of signing off on written permission for anyone. When I initially asked Chief White and started working my way up the chain I didn't honestly expect anyone to sign off on it. I simply wanted to set the prescient for a staff member asking and see where it went from there. I fully understand it's a controversial issue.

I understand the stressful political and financial climate at the moment may not make this the best time to bother Dr Gold (the president) with the topic so I'm happy to leave it rest where it is if you can do me a small favor at some point when you deem it appropriate to do so. Simply make Dr Gold aware that I or a staff member in general has requested permission to carry on campus through official channels.

I feel that that in itself will serve my purpose. My intent at this point is not to make waves, but simply to make the university leadership, yourself included, aware that their policy on the issue is having a negative effect on honest hard working staff members. So long as that is accomplished I'm very happy.

Thanks very much for your time. :)

what about a light saber? think that would get approved? :)

Mr. Blue very reasonably (IMO) agreed to the terms above.

I'm happy. I didn't achieve all of my goals, but 2/3 ain't bad.

I think you did a good job by raising the issue, and the way you went about it was as well done as possible. I really like the way you did not ask to carry, but just to secure in your office during the day. When the time is right for you to raise the issue again, you might even mention buying a small lock box or gun safe for your office. This would let them know you are more concerned about the trip to and from the office and the security of the parking lot, whilse also assuring them no one would have the chance to steal the weapon or take it from you.

Small steps will work usually.

Well of COURSE if the University is a gun-free zone, that means there's no guns in the zone. Jeeze...what ELSE could that mean?

What university is this, so I know which one to refuse to send my sons to, if they won't even arm the licensed police officers!?!

You won't find unarmed campus police at UT Austin. Heck, even the campus police at my workplace carry, and it's just a community college.

Hah. With all these substituted names, I feel like I've suddenly woken up in the middle of Reservoir Dogs.

i was thinking the situational awareness color system.. condition white, yellow, orange, red... but the blue threw that out...

I'm a TCU student, and I would love to carry on campus, but we have tons of armed campus cops that do a good job of patrolling the entire campus and there's one posted at my parking lot, so that's a fat chance for me...

AJSully421 wrote:i was thinking the situational awareness color system.. condition white, yellow, orange, red... but the blue threw that out...

I'm a TCU student, and I would love to carry on campus, but we have tons of armed campus cops that do a good job of patrolling the entire campus and there's one posted at my parking lot, so that's a fat chance for me...

Hah! You are talking about our TCU cops aren't you? They're armed yes...But patrolling the entire campus, if you mean sleeping in their SUV's outside the stadium in the middle of the day then I agree with you. You do realize they don't really do anything but write tickets and drive around on their little rover things they got this year. They call TABC anytime there's a tailgate, so TABC handles all that, and when anything is going on TCU hires out for other cops.

Pinkycatcher wrote:

AJSully421 wrote:i was thinking the situational awareness color system.. condition white, yellow, orange, red... but the blue threw that out...

I'm a TCU student, and I would love to carry on campus, but we have tons of armed campus cops that do a good job of patrolling the entire campus and there's one posted at my parking lot, so that's a fat chance for me...

Hah! You are talking about our TCU cops aren't you? They're armed yes...But patrolling the entire campus, if you mean sleeping in their SUV's outside the stadium in the middle of the day then I agree with you. You do realize they don't really do anything but write tickets and drive around on their little rover things they got this year. They call TABC anytime there's a tailgate, so TABC handles all that, and when anything is going on TCU hires out for other cops.

They call TABC when someone has a tailgate party? I don't understand. Last I knew tailgate parties were private gatherings in public parking areas prior to a sporting event. I don't see how TABC should be involved, unless there's underage drinking or a direct charge for the alcohol going on. Even then, you'd think a normal police department would handle that sort of thing.

I imagine your campus has a safety-escort service open to staff or students going out at night. Call them every time you leave campus after dark and get security to walk w/you to your car. They'll get tired of it pretty soon and maybe they will lean on the BoD more to permit LEO/CHL on campus.

Yah, they call TABC just about every football game,just to check for minor in consumption/possession, it's pretty much a waste of time, they're not generally going anywhere drunk and if they get rowdy enough police come in anyway, it's just something to make TABC and the police look good. You can call froggie 5-0, they just opened it up this year to male students too, though I've never actually seen a guy take it. You can also call the police dept. if it's later than froggie 5-0, though the buses run to 4 a.m.

With that said...

I'm not concerned about crime on campus, most crimes are non-person crimes, the crime rate in the neighborhood is incredibly low, it's a good well-lit area, with decent police presence, clean streets, and lots of traffic at basically all hours. So for me it's more of an idealogical battle then one of safety. If there's an active shooter situation it of course would be a good thing to have, but since we can't I luckily carry around an annotated bible that has a hard cover and will most definately stop .22's and hurts.

And with that said...

TCU is a private campus (relatively conservative) but even if for some reason CHL was allowed in campus buildings (it's still allowed on campus though!) They could still ban it because it's not obligated to allow it like Utah's public schools.

Well done! My only advice is to replace the word "weapon" with "firearm" in future discussions. "Weapon" carries a negative, aggressive connotation that gives you an initial psychological disadvantage with people who are already predisposed to hating firearms.

sigh ...

Liberty wrote:sigh ...

heh.