MADISON, Wis. (AP) — University of Wisconsin-Madison students plan to carry sex toys around campus next semester to protest a bill that would allow concealed weapons in classrooms at public colleges.
Republican Rep. Jesse Kremer introduced an identical bill last legislative session after a gunman killed nine people at an Oregon community college, but the measure never got out of the Assembly. Kremer plans to re-introduce the legislation this session. Concealed weapons already are allowed on campus grounds but not in buildings.
UW-Madison sophomore Kat Kerwin is organizing the protest. She told Wisconsin Public Radio for a story Monday that the concealed weapons bill is unsettling.
"Campus carry isn't something that's going to make campus safer," Kerwin said. "It's going to make students uncomfortable. It's going to make them wary to express their views in politically charged classrooms."
Kremer says the protesters are a small group of students and professors who are scared of guns just because they're guns. Allowing weapons in classrooms would make them safer, he said.
"You're disarming these adults who are responsible concealed carry members who are not able to protect themselves, and at the same time you're letting the criminal element know around these campuses, 'hey there's no one that's armed,'" he said.
UW-Madison leaders announced in mid-December that they're opposed to the idea.
"Adding concealed weapons to the many challenges our police department has to deal with would put everyone at risk," UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in a statement.
