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 #105949  by tjyz
 
If you have a concealed carry license, UD can not stop you from carrying. Open carry is not permitted. If you choose to exercise your legal right, I say go ahead and do so. There won't be any metal detectors, or security check points. I would conceal carry as well, but as a student, I'm not permitted.
 #106103  by CorBon
 
My buddy and I were a little surprised by the amount of people as we approached the building. They had several "no weapons" signs posted, and a fair amount of uniformed officers. Judging by the slow-moving entry (maybe, and I'm being generous, maybe three people a minute), I could only assume that they were searching people. We waited for a while, trying to decide what to do, and then I finally realized that we weren't alone. The handbills and banner for the BLM were there in force -- as in the event had been hijacked.

It became obvious that this wasn't the place to be. Between trying to get through some kind of security check, and being two armed guys in the middle of a riot -- there are better ways to make the paper than that.

It's really a shame that it all went down like that. I have to admire Tyler for putting all of this together, though. Good job.
 #106105  by astro_wanabe
 
Here's a post I made over on arfcom:
A fairly new student group at the University of Delaware called Students for the Second Amendment (only 2 semesters old!) brought Katie Pavlich to campus to give a pro-2A speech. This was promoted to the local gun-rights organizations and a few politicians were invited as well. Admission was cheap ($10 preferred seating, $3 GA, free for UD students) and I highly support promoting a 2A-friendly message on college campuses (I was briefly a campus leader for Students for Concealed Carry) so I decided to attend along with a friend from Delaware Open Carry. As expected UD police had encircled the building with "Firearms and other weapons are prohibited on campus per UD policy" plastic signs, were handing out copies of the no-weapon policy, and were passing everyone through a metal detector. Katie gave a great little speech that was more educational / informative for the college audience on the importance of the 2A especially relating to the dangers of gun-free zones like colleges, as opposed to a light-on-facts-but-heavy-on-rhetoric speech you would expect from a politician. Afterwords I swapped some info with a few people regarding 2A organizations in the area.

What surprised me was that #BLM decided to show up. I guess pro-gun is the same as pro-police-abuse in their eyes, but I couldn't see any link between the event and anything even remotely BLM related. Even more surprising, they didn't disturb anything. They had a quick photo op outside before the speech, sat quietly throughout the speech, then peacefully went back outside at the end for another photo op and to chant a little. Considering the pro-2A supporters only filled about 1/3 of the hall and the BLM folks managed to fill most of the remaining 2/3 I guess I should thank them for helping it look like we had a full house (although pics might be a little odd, with mostly lighter skinned college kids and older adults in the middle of the room and darker skinned college students in black attire surrounding us on the sides and rear of the auditorium). My friend and I agreed that if they just interrupted the speech for a few moments, chanted, and left we'd just ignore them, but if anything more violent started going down we'd immediately unass the building and get away from the soft-target environment. Thankfully though the BLM supporters were quiet, respectful, and did not give any cause for alarm. Considering the BLM actions I've seen on live streams and TV I was certainly surprised.

TL,DR: OP went to a pro-2A event, BLM showed up, BLM was unusually civil. OP surprised. Meh
Afterword I found out that apparently Katie had made some remark about BLM being a terrorist movement (which, by definition and their repeated antics, they are) and BLM got offended. They weren't protesting the 2A as much as they were protesting an evil white racist privileged Fox News commentator being invited to speak at their progressive campus (or something like that).

Police security was obviously intended to be a show of force with multiple layers of cops, some about a block out, more circling the building itself, and more inside, well over a dozen total, maybe 2 dozen (and it's not a huge building). The colleges I've been to all had exceptions for ordinary pocket knives, but the policy the UD cops were handing out did not list such an exception so I took my knife back to the car before entering. The metal detector screening at the door was very thorough, with several people watching the machine, another person wanding anyone that alerted, and more cops searching handbags. Even had to take off our belts (mine was nylon / plastic, so I'm assuming it was to see if there was a hidden weapon or if it was holding a holster up). I noted a mix of uniformed agencies as well as some plane-clothed individuals with earpieces who had the "cop look". They clearly wanted to make sure nobody got the bright idea to do anything stupid.
 #106107  by GatorDude
 
Well...we all know that disarming law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms will always keep people from doing "anything stupid." [end sarcasm]
 #106124  by Amy Blackthorn
 
CorBon wrote: It's really a shame that it all went down like that. I have to admire Tyler for putting all of this together, though. Good job.
Out like a boner in sweatpants. I don't blame you. I wouldn't have stuck around either.