Sam Saccone / Staff Photographer / ss324006@ohiou.edu

Stephen Feltoon spoke in Walter Hall yesterday as part of the national protest of concealed carry laws on college campuses.  He was invited by OU’s Second Amendment Club and discussed gun rights in light of recent campus shootings.

A representative from Students for Concealed Carry on Campus argued for a more sensible policy for carrying concealed handguns on college and university campuses at Walter Hall last night.

“It’s hypocritical to say you can bring a gun into a 300-person movie theatre but not a 300-person lecture hall,” said Stephen Feltoon, Midwest regional director of SCCC.

Feltoon, a 2007 graduate of Miami University of Ohio, spoke for a 40-person group as part of the SCCC’s weeklong protest of concealed carry laws across the nation that forbid concealed handguns on college campuses.

The OU Second Amendment club — comprising about 10 active members who participate in shooting activities and safety lessons — invited Feltoon to speak for the occasion.

Current Ohio law states that you cannot bring a concealed firearm on campus unless you have a license to do so and the gun is locked in your car or you are in the immediate process of locking it in your car, Feltoon said.

“That’s it,” he said. “One sentence removes my right and yours to carry a concealed firearm on campus.”

Feltoon refuted several counter-arguments he often hears, like the idea that college students are often highly stressed drinkers and drug users. He said it is illegal to carry a gun while under the influence of alcohol whether you are on campus or not.

SCCC began as a Facebook group after the shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech last year. The group then held its first empty-holster protest on Oct. 22, 2007.

After another shooting at Northern Illinois University, the groups’ membership grew to about 22,000.

“If Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois taught us anything it’s that putting up a sign that says ‘no guns allowed’ really doesn’t work,” Feltoon said.