Cocks Not Glocks

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Overview

Cocks Not Glocks is a gun control activist campaign organized by students at the University of Texas at Austin, in which demonstrators protest the presence of firearms on college campuses by handing out sex toys.

Background

In June 2015, Senate Bill 11,^[11] also known as the "campus carry law," was signed into law in Texas, which allows properly-licensed firearm owners aged 21 and over to carry concealed handguns in various buildings on college campuses starting in August 2016. In October 2015, students at the University of Texas in Austin began openly carrying penis-shaped sex toys, an act prohibited by local indeceny laws, on campus in protest of the new law.

Developments

Online Reaction

On October 12th, 2015, The Young Turks posted an episode about the campaign (shown below, left). On November 20th, 2015, the JustKiddingNews YouTube channel uploaded a video discussing the activist campaign (shown below, right).

University of Texas' Response

On July 29th, 2016, University of Texas Associate Vice President of Campus Safety and Security Bob Harkins released a statement regarding the update campus carry rules, which noted that concealed carry license holders had been allowed to bring guns on campuses for the past 20 years, as long as they remained outside of university buildings. Additionally, Harkins estimated that "fewer than 1 percent" of students at the university have concealed carry permits.^[3]

August 2016 Protest

On August 22nd, 2016, the news site Citylab^[4] published an interview with Cocks Not Glocks organizer Jessica Jin, who claimed that most of the pro-gun students were "cisgender straight white men." On August 24th, Senate Bill 11 went into effect, allowing students with concealed carry permits to bring handguns into buildings on campus. That day, students held a large Cocks Not Glocks protest at the University of Texas at Austin.

Meanwhile, the pro-gun student group Students for Concealed Carry released a statement regarding the Cocks Not Glocks campaign, arguing in favor of the student's right to "express" themselves on campus.

"If carrying a phallus to class helps you express yourself, go for it. We welcome this demonstration that freedom of speech and concealed carry of handguns can coexist on the same campus."

Also on August 24th, the group launched a Cafepress^[2] website titled "The Gun/Dildo Alliance at UT-Austin," featuring various merchandise with a parody Coexist logo featuring a sex toy crossed with a handgun (shown below).

The following day, The Young Turks posted a follow-up episode on the campaign (shown below, left). Also on August 25th, the NowThis Facebook page posted a video about the campaign, which garnered upwards of four million views, 28,000 reactions and 10,000 comments (shown below, right).