Someone, probably within PSUSU, struggles to offer proof that PSUSCC breaks the no firearm policy and uses hate speech in flyers

Someone at PSU created a new twitter account (we suspect PSU Student Union / Disarm PSU) for the sole intention of claiming two things

(1) PSUSCC is supposedly breaking the PSU no firearm policy, even for those who have a valid Concealed Handgun License:

(2) PSUSCC is supposedly "bashing minority students" through our posters:

We will investigate as to whether either of these two claims have any validity.  It will be demonstrated unequivocally that these claims are patently false. By making these claims, "Gregory Hamilton @GregHamilton96" is attempting to smear PSUSCC.  They have failed miserably. 

Claim #1: PSUSCC breaks PSU firearm policy

@GregHamilton96 can't come up with any definitive proof that members of PSUSCC are advocating to break campus policy, or that they're carrying concealed firearms at Portland State University.  When pressed to come up with definitive proof:

@GregHamilton96 came up with the following brilliant pieces of evidence to "prove" members of PSUSCC advocate breaking PSU's no firearm policy:

Indisputable proof there.  Throughout the back and forth tweets, @GregHamilton96 wrote similar statements that supposedly prove PSUSCC members are breaking the no firearm policy:

It quickly became apparent that @GregHamilton96 has an ability nobody else the planet possesses:

@GregHamilton96 fails at proving that PSUSCC endorses breaking PSU's no firearm policy or that PSUSCC members are currently breaking the policy.  @GregHamilton96 can not come up with one single piece of definitive evidence to support their claim.


Claim #2: PSUSCC bashes minority students/uses hate speech in flyers

This unsound claim is even more hilarious than the first claim.  Consider for a moment that the goal of PSUSCC is to increase the number of minorities exercising their Second Amendment rights (unlike #DisarmPSU which seeks to disarm minorities).  Not only is this written on our website, we believe and live it because there are minorities in PSUSCC.  They've even helped by designing flyers such as this:

and several other flyers. But @GregHamilton96 believes that our flyers bash minorities:

Much like the first claim, @GregHamilton96 doesn't come up with a single piece of evidence.  They offer nebulous reference points for specific instances of bashing minorities. 

And yet more of the same:

Amazing.  It is right there! And in public no less!  When @GregHamilton96 was asked to URL link from our website, which contains all of our flyers, of any photo offering concrete proof as hate speech, there was NO response except for one last tweet of defeat:

 

@GregHamilton96 gives not one single piece of evidence to support their claims that PSUSCC endorses breaking PSU no firearm policy or uses hate speech in flyers.  The burden of proof is on them. They completely failed in substantiating either claim.

This writer cringes with concern at the thought about whether @GregHamilton96 is doing well in their university coursework. 


-Alex
PSUSCC

"OFFENSIVE! TRIGGERING!!" says Tony Funchess

Update 1/24/16 Tony Funchess has blocked PSUSCC from viewing his Twitter and Instagram account. 

Tony Funchess is an important leader at PSU, and his comments carry a lot of weight that are echoed throughout Portland State University.  This is our response to his opinion that a particular flyer is "offensive" and "triggering". We believe that the University setting is where people can and should encounter ideas they may not like or agree with.  Here is what Tony Funchess had to say about the flyer PSUSCC posted: 

OFFENSIVE! TRIGGERING!! Tony Funchess writes

In a reserved glass case on the first floor in Smith, PSUSCC posted the front cover of the book Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms by NYC law professor Nicholas Johnson.

Here is an excerpt from Amazon about what this book is about:

"Chronicling the underappreciated black tradition of bearing arms for self-defense, this book presents an array of examples reaching back to the pre—Civil War era that demonstrate a willingness of African American men and women to use firearms when necessary to defend their families and communities. From Frederick Douglass’s advice to keep “a good revolver” handy as defense against slave catchers to the armed self-protection of Monroe, North Carolina, blacks against the KKK chronicled in Robert Williams’s Negroes with Guns, it is clear that owning firearms was commonplace in the black community [...] Nicholas Johnson points out that this story has been submerged because it is hard to reconcile with the dominant narrative of nonviolence during the civil rights era".

Why did professor Johnson title his book Negroes and the Gun?  He explains this in his book, but also wrote an article on the Washington Post that goes into detail behind his reasoning (emphasis is mine):

"Much of my scholarship over the last two decades has focused on gun issues. Some find this an odd specialty for someone like me. Negroes and the Gun is a sort of answer to people who wonder and often have asked, how is it that a black law professor at a New York City law school comes to write sympathetically about the Second Amendment and gun rights. But Negroes and the Gun also demands its own preliminary explanation.

No one really uses the word Negro anymore. I haven’t said it out loud in decades. So the title of this book is odd in that sense. But in other more important ways the title is entirely apt. Some will recognize the title as a variation on Robert Williams’ memoir, Negroes with Guns (readers will become acquainted with Williams in the first chapter and again in Chapter Seven as he provokes a conflict with the NAACP that captures the central theme of the black tradition of arms). Negroes is also evocative of the deep roots of the black tradition of arms which emerged at a time in the American story when most black people had the legal status of mules and would have been gratified to be called Negroes..."[Continue reading]

The entire two page article was printed and posted directly under the book cover in our reserved glass case (you can see part of the article in Tony Funchess' photo).  Anyone who bothered to spend twenty seconds reading would understand why the book is titled the way it is.  Our goal by posting this book cover isn't to be offensive or triggering, though we do respect those who feel that way and wish to express their opinion.

Our goal is to bring even greater numbers of PSU African American students into the Second Amendment community.  African Americans are, in fact, the second fastest demographic buying firearms and getting Concealed Handgun Licenses behind women of all ethnicities.  Many of them feel ashamed to be gun owners or expressing the desire to learn how to shoot.  Our goal is to reduce the fragmentation experienced by those who are interested in firearms. We feel that this fragmentation has, to a large extent, been perpetuated by the institutional left because it doesn't fit the dominant narrative of who is a gun owner. 

Negroes and the Gun is worth reading for any student of history.  Too often black history is erased in our culture, especially about the critical role firearms played and continue to play for black folks in America.  Though it is uncertain whether it was Tony Funchess or someone else at PSU, several complaints were sent to University officials regarding this flyer.  Perhaps it was an attempt to have PSUSCC forced to take it down.  If that was the intention, it is incredibly anti-intellectual and disheartening that some within the academic community dislike the First Amendment.  Not only is it a failed attempt to silence PSUSCC, but it is a failed attempt to silence a black law scholar.

Do you want a university that only considers innocuous ideas worth studying?  We refuse to take it down and will continue to use it.  

Thankfully PSUSCC is on the side of liberty.  Welcome to PSU!

and...

 







----Alex
PSUSCC

The accusations of victim blaming and homophobia are false

We reserved a glass case in Smith for PSUSCC flyers.  Someone covered up one of our flyers with a piece of paper that said "trigger warning" and another piece of paper that said "Wall of victim blamming [sic]".

It is impossible to read the flyer in the above photo that was covered up with a trigger warning.  Here is an exact copy of what was posted:

This is an exact quote from a survivor of a pretty brutal sexual assault on a college campus.  This particular survivor uses firearm training as a source of healing and empowerment.  She believes in the right for law abiding students to be able to carry a concealed firearm on campus in Florida.

We're not victim blaming.  We're not saying that if a woman was raped that she deserved it because she wasn't armed.  What we are saying is that for many women, and many survivors, arming themselves is a personal decision that makes a lot of sense to them.  Their decision shouldn't be erased, silenced, or receive derision.  Stopping a violent physical or sexual assault is the #1 reason many women get a license to carry a concealed handgun.  Nobody has any right to tell a woman or a survivor how to heal or feel empowered.  Some of our members are survivors; for them they choose to carry concealed firearms.  They never judge other survivors who choose not to carry or own firearms.  Our message is for those who have thought at one point in their lives, "I don't want to be a victim of physical or sexual assault; maybe I should learn how to shoot.."

The next charge against PSUSCC is that we're homophobic.  That's patently false.  Some of our members self-identify as LGBTQ.  We're an extremely open group; we've made that quite clear on our website and in our meetings.  Spend 10 minutes talking with us, getting to know us, and you'll see that. Why are we being accused of being homophobic?  Because of this flyer:

That logo and tagline "Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed" is from the PINK PISTOLS, a national pro-gun LGBTQ organization.  Once again this accusation, from someone on Twitter who also admitted to defacing the glass case, is completely unfounded.

PSUSCC is welcoming to everyone.  Many of our members are LGBTQ, and some help design flyers. One member went by the Queer Resource Center for feedback on those flyers. Spoke to Melanie Altaras (Office Manager) about the flyers. What was the response? "Not homophobic" at all. 








-Alex
PSUSCC

Welcome to Portland State University Students for Concealed Carry

PSU Students for Concealed Carry (PSUSCC) believes that self-defense is a universal human right.  We also believe that so-called "Gun-Free Zones" offer entrants nothing but the illusion of safety and security.  Signs and policies declaring an area to be a Gun-Free Zone either discourages or makes it unlawful for properly licensed individuals to defend themselves with a concealed firearm.  This not only emboldens a violent criminal, but assures them that they will face no resistance that would thwart their violent goals.  Gun Free Zones are nothing more than easy killing zones.

Visit our website here or send us an e-mail at scc@pdx.edu for more information.  If you wish to communicate with Alex directly, start the subject line with that name.