title:  TX Professors Told Not To Upset Armed Students To Avoid Shootings Following ‘Campus Carry’ Law
text: This is what it has come to.Following the passage of a Republican-drafted bill to force guns onto college campuses   whether the schools want them there or not   the University of Houston has begun instructing professors to avoid literally triggering students who may be armed in order to avoid sparking a mass shooting. If that sounds ridiculously unhealthy, glad you could join us.In 2015, Republicans in the Texas legislature and Governor Greg Abbott forced through an NRA-drafted bill that would make it mandatory for schools in the state to allow guns on campus. As much as it was adored by right-wing gun lovers, educators and students were appalled. The implications are scary. Students will be packed into classrooms with any number of weapons just waiting to go off by accident or by design.Schools are preparing for the new  guns everywhere  law that will take effect in August, and much of the preparation centers around getting teachers ready to deal with classrooms full of 18-year-olds who brought a semi-automatic handgun to campus along with their textbooks. In a recent discussion of the new state law, the University of Houston displayed a slide that told faculty to  not  go there'  on certain topics if they felt it might make some of their gun-happy students upset.Slide from recent campus carry dialogue at UH, in response to faculty concerns about dangers from armed students: pic.twitter.com/610RyhDZlf  Jeff (@JeffintheBowtie) February 22, 2016USA TODAY spoke with the university s faculty senate president: My slides are not university policy but faculty to faculty discussion points in a faculty senate led discussion group. They express the downside of having more weapons on campus and the chilling effect that has on academic freedom,  University Faculty Senate President Jon Snow tells USA TODAY College regarding his presentation.Ironically, many right-wingers have accused schools of  censoring  free speech by being overly  politically correct  in the classroom. It s hard to imagine any school has gone as far as Texas s Republican-led legislature. Professors may be worried students could get offended by a lecture, but few schools have to tell their professors to avoid  triggering  their students or else risk being shot in their classroom.Needless to say, many professors are not okay with this new way of doing things.Despite Republicans assuring the public that they are doing this to keep people safe, the students and professors themselves want nothing to do with this terrifying plan. It s led to demonstrations by students at schools like the University of Texas at Austin, and now, an unprecedented 168 professors from over 30 departments have signed a pledge that they will not take part in this bone-headed scheme.Republicans have ignored their concerns entirely. Instead, they are high-fiving the NRA lobbyists who put them up to it. So a few more kids might die in Texas schools? It s a small price to pay for  freedom. Featured image via Twitter