A recent experience at a Utah school–Utah Valley University–where a student, Nick Moyes,  was stopped for carrying a firearm has been getting some recent media exposure.  In Utah the issue wasn’t the fact that he had a firearm with him on campus but the fact that he was openly carrying that firearm. Nick was aware enough of his situation to pull out his iPhone fairly early in the encounter and posted his videos on YouTube here and here.

Utah is one of the very few places where citizens may carry a firearm on a school campus (Elementary through College) with a concealed firearm permit. And in Utah, where there is no law that prohibits openly carrying a firearm (as long as you have a permit) then it is not illegal to do so. And if it is not illegal, then it IS legal. It seems like a very black and white issue and Nick knew the laws of the state better than the law enforcement officers did (how can you uphold the law if you don’t know what the law is).  Well the school doesn’t seem to be concerned with what the law is (even though in Utah public schools are not allowed to trump state firearm laws).  One of the two officers who detained Nick even seemed to agree that the law was on Nick’s side–but he said that it was simply easier to conceal his firearm.  His logic? If you exercise your rights, then it will bring more attention to them–which could lead lawmakers to take that right away from you–so don’t bother exercising your rights because then you’ll lose it. I’m not making this stuff up–it’s all in the video. So if you can’t exercise a legal right when it is legal then do you really have a right? It might as well be illegal if you can’t do it when it is legal.

Through all of this, what has really stood out to me as I’ve followed the incident is the question of how far I would be willing to go in order to fight for something I believe in.  Nick Moyes has had that decision thrust upon him by some people who happen to have an opinion different than state law–and then enforced his opinion (and that of his superiors) as though it were law.  Nick initially complied with the requests of officers to conceal his firearm (after a lengthy debate until he realized that the officers would not reason with him or the law) and then he has started to push the incident step by step to try and regain his ability to exercise his legal right to open carry on campus again. But the school hasn’t budged. The incident is still ongoing, but it’s caused me to think about what I would do in a similar situation.

The aftermath of the initial incident resulted in the gun community in Utah to suggest ideas about how we can bring UVU and other public universities in Utah into compliance with the law rather than their opinion. The ideas ranged from contacting state legislators, the attorney general, the school itself and soliciting legal opinion–to wearing shirts with an arrow pointed to a concealed firearm saying “I’m Armed”–to using news/media outlets to increase awareness of the issue–to staging open carry events on campus to force the issue (some intentionally talking about doing so to get arrested and then to force the issue through the courts).

It’s more important now to fight for your rights. But just how far would you go to defend your rights.  Would you take the time and energy to constantly write/call/email your state reps and others who can help make changes? Would you spend the time and money needed to fight for changes? Would you willingly get yourself arrested and fight in courts? Would you give your life to fight for freedom?  This country was founded because people were willing to fight and die for freedoms. But where do we stand today? What’s the best way to truly change this country (for the better–unlike some other changes that are ruining our country)? I don’t have all the answers–but I wanted to thank Nick for giving me a close to home real life situation to help me contemplate where I personally stand.

If you want to learn more about Nick and his experience you can follow it here. And if you are interested in getting involved here is a good place to start:

UVU Chief Brewer’s email: brewerjc@uvu.edu

UVU Office of President Holland: REYESKY@UVU.EDU

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff: uag@utah.gov