Professor Wears Bulletproof Vest to Class to Protest Campus Carry Law

That was the safest he’s ever been in his life!

8.31.2017

University of Kansas film and media professor and American film director Kevin Willmott made a statement on the school’s campus carry law by wearing a bulletproof vest on the first day of classes. He did it to protest that students can now carry concealed weapons on campus if they are over the age of 21.

Willmott sent a note to his students that read, “Try to forget that I’m wearing a vest, and I’ll try to forget that you could be packing a .44 magnum.”

He also said, “The disturbing part of the policy for me is that it is concealed. It’s kind of a don’t ask, don’t tell kind of a policy, and so, you’re just kind of expected to forget that they’re probably there. And in that sense, you’re kind of living in a lie.”

Willmott, best known for his 2004 mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America which imagined the country after the Confederacy won the Civil War, believes there’s a subtle connection between the campus carry policy and old segregation laws, asThe University Daily Kansan reported:

When doing research for his film “Jayhawkers,” which tells the story of Kansas basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, Willmott said the people he spoke to often had no knowledge of the racial segregation taking place around them.

He said that instead of large signs, businesses would opt for smaller signs that went unnoticed.

“And that’s what this policy is all about,” Willmott said. “They don’t want it to be visible, because if it was visible, if everybody was walking around with a bulletproof vest on, people would say, ‘Oh my God, is this a warzone? What’s going on here?’ And yes, it is a warzone. No one’s started shooting yet. Yet. But we don’t know how many people have guns.”

In fact, Willmott believes guns on campus will actually hinder free speech. One of his students agrees: “I can see the reasoning for wanting to carry one. But I just don’t think that a place that promotes free speech should have guns. That would definitely affect someone’s willingness to talk, especially if they have an opinion that might be unpopular.”

Willmott added, after meeting with a Muslim professor:

“Students are scared, professors are scared. I think even the administration is frustrated and feeling a little helpless right now. And so, for me, the vest becomes a way for this invisible gun to be exposed.”

The professor said things like depression can affect a student’s outlook like it did for him in college when his father died.

“And if a gun is then involved, those things can lead to tragedies,” he added.

Willmott says he feels like he’s living in “this kind of crazy satire” where there are guns in the classroom. And because of that, he plans on wearing the vest for at least the entire year.

One thing’s for sure, Professor Willmott will be the safest guy on the campus. He has a security detail and a vest for added protection.