By Shannon Gilchrist, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – A week after an attack on a crowd at Ohio State University, almost to the hour, people openly carrying guns of various sizes met in front of the Ohio Union on Monday morning, aiming to make a point.
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About 15 armed men and women showed up for the “No More Sitting Ducks!” open-carry walk on the OSU campus. The group, with people from across Ohio and a few from out of state, said they were there to carry their guns openly, which is legal in a public place, to show that it doesn’t make sense that the concealed carry of handguns is not allowed in the same place.
“Please don’t call it a march. Don’t call it a protest,” said Jeffry Smith, a firearms instructor and gun-rights advocate from the Cincinnati area. Smith was hard to miss, being far north of 6 feet tall, with a Tavor rifle slung across his front and a Glock handgun holstered on each hip.
Smith has organized seven walks on university campuses over the past two years. They’ve always happened on weekends, but he intentionally set this seven days after an 18-year-old student, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, drove a car into a crowded plaza and then slashed at bystanders with a kitchen knife before an OSU police officer shot and killed him.
“The reason I did this one today was specifically in response to last week’s attack, to say, ‘Hey guys, you students here are sitting ducks for a person with evil intent’,” Smith said. “Thank God there was a police officer right there with a gun to stop that guy, but had there not been…
“Whether (people) agree or disagree, the dialogue is the point. The carry of the firearms is a conversation starter.”
Two years ago, when they last walked on the OSU campus, the university allowed students to participate without facing discipline under the code of conduct, which prohibits students from possessing firearms on campus. This time was different, and no OSU students came on the walk.
OSU spokesman Chris Davey said in an emailed statement: “The organizers proactively notified the university of their intent to conduct this educational walk involving the legal possession of weapons on and around campus… None of these individuals is an Ohio State student to our knowledge. I won’t comment on any discussions we had with (the group) regarding our students.”
There were a lot of side glances at the gun-laden procession and a few people pulled out cell phones to record the event, but most students just minded their business.
“It’s kind of counterintuitive to what a whole lot of gun-control advocates would have you believe: that if you put a person with a gun on campus, people will lose their minds,” said Stephen Feltoon, who photographed the event for the group while carrying his Mauser rifle.
Several of the walkers, including Cory Curl of northern Kentucky, said they are in favor of Ohio House Bill 48, which would ease restrictions on where people could carry concealed weapons, including allowing public university trustees to decide whether to allow guns on their campuses. Curl would like to see an end to all gun-free zones.
The group walked past the towers and Ohio Stadium and through the academic core. On 11th Avenue, they encountered 11th-graders from Columbus’ Eastmoor Academy High School, who had been visiting the OSU Wexner Medical Center.
When the teens spotted the group on the sidewalk, “They were scared at first,” said their teacher, Amanda Clark. “We were just talking on the way over here about what happened here last week… (But) I always tell my students to ask questions first.”
Clark gave her 15 students a few minutes to hear Smith out. Some asked questions and listened politely. Clark said she would use the experience as a teaching tool.
Near the recreation center, a student calling himself Tony W. stopped the group. “You guys actually make me feel safer being here,” he said. “It’s awfully lonely here. You say, ‘I have a gun at home,’ and you’re looked at like you have a thousand heads.”
Connor Kasson, a sophomore finance major walking with earbuds in, looked incredulous.
“It’s a little disconcerting to see assault rifles on the way to class,” he said. “I thought we were in Columbus, not Baghdad.” Kasson said he supports the right to bear arms, but that people don’t need them on campus, open or concealed.
“Thankfully, we have the fine men and women of the OSU Police Department here,” he said, gesturing to the police cruisers that shadowed the armed group across campus.