Texas University Put On Lockdown Amid Reports Of Armed Man Later Found To Just Be 'Open Carry' Fan

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- The unintended consequences of the state's "open carry" law -- enabling gun owners to carry their long rifles freely to express their ardent support of the 2nd Amendment -- was dramatically felt at a university placed on lockdown as a result.

On Wednesday afternoon, university officials sent an urgent alert to faculty and students to stay in place after reports of an armed man on campus. One student told Patch she retreated to the television production studio on campus where others had taken shelter, not knowing the extent of the threat.

"Campus on lockdown," the student texted a Patch reporter. "Me, my instructor and three students barricaded ourselves in the studio in the dark. We don't know what is going on."

The sheltering in place occurred after university officials issued a tweet alerting students to the potential threat:

Ultimately, the man turned out not to be a threat, per se, but a rifle owner availing himself of the state's "open carry" law allowing him to walk around in public with his firearm in a public place. The law allowing such forms of expression took effect on Jan. 1, a piece of legislation that was aggressively championed by GOP conservatives -- led by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott -- who embrace gun ownership as a plank of their political platform.

But the man made the mistake of walking on the property encompassing a private university, one of a long list of private institutions of higher learning that have opted out of allowing guns on campus, in spite of the new law allowing the open carry of weapons. By and large, officials at public universities also oppose the new law and the resulting specter of guns on campus, but are unable to opt out given their state funding.

The man reportedly was contacted by police and asked to leave the premises, not for provoking a widespread scare by toting his gun -- something he's now allowed to do with the advent of "open carry," but because of his inadvertent and alleged trespassing on private property. *

By the end of the tense-filled drama, all remaining afternoon classes at Our Lady of the Lake were cancelled, the student said.

"They apprehended him," she texted, although the man in question was not, technically, detained by police. "Just found out. Campus police won't let us out yet but he's been caught. Thank God," she added, not referencing an arrest, but with relief that it turned out to be something of a false alarm.

Along with "open carry," another law pushed by conservatives dubbed "campus carry" was passed, which allows those with concealed handgun permits to take their weapons at colleges unable to opt out of the new legislation. The "campus carry" law was passed Aug. 1.

* Story updated to reflect the man was questioned rather than arrested as police determined whether or not he posed a threat.

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