The much hyped response to attempts to keep University of Texas at Austin gun-free happened – it just did so out of sight, using condiments for blood and pursued by determined protesters with fart guns

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Pro-gun activists staged their promised and much-hyped “mock mass shooting” in Austin, Texas on Saturday – though they did so without many witnesses.

'Armed with reason': Texas campus carry law sees pushback from academics Read more

In protesting efforts among academics and students to make the University of Texas at Austin a gun-free zone, in the face of an incoming campus carry law, Come and Take it Texas and DontComply.com announced plans to conduct a dramatization of a mass school shooting on college property.

Their aim was to demonstrate the supposed effectiveness of armed citizens in neutralising gunmen who target public spaces, and the announcement duly caused a media stir.

But the planned location was changed on Wednesday after UT issued a statement saying university property was only open to students and staff, and any activities held on it by outside parties could be considered criminal trespassing. Mock-shooting organizer Murdoch Pizgatti told the Austin American-Statesman: “We will move forward with the event on the adjacent public land using UT as the backdrop.”

On Saturday, the venue was changed again.

At first, a dozen reporters waited outside a parking garage one block west of the University of Texas, where a Facebook event page had told pro-gun supporters to meet at noon in order to begin the day’s activities with an open-carry gun walk.

As reporters waited for organizers to emerge from the garage, one man, 36-year-old Austin real estate broker Andrew Clements, stood on the sidewalk with a short barrel AR-15 strapped to his chest. He held a sign that read: “To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens – Adolf Hitler.”

Clements said he was there to take part in the open carry walk around the West Campus neighborhood and to watch the mock mass shooting. He said he supported anybody who exercised their right to discuss their beliefs openly.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Murdoch Pizgatti, organizer of the Life and Liberty Walk to End-Gun Free Zones. Photograph: Lizzie Chen/for the Guardian

“People should be shaking hands and talking,” Clements said. “Not killing each other.”

At about 12.30pm, two men emerged from the parking garage wearing bandanas and sunglasses to obscure their faces. One, the hood from his yellow sweatshirt pulled over his head, held a sign that read: “Criminals support gun-free zones.”

Pizgatti emerged from the garage next, wearing a black t-shirt with a slogan that read: “Proud Member of the Terrorist Watch List.” He carried a bullhorn and walked with another man whom Clements said was Pizgatti’s brother. Both men declined to speak to reporters.

A group containing more journalists than activists then walked a 10-block loop that took them down Guadalupe Street, directly in front of the UT campus.

One marcher, Heather Hill of Fort Worth, said she was one of the mock-shooting organizers and a member of Come and Take it Texas. A host of an internet radio show called Liberty 4 Free, she carried a sign that read “10 mins vs 10 seconds” – a reference to police response times to mock shootings as opposed to supposed response times of armed citizens – on one side and “End Gun Free Zones” on the other. On her pink sweater she sported a button that said: “I heart raw milk.”

Carrying a United States flag, a Texas flag and a Soviet-made SKS rifle was Jason Mosely from Garland, who said he was there to get Texas to end gun-free zones. Alongside him walked Phil Neumann, also from Garland, who carried an American flag and an AR-15 rifle.

“The gun-free zones are killing zones,” Neumann said.

As the demonstrators made their way through West Campus, one University of Texas police officer stood on the sidewalk, filming. Three female employees of a clothing boutique stared at the spectacle. They declined to comment. A couple of men stood on the roof of a Kaplan Testing Center, also filming.

As the gun enthusiasts circled back to their starting point, they picked up a group of UT students protesting against them. About 10 students in orange t-shirts began chanting “mock shooting, mock victims” and “our history is not a joke”

The latter chant was a reference to a 1966 mass shooting on the UT campus, when Charles Whitman, a 25-year-old architectural engineering student, climbed to the observation deck of the UT Tower and began shooting at people below. He killed 16 and wounded 32.

Baylor Morrison, a 22-year-old UT senior, said the group of students, some of them pro-gun, some not, had assembled three days previously because the mock mass shooting was organized by outsiders taking advantage of school’s dark history.

“As a student, I know no Longhorn would support a mock mass shooting to stir people into a frenzy,” Morrison said.

At about 1pm, the open carry walk ended and Pizgatti announced that the group would break for lunch, then reassemble at 2.30pm for the mock shooting. A few minutes later, an announcement was posted to the event Facebook page: “Grabbing a bite to eat then get ready for the big event at 2.30 on the West Mall.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Andrew Clements – here openly carrying a short barrel AR-15 – wants to end gun-free zones on college campuses in Texas. Photograph: Lizzie Chen/for the Guardian

The West Mall is the free speech area at UT, where the event was originally scheduled to take place. By 2pm, a counter-protest group had assembled there, carrying props including Nerf swords, guns that made flatulent sounds and sex aids. One man held a sign that said: “Fart here”. Others’ signs said “Armed with reason” and “Sorry about your small penis issues”.

At 2.15pm, the man holding the “Fart here” sign announced that the mock mass shooting demonstrators had been spotted about 10 blocks away. The entire group, including media, made the long trek to 27th street and Whitis, there to find that the mock mass shooting had already finished.

Pizgatti and the others were nowhere to be seen. Only chalk outlines of human bodies and ketchup-stained sidewalks indicated they had ever been there.

John Young, 48 and of Cedar Park, was the only person left at the scene who claimed to have taken part. He said he supported pro-gun laws and had attended the event intending only to watch, but was asked at the last minute to play a victim.

“Me and five others stood on the corner,” he said, “and two criminals walked up and shot me and two others while the other two hid behind a ‘Gun Free Zone’ sign.



“The police arrived then. It was five minutes after we began. Then the two people hiding behind the sign were shot dead, too.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Young holds up a ketchup-stained protester’s t-shirt, having played a “victim” in the mock mass shooting. Photograph: Lizzie Chen/for the Guardian

Young said the group enacted the scene three more times, changing the script so some of the “victims” were armed. That time, he said, the armed citizens were able to neutralize the perpetrator. The event, Young said, took 20 minutes.

Young held up a “Gun Free UT” t-shirt stained with ketchup. Behind him, the leader of the fart mob declared a victory.

“It’s time to stand up for common sense, good humor and, despite the fart guns, good taste,” he said.