The nation’s oldest and largest college student Second Amendment advocacy group recently formed a tax-exempt entity.
As of September 10th, 2014, Students for Concealed Carry Foundation (SCCF) became recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity, and donations to SCCF are tax-deductible. The sister organization, Students for Concealed Carry (SCC), will remain a separate entity, continuing its focus on legislative advocacy. SCCF’s focus will be to fund high-cost, high-benefit work such as litigation and legal research.
Reid Smith, Director of Development and SCCF board member released a statement to donors outlining the purpose is “to protect the civil rights of legally permitted college students, faculty, and staff who choose to carry concealed firearms on campus; doing so through scholarly research, education of the public, and engaging in legal action when necessary.”
The group plans to do this in part by publishing information in an accessible format which will allow any student or parent to determine the legality of campus carry any college campus in America.
Secondly, the group plans to fund research that will help educate policy makers, college students, and the public at large on campus carry. “Specifically, SCCF will focus on generating educational materials and providing assistance to college students who seek to educate their fellow students, decision makers, and the public through events such as scholarly debates and presentations,” said Smith in the statement.
SCCF also pledges to fund litigation to enforce laws protecting the concealed carry rights of college students. In Regents of the University of Colorado v. Students for Concealed Carry, which ultimately legalized campus carry in Colorado, the Colorado Supreme Court found that public colleges and universities are not above the law. Smith said that SCCF believes “that laws relevant to that case are mirrored in roughly 25-30 states across the country.”
Over the years, Smith has found that the largest barrier to the college students’ ability to advocate for campus carry in a public forum is college administration. Smith claims the “problem is endemic across the country.”
“I’ve met with campus police chiefs who have threatened academic blackmail against students that participated in SCC protests,” Smith said adding that he’s also met “deans that have threatened to blackball students from graduate programs due to their participation.”
As such, SCCF will seek to educate students on their First Amendment rights, giving them the confidence to properly express their ideas and advocate for campus carry as well as intervene on behalf of the student using legal action if necessary. SCC has been victorious in litigation against colleges in the past. They’ve worked closely with the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education, (theFIRE.org) and plan to continue that relationship.
Contact:
Crayle Vanest
Director of Public Relations
Students for Concealed Carry Foundation
Crayle.Vanest@concealedcampus.org
Zachary Zalneraitis
Director of Public Relations
Students for Concealed Carry
Zachary.Zalneraitis@concealedcampus.org
Students for Concealed Carry Foundation is a nationwide, non-partisan student organization. The group’s mission is to perform scholarly legal and public policy research, to educate the public concerning issues of civil liberties pertaining to firearms at postsecondary education institutions through conferences and other media, and to engage in legal action when necessary to fulfil these objectives.
