Does University of Tennessee discriminate against student-athletes?

  Photo courtesy Oleg Volk

Last Friday, WATE-TV, Knoxville reported UT guns policy differs for students vs. student-athletes. Reporter Harlow Sumerford spoke with Athletic Director Mike Hamilton, and Hamilton stated,

We have stood in front of all the head coaches and student-athletes and said, 'No guns,'

Statements like this are bound to raise questions, so I emailed Hamilton:

Mike Hamilton, Athletic Director
University of Tennessee

Dear Mr. Hamilton:

I write for the Examiner online as the Knoxville Gun Rights Examiner, and I understand from the recent  WATE report that your new policy is that student athletes may not have guns at all.

Are you saying that 18 year old or older student athletes may not possess guns in a residence that is not on UT property?

Are you saying that adult student athletes with handgun carry permits may not possess a handgun anywhere at any time?

Are you saying that 18 year old or older student athletes are not allowed to hunt, target shoot, or plink, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian?

In your interview with Harlow Sumerford, you stated that student athletes could call on UT police for help. Do you think they or other LEO's can intervene in the case of a serious attack on a student athlete?

Did you, upon taking a job with the State of Tennessee, swear an oath to uphold the Tennessee and United States Constitutions?

I would really appreciate your thoughts on these questions, which I will publish in my Examiner column.

If you would like to discuss this with me, please call any time.

Sincerely,

Liston Matthews

To his credit, Hamilton did reply promptly (Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 1:25 PM), although with a non-answer:

In the absence of his answers, let's explore the questions:

Are you saying that 18 year old or older student-athletes may not possess guns in a residence that is not on UT property?

If this is the case, Hamilton appears to go further than the Tennessee Attorney General, who says a renter doesn't have Second Amendment rights. Hamilton appears to be willing to limit the right when the student is not on property under his (Hamilton's) control.

Are you saying that adult-student athletes with handgun carry permits may not possess a handgun anywhere at any time?

If this is the case, then Hamilton is, at least in spirit, in defiance of the Tennessee Legislature. The Tennessee handgun carry statutes provide that a person of sound mind and who is able to pass a prescribed background check, and takes proper training, shall be issued a handgun carry permit, which entitles the permit holder to carry a handgun anywhere except where it is prohibited. This includes streets, malls, state parks, and beginning February 22, national parks.

Can a bureaucratic diktak make the word anywhere mean nowhere? Are young permit holders to be arbitrarily stripped of a basic civil right in order to play collegiate basketball.

Are you saying that 18 year old or older student-athletes are not allowed to hunt, target shoot, or plink, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian?

Before donning the athletic uniform, many Tennessee youth have enjoyed the lawful sporting use of firearms, and as a result of responsible behavior, have been released by their parents to unsupervised sporting use of firearms. I wonder what those parents will think of an institution that wants to control their children to such an extreme?

In your interview with Harlow Sumerford, you stated that student athletes could call on UT police for help. Do you think they or other LEO's can intervene in the case of a serious attack on a student athlete?

I wonder if Hamilton is aware of the fact that it took officers a quarter of an hour to apprehend the alleged shooter of the disarmed principals at Inskip Elementary, and that it takes, on average, more than ten minutes before officers arrive at the scene of an emergency.

Did you, upon taking a job with the State of Tennessee, swear an oath to uphold the Tennessee and United States Constitutions?

I suppose that one could answer that question without waiting until July and a word from UT General Counsel. It does seem however, that officials at all levels easily swear an oath to the Tennesse and United States Constitutions, yet conveniently ignore that oath in order to expedite an agenda, as Knoxville City Commissioners did last fall.

Perhaps the University of Tennessee Athletic Department should conduct criminal background checks on prospective athletes. They could then use this information and refrain from recruiting those known to be potential troublemakers.

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