A gun rights group is staging a fake mass shooting to protest gun-free zones

In a protest against gun-free zones on college campuses, a gun rights group is planning to stage a fake "mass shooting" this weekend at the University of Texas at Austin, the Statesman reports. Though loaded guns will soon be permitted on campus at UT, the new campus carry law, which takes effect in August, may include some rules on specific gun-free zones.

The Open Carry Walk and Crisis Performance Event will feature actors armed with cardboard weapons. Gun noises will be played over bullhorns, and actors will be "shot" and may even ooze fake blood. Other actors will play rescuers, who will also notably be armed with cardboard weapons.

"Criminals that want to do evil things and commit murder go places where people are not going to be able to stop them," Matthew Short, a spokesman for the gun rights group Come and Take It Texas and DontComply.com, told the Statesman. "When seconds count, the cops are minutes away."

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As for how the demonstration may be perceived in light of the recent mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, and at a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado, Short says he isn't worried. "People were able to be murdered... because no one was armed," he said.