To start the fall semester off, students at University of Texas at Austin decided to partake in an anti-campus carry protest. However, the movement was accompanied with the taboo object, a dildo. Yes, that does say dildo. This protest was designed to combat a law that allows concealed carry in college classrooms, dorm buildings, and other facilities. Using the hashtag #cocksnotglocks, the movement quickly went viral.

This Texas law went into effect August 1, 2016 for all state four-year colleges and universities. Concealed carry has been allowed throughout Texas since 1995, but colleges had remained gun-free until this piece of legislation. Jessica Jin, the leader who organized this protest, stated that she believes they are "fighting absurdity with absurdity." Protestors found absurdity in the fact that walking around with a concealed weapon is legal, while walking around with a dildo could land a student in trouble.

It is estimated that about 4,500 sex toys were handed out throughout campus on Wednesday. I can only imagine the first day of college classes that freshman at this university experienced. This Texas campus protest was definitely not lacking in shock value, which definitely allowed it to gain attention. The creative use of the generally taboo dildo incorporates the absurdity factor to make a point: that to many college students, professors, faculty, and staff, legal concealed carry throughout campus seems just as absurd.

Opinions of students and professors seem to be mixed on the topic. Some support concealed carry, and view it as a way to prevent school shootings, while others see it as simply enabling school shootings to happen when guns are legal on a campus filled with overwhelmed, stressed students possibly approaching a breaking point.

Gun control is such a hotly contested topic that no one seems to be without a passionate opinion on who should be able to obtain guns, when they should be able to carry them, and so on. What are your thoughts on the University of Texas's protest method and how effective was it? It certainly seemed to spark a conversation as #cocksnotglocks went viral.