Who started students for concealed carry on campus?

Answer 1

Chris Brown, a political science major at the University of North Texas, started Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) in the week immediately following the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech Massacre. Mr. Brown ran the organization by himself for about two months (until mid-June 2007), until it became too much of a demand on his time. Mr. Brown then ceased taking an active role in the organization.

Without anyone to answer emails or update the website and Facebook pages, the organization languished for a few months, the only real activity being the efforts of three Ohio college students--Stephen Feltoon, Michael Flitcraft, and Bryce Eastlick--to organize the group's first Empty Holster Protest.

In late August, Scott Lewis, a Texas-based real estate agent and freelance writer who previously wrote a few essays on the issue of concealed carry on college campuses, responded to a request by the organizers of the Empty Holster Protest for somebody to write a press release about it. After writing the press release, Mr. Lewis contacted Chris Brown and asked him to post the press release on the website and the Facebook page. Mr. Brown responded by relinquishing full control of not only the website and Facebook page but also the entire organization to Lewis, Feltoon, Flitcraft, and Eastlick.

The four new leaders of SCCC then set about establishing a system of governance involving a board of directors (which began with just the four of them), regional directors, and the campus leader system that had already been established by Chris Brown. As the organization grew, the board of directors grew, and the roles evolved. The board of directors came to be comprised of the regional directors and the national media coordinator (later renamed the director of public relations), and in October 2008 state leaders--a non-board position between the regional directors and campus leaders--were added.

In May 2008, Scott Lewis became the first of the original board members to resign his position (national media coordinator), assuming a less demanding role as a "senior advisor" to the group (he later resigned this position in February 2009; though, he remains involved with the issue in Texas).

In July 2008, Mike Guzman, who began his involvement with SCCC as the campus leader for Texas State University and was later appointed to the board of directors as the southwest regional director, was elected as SCCC's first president. Andrew Dysart, who became the southeast regional director after his own organization George Mason University Students for Concealed Carry was merged with SCCC in late 2007, was elected the first vice president.

In August 2008, SCCC held its first national conference, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The conference was covered live by C-SPAN.

Vice President Andrew Dysart resigned the following September, to take a job with the NRA. Rocky Mountain regional director Al Baker was elected the new vice president. In late-2008 and early-2009, SCCC's three remaining original board members (Feltoon, Flitcraft, and Eastlick) each chose to move on to the next stages of their lives, leaving their official involvement with SCCC behind. However, each maintains some level of involvement with the movement to legalize licensed concealed carry on college campuses.

Several of SCCC's second generation of board members, including President Mike Guzman, resigned in the fall of 2009. Upon the departure of Mike Guzman, the roles of president and vice president were abolished, and Al Baker returned to his previous role as Rocky Mountain regional director.

More information on Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) can be found here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/16488074/Students-for-Concealed-Carry-on-Campus-SCCC-Handbook