US: Teachers told to avoid provocative topics and drop subjects as guns permitted on campus

Teachers at a US university were told they may need to drop subjects from the curriculum and not discuss topics that provoke anger, after students were given the green light to bring guns into class.

Academics at the University of Houston, Texas, were shown a slideshow that also advised them to limit out-of-hours contact, among other things, in order to avoid a shooting after they raised concerns about armed students.

Texas has passed a Campus Carry law that is set to come into effect in August 2016 and allows people to carry concealed weapons in most areas of the campus – including classrooms.

After staff raised concerns about how the new law would affect their students and classes, they were shown a slideshow, a clip of which read: "You may want to... be careful discussing sensitive topics, drop certain topics from your curriculum, not 'go there' if you sense anger, limit student access off hours."

One of the professors who was shown the slideshow tweeted: "To be clear: step 1 of 3: Terrorism involves the silencing of discourse through fear and violence.

"Step 2 of 3: Open carry is advertised as a means of resisting or preventing terrorism.

"Step 3 of 3: Teachers advised that any problems with Open Carry can be resolved by silencing discourse."

The law comes into effect eight months after the state passed an open carry law that makes it legal to carry a visible weapon in certain areas, whereas the campus law means students and staff over the age of 21 who possess a state-mandated concealed handgun licence may bring a gun to university with them – as long as the weapon is concealed.