
Interested in Language
Hello,
The following is from a news story about the latest shooting on a Texas college campus.
Guns are not allowed to be carried on college campuses in Texas. But earlier this week, Texas Senator Brian Birdwell introduced legislation in response to that would allow students to openly carry concealed weapons "on university property for personal protection."
What is the meaning of 'openly carry concealed weapons'? I understand that some states in the US allow carrying concealed weapons (for example, hidden under the clothes) with a valid license, and some states allow carrying weapons openly (in plain sight). If this understanding is not correct, please let me know.
Thank you
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
@Gilnetter, when I copied from the news story, those words were there. But, as it often seems to happen with news stories on Yahoo News, they retain the link, but change the content, including the headline. And in this, case, someone seems to have noticed the problem of contradictory words and changed that exact portion. If you notice, the previous sentence starting with 'Guns are not allowed ...' is still retained in the article I cited. (I did not think it was appropriate to include the entire article, so I copied only the relevant part.) It would have been good if they maintained a change log, as I have noticed some sites do it.
Sorry for the wasted time and bandwidth.
P.S. By the way, I still have the old version of that news (link that I included) in my browser tab if anyone is interested in seeing it.
Last edited by Olympian; 23-Jan-2013 at 01:16. Reason: Added text regarding 'still have old version of the news'
Please see the picture of the original news story.
Thanks for that screencap Olympian. I never doubted you for a moment.
I agree that "openly carry ... concealed" is a nonsense. I guess that what the author intended by "openly" (and what his editor at first failed to correct) is "with impunity". American political discourse on this issue is so heated that such nonsenses have become commonplace.
This is a great example of an oxymoron. It's also an example of the way journalistic standards are much lower in blogs than in traditional print media. There's no way a "clanger" of a mistake like that would get past any editor worthy of the title.
oxymoron, noun. Rhetoric .a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”
In Texas, like in the majority of states, people may obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. However, there are usually places that such weapons are prohibited, like at schools and universities. The discussion here is about a change in law which would allow such permit holders to carry on college campuses.
Thank you all for your responses.
@Probus, thanks for not doubting me. ;) Thanks for clarifying that 'openly' can mean 'with impunity' in this context.
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