The West Virginia Mountaineers football team’s first visit to Camp Randall in decades has been marred by controversy over the anticipated behavior of their team mascot.
After initial doubts over whether the Mountaineers’ mascot would be permitted to fire his fake rifle at Saturday’s football game, University of Wisconsin chancellor John Wiley has given West Virginia the green light, allowing the mascot to bring the cap gun into the stadium and fire it.
Calling the potential barring of the musket from Camp Randall “silly,” the Second Amendment Foundation, a fierce opponent of gun control, claimed the controversy “revealed a deeper philosophy of academic bigotry that will not be ignored by gun owners,” according to a statement released by the organization.
“On Saturday, UW officials, fans and the nation will see that gun owners will not be mollified or silenced,” said spokesman Alan Gottlieb in the statement. “We’ll use the First Amendment to defend the Second.”
The group has plans to hire an airplane to fly a pro-gun banner over the stadium during the game reading “Guns Save Lives.”
West Virginia University athletic director Ed Tastilong said he was pleased with the chancellor’s decision and looks forward to the game; the kickoff is scheduled for just after 11 a.m. Saturday morning.
“The Wisconsin officials have been very gracious and accommodating, and we are extremely appreciative,” Tastilong said from Morgantown, W.Va.
Tastilong said that while the mascot’s musket has rarely been the topic of controversy, “on occasion, especially at an indoor venue such as Madison Square Garden, they’ll ask [the mountaineer] not to discharge the musket.”
Tastilong described the mascot’s musket as a “real-looking cap gun” that expels powder.
Andrew J. Beckner, sports editor of the Daily Athenium, said West Virginia students were unhappy hearing the initial news that their school’s mascot would have to enter Camp Randall unarmed.
“It was a gut reaction,” Beckner said. “[The mountaineer] is a tradition, and students were upset about it.”
Last Friday, West Virginia officials asked permission from the athletic department to allow the mascot to fire his gun. Athletic department officials denied the request, uncertain if the musket might violate a UW policy, which forbids firearms to be brought into and discharged in Camp Randall.
Chancellor Wiley accepted a request from UW athletic director Pat Richter to make an exception to the policy and allow the mascot to fire the gun.
“This is obviously very important to West Virginia University and their fans, so we thought it would be best to seek an exception,” Richter said in a statement.
