Guess Which Constitutional Right College Football Coaches are Tackling for Their Players?

College football players in the SEC are some lucky little cubs. Their head coaches care about them so much, some of them are tackling one of their scary constitutional rights for them …you know, to keep them safe ‘n stuff.

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How precious!

In a string of Tweets from the Montgomery Adviser’s Matthew Stevens covering the SEC teleconference on August 31, football coaches from across the country highlighted a common discussion between athletic leaders and players: handguns.

…for football! Or something…

But the teleconference got interesting when Missouri Tigers head coach Barry Odom stated his players are prohibited from legally owning a handgun while they are a member of the team.

https://twitter.com/matthewcstevens/status/771019493908815873

The caring coach stated guns used “for hunting” were different from handguns, saying he allows his players to own those types of firearms. #caring

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But apparently constitutionally constipated caring coaches aren’t limited to the Mizzou campus.

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According to his new NCAA Division I contract with the University of Missouri, Odom must: “Keep public statements complimentary to the athletic program and to the University and not engage in any business transaction or commerce, appear on any radio or television program, or in any public forum, or make statements to the media or in any public forum that is likely to bring undue criticism or discredit to the University, its curators, officers, employees or students”.

Missouri athletic officials reached out to Stevens the next day to clarify the University’s position on guns, stating their program’s policy contradicts Odom’s statements made during the teleconference.

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Stevens said the objective of his report was to highlight how, in a 14-school league, several programs are handling the issue of players owning handguns, and in his article published this morning, he reported:

Four head coaches – Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin, Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops – stated they have team policies restricting their players from having handguns or “weapons” as a part of being a member of the football program.

The Firearms Policy Coalition, a national non-profit, tax-exempt organization reached out to the Advertiser with an unsolicited statement that they would be launching a second amendment “investigation into numerous university and university sports team policies, practices, or positions on firearm acquisition, possession, storage, carry, transfer, or disposition”.

You can hear the coaches remarks made during the SEC teleconference in it’s entirety here:

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*Shout out to former University of Wisconsin Badgers coach Bret Bielema, whose only issue, along with Barry Alvarez, with his players going out hunting was concerns over leg fatigue after hauling in a big Wisconsin deer.

On Wisconsin!!

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