University of Texas law professor Calvin Johnson cited his historical research of 1787-89 as proof for his controversial Con Law List Serve post, where he blamed the Second Amendment for the Ohio school shooting. UT student organizations take issue with Johnson, saying the fault is in laws making it easy to carry a firearm into public places.

The Second Amendment, Johnson said, came as a result of US militia nationalization and state citizen’s rights to “keep and bear arms” for protection from the government. Johnson’s comment that the shooting was a “typical exercise of the Second Amendment” and his link to a New York Times story over the shooting, had been meant for a small group of academics and not the whole public. The listserv information, however, is not a private platform and Johnson’s comment was picked up and reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

“For me, the Second Amendment is tricky because there are certain rights we should have, but they should only go so far,” University Democrat President Emeritus Janette Martinez said. “The Ohio shooting is not the fault of the Second Amendment. We’ve seen school shootings before. What caused this is how easy it is to obtain a gun without a background check.”

Lax gun laws, failure to perform background checks, and purchases made without showing a state issued Drivers License were the factors UT students focused on in the Ohio shooting.

“There are no anti-gun activists today in the US,” UT graduate student John Woods said. “We all support the Second Amendment, but think there should be reasonable restrictions. We all recognize it’s a constitutional right.”

Johnson’s claim to historical data may detail the reasons behind the Second Amendment’s formation, but students cited statistics to make the argument there is more at fault in the Ohio shooting than just the Second Amendment.

“Gun free zones are where most people on people shooting occurs,” Texas Shot Gun Sports President Michael Harbin said. “What he said was unwise.”