Colin Fury first held a gun when he was seven.
It was with his father at the George Bush shooting range in Bear Creek, Texas. Fury was so excited to shoot the paper target with a handgun.
As Fury grew older, he continued to be exposed to guns. He often went rabbit and pheasant hunting with his best friend.
Fury has never been afraid of guns because he grew up around them. He even owns a 20-gauge shotgun.
"If I saw someone walking around with a gun I wouldn't be scared," said Fury, a freshman political science major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
So when Fury heard there was going to be a UNL College Republicans meeting about the right to bear arms, he was excited to share his knowledge of guns with the group. Fury and his friend Craig Clark thought it would be a great idea to bring Clark's guns to the meeting as visuals.
Fury and Clark decided to walk across the UNL campus with Clark's unloaded guns, an AR15 rifle and a .22 carbine to the Nebraska Union, where the meeting was being held.
Fury didn't think he would alarm anyone by carrying the guns across campus and, to his knowledge, he didn't.
"Nobody was alarmed by us," he said. "We were thinking it would be an exciting way to show our right to bear arms."
Fury and Clark explained they were demonstrating their right to bear arms to students they crossed paths with. They attended the meeting and the members didn't question the guns either.
"Everybody at the meeting wanted to hold the guns and check them out," Fury said. "We knew everyone would get a kick out of the guns and like them - that's why we brought them."
The two boys left the meeting and put the guns away. Little did they know, a few students were alarmed by what they saw and called University Police. Police searched the campus for the two boys, who were nowhere to be found.
Fury said he didn't know about the search until he read about it in the next day's Daily Nebraskan. Fury and Clark were ticketed for disturbing the peace and Clark's rifles were confiscated.
UNL forbids guns on campus, so Fury was put on disciplinary probation for two years and has to do community service. Clark is a student at Southeast Community College, so UNL couldn't punish him.
"I just did it without thinking," Fury said. "I didn't realize I was breaking school policy, and I would take back doing it now."
Prosecutors decided to charge Clark and Fury with unlawful possession of firearms on school grounds.
On June 2, the charges were dropped against Fury and Clark. Judge Gale Pokorny agreed with the defendant's lawyers that there was not a state law for banning rifles on campuses of higher education. The law only forbids having weapons on K-12 school grounds.
"I was very happy," said Tom Keefe, Fury's attorney, in a June interview with the Daily Nebraskan. "The judge made an excellent decision and I think he did a good job of reasoning why he made the decision."
Fury said he fears the incident will jeopardize future job opportunities. As a political science major, Fury aspires to be a lobbyist. He has always been interested in politics and has worked for Congressman Jeff Fortenberry. Fury didn't want the incident to draw negative publicity to Fortenberry's office, so he resigned.
"I think the incident will hurt me, but I hope employers are willing to look past that," Fury said. "I'm a down to earth guy and I wouldn't hurt anyone - I didn't mean any harm."
Fury said he would carry a concealed handgun on campus if school policy allowed it. However, he said he doesn't fear a shooting on UNL's campus because he feels safe at the university.
"School shootings show the most negative side of humanity," Fury said.
Fury, who's clicking cowboy boots can be heard from yards away, will attend Southeast Community College this fall. The Texas native hopes to return to UNL next year.
"Colin does some crazy things, but would never hurt anyone," said Tom Schroeder, a high school friend of Fury's. "He is a good friend."
alissaskelton@dailynebraskan.com
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