Since 1936, the University of West Virginia Mountaineers have had a team mascot (the Mountaineer, natch), who fires off a musket (powder only, natch) when the team scores.
Which, of course, is why the University of Wisconsin banned the Musketeer’s musket from Camp Randall Stadium.
The school was quick to assert it was just a matter of following “policy” against “weapons” in the stadium. Though the athletic department made it clear that they just thought the whole musket thing was, well, wrong. “We don’t need a gun going off in front of 80,000 people,” said the Wisconsin associate athletic director.
Right. After all, probably only 60,000 of those folks voted for a 1998 state constitutional amendment, asserting that “the people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose.”
And after all, it’s not like the stadium wasn’t named after an old Civil War training camp. Oh, wait … it was.
Maybe it was considering that — or considering that they were being made a laughingstock on ESPN — which led to the Wisonsin folks backing down. This time, at least.