Montana Holster Design Construction Contest
by the
Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA)

WHATStudents for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) is a national organization advocating for campus denizens to be able to provide for their own personal security by being allowed to carry firearms on campus.  SCCC organized an empty holster protest in October of 2007 when students were encouraged to wear empty holsters on campus for a week to bring attention to and stimulate dialog about students being exposed to and undefended from violence on campus.

SCCC plans another empty holster protest during the week of April 21-25 for the same purpose.

THE PROBLEM IS that many students don't own or possess holsters to be able to participate in such a protest.  Therefore, MSSA is sponsoring a contest to help Montana college students with designs of holsters than can be fabricated from materials commonly available to college students.

WHO:  Any interested person may submit a holster design for this contest, but only Montana college students are eligible for the cash prizes available.  A "Montana college student" is defined as any person actively enrolled in post-secondary education and currently residing in Montana.  This includes full-time or part-time students at universities, colleges, and any person who does coursework on a college or university campus in Montana.  All persons not college students are encouraged to submit viable designs, but the prize money is intended for (poor, starving) college students.

WHY:  To provide students with a viable, inexpensive way to participate in the SCCC empty holster protest without having to actually own a real holster.

WHERE:  Anyone, anywhere may submit a design, but only active Montana college students are eligible for cash prizes.

WHEN:  All designs must be submitted electronically no later than midnight, April 12th, 2008, so we may publish the best designs for students to use during the week of the SCCC empty holster protest.

WHAT DESIGNS:  Two design categories will be accepted/may be submitted - designs that look like real holsters and designs that are symbolic of holsters.

DESIGN CRITERIA:  Designs will be judged by how effective they are in appearance, how readily they may be constructed from materials likely to be conveniently available to college students, and how durable they are (they must last a week).

WHO WILL JUDGE DESIGNS:  MSSA will judge designs in the two categories offered.  MSSA's judgment will be final.

WHAT PRIZES:  In each category, $75 will be offered for first place, $50 for second place, and $25 for third place.

HOW WILL DESIGNS BENEFIT STUDENTS:  All designs deemed suitable will be posted and accessible from this Website, so any student may access these designs and recreate them for personal use during the week of SCCC's empty holster protest.

WHAT MUST BE SUBMITTED:  Everything submitted must be done electronically.  The name, mail address (to send a prize check), town of residence and school must be submitted, although if MSSA posts your design we will only post your name and school (or town for non-students), AND we will post "Anon" and your school (or town for non-students) if you request.  Please declare in the submission if you are a Montana college student so as to be eligible for one of the prizes.  The following design information must be submitted:

1)  A list of materials and tools necessary for holster construction;

2)  A narrative of how to construct the finished product from the materials;

3)  Any templates or cutting patterns that would be useful to a person using the design; and

4)  A digital photograph of the finished product, on a person, preferably worn at waist level.

5)  Optional - any comment about the concept of self defense on campus, the SCCC empty holster protest and/or university policies related (we may post your comment with your entry).

6)  A design must be declared to be either "Real" or "Symbolic" to be properly entered in the contest.

Example 1, a "real" holster

Example 2, a "symbolic" holster

SHOULD FAKE OR TOY GUNS BE INCLUDED IN THE DESIGN:  Absolutely NOT.  See the SCCC's rules for the empty holster protest.

MULTIPLE DESIGNS:  A person with more than one design idea may submit any number of designs, but each design must be complete and in a separate submission.

WHERE/HOW TO SUBMIT A DESIGN:  Email to mssa " AT " mtssa " DOT " org (replace the " AT " with @ and the " DOT " with a period - done to foil eddress-harvesting spambots).  The Subject: of the email should read "Holster Design Contest."  The list of materials and narrative should be in text in the body of the email.  Any templates or patterns should be in a .doc, .pdf, or .jpeg attached file.  Photos of a person wearing the finished product should be in an attached .jpeg file, should be less than 1MB in file size, and should NOT show the face of the person modeling the product.

PROPERTY RIGHT:  All designs submitted will become the property of MSSA and all acceptable designs will be put into the public domain (no property right).  Any person submitting a design will forego any property right to the design submitted.  A submission should include the statement, "I agree that the design material submitted here may be put into the public domain."

CONTEST POSTER:  A contest poster (MSWord, .doc file) may be downloaded HERE.

FURTHER INFORMATION:  See MSSA's comment on the proposed new MSU firearms policy HERE.
See MSSA's analysis of the Montana university system and firearms HERE.

ANYTHING WE FORGOT TO ADDRESS:  Send an email and ask.