Gun-rights protesters are planning a 'fake mass shooting' near the University of Texas

Gun-rights activists plan to perform a "fake mass shooting" on Saturday in

Austin, Texas.

Two groups, Come and Take It Texas and DontComply.com, are holding the event in an attempt to stress the importance of "personal protection" and demonstrate the danger of gun-free zones.

In a promotional post about the event on DontComply.com, Andre Gabriel Esparza describes the event as "a serious, theatrical skit consisting of ketchup and cardboard props to capture the reality of the plot."

Matthew Short, a spokesman for the groups involved, told the Austin-American Statesman that actors will be "shot" with cardboard weapons while gun sounds are played from bullhorns. Other cardboard-armed actors will play rescuers.

When asked by the Statesman if the event could appear in bad taste after recent shootings in San Bernardino, California, and Paris, Short responded, "Not at all. People were able to be murdered by people because no one was armed."

The event is to be preceded by a march with "rifles and pistols on display," according to another post on DontComply.com.

The event was originally planned to take place on the University of Texas at Austin campus, but a change in location was forced after a school spokesman announced that the campus was not open to outside groups for protest and that groups refusing to leave would be treated as criminal trespassers.

The event will now take place on an adjacent street, Murdoch Pizgatti, founder of both groups involved, told The Statesman.

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