RKBA Campus...er...bone toss? #4.5

Apart from internet connection issues (the guy through whom we get our on-ramp to the info superhighway switched over from ACS to AT&T--it hasn't been a smooth transition) and general business, I apologize for not being a little more timely in my quest to give you guys a taste of what the up-and-coming generation is saying about gun issues.

David Codrea was kind enough to send in this one from Dixie State College:

Students, teachers voice opinions on guns in school

Kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, you have the Director of Security advocating armed teachers. Why? Because it seems he understands that cops tend to be rather slow reacting to crises.

But unfortunately, like most cops, he seems to be a little out of touch with the legislative goings-on in Utah:

“There is no legislation even in the process of being passed to allow teachers to carry guns on campus in Utah,” Reid said.

Hmmmm. The folks at BYU reported something different about a month or so ago. If Dixie is private, it's within rights to set whatever policies on its grounds. But if it is State--nope, the courts ruled State law has pre-eminence over whatever policy campus wanted to enforce regarding 2A issues.

Student reactions? How about two clueless freshman?

Our first, a 'major' in general education (=hasn't decided on a major) says "I think we should wait until we have problems here." Most of Europe did that when Hitler rose to power--it didn't really work for them.

Another one, a pre-engineering freshman sees the pro's and con's (no pro's listed, interestingly enough), but says "If we can’t have guns then teachers shouldn’t be able to either." There is such a thing as a minimum age to own a handgun. The way I've seen some young idiots play with pieces of serious hardware, it's easy to justify it.

Teachers can be just as jumpy on the topic, like this history professor:

"I have never encountered violence in a high school or university; it’s completely out of principle"

He's probably never heard spoken Norwegian, either, but does that mean the language doesn't exist? Obviously, he's spent too much time going over the past to pay much attention to current events.

Winding up that article, we have one freshman showing something of a reasonable attitude: “I think that only teachers that are trained to use guns should carry guns or they should just have more cops on campus.”

I agree with the former. The latter...ehhhh...not if you really want a tuition hike.

I'm kind of curious why the Dixie paper only chose to interview freshmen. Is it a junior college?


From Washington State, I found an article that didn't focus on gun issues per se (it has an anti-violence theme in light of the Amish school shooting), but makes an oblique jab that guns are the absolute root cause for violence:

The girls died because it was his right to buy a gun.

And I got D's in Calculus because of my pencil.


The next dandy is rather dated (from May of this year) , and comes also from the Left Coast. No, not the PRC, but Seattle University. An editorial in the Spectator Online gives us the full leftist battery on 2A. I mean, it has it all--Brady! Gun show loopholes! National Center for Health stats! Looking at it from an 'international perspective!'

But this quote bothers me the most: "Despite the saber-rattling of 2nd Amendment purists, the need for reform overshadows any ideological struggle for freedom." I think it pretty much speaks for itself.


Happily, though, you do find the voices of reason if you can wade through the propaganda. Like this student from the same university, who wrote an excellent article on gun rights. Like most that lean towards supporting RKBA, it's backed up with a lot of good research, instead of relying on the left's attempts to sway others by the visceral approach.

Highlights:

While there are no problems with individuals choosing not to own a firearm, restricting citizens from attaining the means of protecting themselves is an unacceptable and unconstitutional act.

Gun opponents must have much more faith in their government and institutional bodies than I do, especially after witnessing the pillage of civil liberties that has occurred since the September 11th terrorist attacks. Ironically, it is Democrats – those who should be most fearful of having to fight for their civil liberties – who tend to spearhead the assault on guns.

Historically, situations of mass extermination by governments could have been solved had their citizens been armed.

Read the rest of it! I love ending a post on a positive note.