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The Daily Wildcat

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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Mailbag: Jan. 19

Return to the front yard!

I can’t stand to see the majority of college-age youth in the United States spend their time shooting heroin in their back yards. That is, metaphorically speaking. As tuition rises, college acceptance rates drop, and the state continues to rape the universities, students seem to just be lying there and taking it.

What happened to rationality and dignity in today’s society? Will we not directly and relentlessly confront those who impede on our education? In his essay “”Open Letter to the Youth of Our Nation,”” Hunter Thompson prophetically advises us: “”I warn you, if you don’t start now it will be too late, and the blame for the end of the world will be laid at your feet. Heed my warning, oh depraved and profligate youth; I say awake, awake, awake!””

Indeed, immediate action is necessary. Write, speak, debate, protest and organize! Make your uneasiness known to our political leaders. Use your persuasiveness, rational arguments and all of the skills you can contribute. After you wake up, get the needle out of your arm, run through the house, burst through the door and join the picket line out front.

Gregory Gonzales

National student group reacts to editorial

An editorial in the Jan. 13 edition of the Daily Wildcat argued against legislation that would begin to enable legal self-defense on Arizona college campuses. The editorial recycled many of the debunked, primarily emotional arguments propagated by anti-gun groups like the Brady Campaign without acknowledging the factual realities of campus gun control policies.

The editorial argues a college campus is “”no place for a deadly weapon.”” It is important to understand two facts about this argument. First: “”deadly weapons”” are already allowed on campus, albeit with hefty restrictions. Second: despite the best intentions of the administration, they cannot regulate crime out of existence. Any criminal can choose to bring a “”deadly weapon”” onto an Arizona campus at will. Far from keeping weapons off campus, current restrictions more accurately restrict college campuses to a place where legally concealed weapons may never be used to prevent violent crimes.

The editorial claims legal weapons “”will create fear”” far greater than the fear of a “”hypothetical criminal.”” If this were true, then students would never leave the “”safety”” of campus boundaries. Nationally, about 1 percent of the population has a concealed handgun license (or equivalent permit). Assuming the Arizona rate is similar, then one in every hundred people you pass off campus is carrying a “”deadly weapon,”” and yet students do not fear a trip to the movies, grocery store or local mall. Furthermore, all evidence suggests that students who have actually experienced campus life with legal Concealed Carry Weapons feel safer, not frightened. That’s why the Associated Students of Colorado State University voted 21-3 to pass a resolution in favor of maintaining legal concealed weapons on their campus. It was unelected “”educrats,”” not the campus community, who chose to mandate a ban.

Finally, the editorial argues Concealed Carry Weapons requirements do not provide enough training for professors to adequately “”defend the student body,”” and “”defending students”” is the job of campus police. Both of these claims are false. As to the former, not only is the shooting qualification requirement the same for police and permit holders, it is not the job of a permit holder to protect students or other individuals. Concealed Carry Weapons are about self-defense, not becoming a one-man S.W.A.T. team. Concealed Carry Weapons holders are not police. Deterring crime is not the objective of Concealed Carry Weapons; it is a side effect. As to the latter claim, the courts have established that police have no affirmative duty to protect citizens regardless of their knowledge of potential crimes, or even a stated intent to provide protection. Furthermore, the police cannot be everywhere at once. Only potential victims are guaranteed to be present when their life is in danger. I find it hard to believe that disarming the victim prevents crime.

Erik Soderstrom

Media Liaison, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus

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