Facts speak louder than opinions on gun control
I find it interesting reading about the "right to bear arms" and how both sides are so opinionated.
I don't understand why people feel the need to keep a gun around their house or on their person. Statistics show if you own a gun, you are more likely to shoot yourself or another family member accidentally rather than an intruder or someone trying to harm you.
How many more people are going to die before we realize that guns in this country cause more deaths by murders and accidental deaths than an actual criminal's death?
I think the movie "Bowling for Columbine" shows this very well.
Erin Greenwood
WEB DEVIL READER
Stopping shootings starts with counseling, not metal detectors
Yesterday, as I was watching the news about the Virginia Tech shootings, I couldn't help but be angry. Constantly the commentary was about how to make schools safer for students.
Metal detectors are an incredibly stupid way to make people feel safe.
The problem here was people failing to notice that a fellow student needed some help. Over and over again, shootings happen because of someone going through a traumatic event or being mentally unstable.
How about a required class teaching us how to recognize when a peer needs someone to talk to?
Maybe we can prevent not only campus shootings but also workplace shootings.
Focus on the real problem, not the symptoms.
Leah Eisen
SENIOR
Tech shootings a warning for other universities
ASU has publicized little, if any, official emergency or evacuation procedures for any single building or large portion of campus. Some in high-level positions may know what to do, but it's a bit surprising that all most of us know to do is run!
The Virginia Tech massacre reminded me how vulnerable we are here at ASU. As a teacher, I am not really sure where to tell my students to go in an emergency.
In my building, I don't have the ability to lock my classroom doors. Most importantly, there is no effective campus wide communication system to advise me of any serious incidents anyway.
Those attending and working at Virginia Tech will soon realize that most schools are in no position to handle such events. There isn't much the administration could have done.
However, this doesn't mean it needs to remain this way. ASU can create more effective preparedness procedures, including doors we can lock.
Paul Quinn
FACULTY
The problem isn't in the gun control laws
I am not a poet. My speech is not very eloquent, and I definitely cannot qualify as any kind of distinguished author. To put on paper the distress, anxiety and suffering of Virginia Tech would require far greater skill than I will ever possess.
With that necessary disclaimer, I will force myself to take a more sterile approach, detaching myself, to a certain degree, from the human emotion and comment on an issue that has not been able to leave my mind.
"Weapon Free" zones, conceal carry limitations on school properties and where alcohol is served for consumption, and even magazine capacity stipulations have wonderful and rational appeal when regulating firearms on paper and from behind a desk full of politics and special interests.
It resounds in my mind how these superficial, idealistic laws can actually heighten the degree of pain and suffering a person with ill-intent can accomplish.
This is not a brief on the merits and shortcomings of each and every second amendment issue. I am not advocating complete utter deregulation of firearm sales and possession. But I am merely hinting at the idea of changing the way we view firearms in public.
We, the public, are programmed to believe in the inherent wickedness of a gun rather than the inherent wickedness of select individuals. The former belief would find its best setting in the Middle Ages, where as the latter has always been true.
For better or worse, the "cat is out of the bag" with regard to gun ownership, availability, and possession in the United States. In a society where the wicked are armed and the good regulated to the point of defenselessness, perhaps we should be more empowered to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Sant
GRADUATE STUDENT
Gun control allowed for Tech shootings
We have recently seen a tragedy of monumental proportions in Virginia. Unfortunately, like jackals before the bodies are in the ground, the shrill voices of the anti-gun crowd are already calling out for more gun control. The sad fact is however, that the far left had made such a travesty possible. It should now be apparent to everyone that a weapons free zone is nothing more than a shooting gallery for the criminally deranged. We have allowed the left to turn our campuses into victim disarmament zones, and we have reaped the consequences.
Sadly, a bill to allow licensed and trained individuals to carry means to protect themselves, Virginia House Bill 1572, failed to pass the Virginia legislature in January.
At the time Larry Hincker, a spokesman for Virginia Tech, was quoted praising the bill's defeat with the words, "This will help parents, students and faculty feel safe on our campus." Allowing trained and licensed students to protect themselves would have made them safe.
It is time to end the experiment. It's time to abandon the wishful thinking of the left. It's time to tear down the victim disarmament zones.
Mark E. Horning
GRADUATE STUDENT
Lack of guns won't stop killers
In reference to the editorial on gun control: anytime a shooting happens, this is the immediate reaction. But the thing is, we don't know anything about this shooter yet.
Maybe this shooter got the gun used off of the street. Banning or limiting gun sales will not curb this and would instead make it worse similar to alcohol and drug bans. Besides, areas that have prohibited gun sales have seen escalating problems with violent crime and home invasions, since the armed criminal knows the victims are unarmed. The research is there for anyone to look at.
The author does make a good point about gun shows, however. I am a gun owner. I'm steadfast against National Rifle Association policy on gun shows, as felons and illegal aliens are able to buy there without any background checks in some cases.
Shootings like this are tragic and therefore make headlines. Background checks and waiting periods and maybe even mandatory firearms training is fine.
But, if people are of a mindset to kill, they will kill with whatever is most convenient at the moment. If he didn't have access to a gun, it may have been a bomb instead.
Tom Billington
ALUM
