15 August 2007

Guns + Young + Poor Judgement = Safer Schools for all.


I found my jaw hanging wide open a few days ago when I read about a big push in Virginia to allow college kids with concealed weapons permits to carry handguns on campus.

Of course, the overwhelming justification the supporters of this bill are using is the tragic massacre that took place at Virginia Tech this past April.
I take nothing away from those effected by those terrible killings. It was an unthinkable crime that seemed to come from nowhere and I'm certain that many folks will never ever fully recover from such overwhelming violence. I think it shames the memories of all of the victims at Tech, for these people to call for even more handguns on our college campuses.
To me, it's as if the Gun Lobby, the Gun Nuts, the Wing-Nuts - whatever you want to call them, can't wait to push the NRA mindset of more guns, more guns, more guns into American hands. These people are saying "What if April 16th happens again?" "I have to arm my kid so I can rest easy knowing he's on campus." They are just waiting to buy Junior his first Glock, or Sig, or Smith and Wesson, and a cute little ankle holster.
To these people I want to say, "Open your eyes! You are making college campuses 10 times more dangerous WITH more guns than it is without the guns!"
So many people think that if you have a gun and a violent crime occurs, you can use sound judgement, safely and quickly draw your weapon, check your background, take careful aim, wait for the right moment, wait, breathe, wait some more, breathe again, double-check the target and the background, wait, aim, aim, breathe in deep, exhale slowly, aim, squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze - BANG! Check your target and do it all again. This, I promise, will be virtually impossible to do for 98% of all people. If you doubt me, ask My Man - GUNFIGHTER.
Simply put, college aged kids, need to focus on being students and professors need to focus on professing - not trying to be pseudo-cops. I'd be more scared KNOWING my kids were on a campus with a hundred [or more] hidden handguns all around them. If Virginia, and the other states considering similar bills were to pass these into laws, they would be lighting the fuse to an even more deadly explosion of violence. 19 to 21 year olds are the very last people that should be carrying weapons while trying to go to school, take classes, pass tests, do homework, think about jobs, and worry about mounting school loans. It's just too much, I think. And, the next mass shooting is just one failed exam, one breakup with a girlfriend, one overlimit credit card bill, one embarrassing professor away from happening when a stressed out sophomore declares that he has "had enough."
To parents and students that want guns on campus, so they will feel safer - please think twice. You are going to get someone - either YOUR kid, or someone innocent - KILLED. Let your student, study and if they want to carry a gun to make the world safer, send them to the local police academy or the local Marine recruiter, then at least they'll be properly trained. But don't get them killed or make them into a killer. Guns and shooting are serious business and should not be bought and used without sincere and mature consideration. And if after this consideration, you still want to be armed and on a college campus - stay out of school, because you're obviously not smart enough to handle it.
TTBM

8 comments:

Miss J said...

Absolutely ridiculous...as you pointed out, a bill like this will not make a campus safer. Instead, it will make it legal for two students who get into a minor confrontation to use a very permanent and irreversible means to settle it. What ARE we coming to?

Anonymous said...

Thats craaaaaaaazy. I'll never understand why guns make people feel "safer". I guess its a form of that kill or be killed mindset. But how about we just eliminate the "kill" factor altogether, then no one would have to worry about it.

The Thinking Black Man said...

Hey HEAVENLY ZETA - You're absolutely right. At the first sign of conflict, all it will take is one hot head, carrying his new pistol just one second to take a life and ruin his own. This guys are crazy.

Hi there, B. GOOD! I think so much of this comes from TV, oddly enough. I think so many people have seen guns presented as these easy to use, easy to hide, easy tools for the issuance of justice, that they have become warped in their reality.

Before I sound too high and full of myself, let me put it out there that I am a gun owner. I enjoy my gun - at the shooting range. I enjoy shooting at the range against my friends and against myself. And if someone broke into my home and posed a threat to myself or my family, I'd use my gun to protect myself. But that is ONLY in my home, and I don't say that with a swagger, because it is something that would undoubtedly change a part of me forever. Society would have to break down a whole lot further for me to want to start carrying a gun on my person. If I ever got that scared for my life, I think it would be time to pack up, move to the moutains somewhere and raise my kids away from other folks.

Mizrepresent said...

I'm with you on this. This is stupidly insane...having a gun in your possesion may mean you will you use it...at your own discretion...which does not equate to right or wrong, but surely the death or injury of someone...makes no sense, but these are the fools...and their foolery! Time to take a stand people...a life or death stand!

The Thinking Black Man said...

Hello there MIZREPRESENT-

You know what the sickest part of all of this is? IF these kids are allowed to carry guns and one of them [for ANY reason] decides to use it on another student...

The same screwballs that wanted to arm them in the first place will again be screaming, "IF WE HAD MORE GUNS ON CAMPUS, DEADLY SHOOTINGS LIKE THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!" And sadly there will actually be parents believing that crap!

Ross said...

Dude, right on. I work on a campus, and most of the students are immature. They cannot even handle cell phones responsibly. I have to tell them to shut their cell phone off in class. Now I will have to tell them to put the safety on their glocks. Drinking is the national past time on most of the colleges in the country. Drinking and glocks are a deadly mixed.

Don't Be Silent DC said...

That idea is the most inane and scary idea I've ever heard of. There are better ways to make places safer...putting guns in the hands of a college campus is not the answer.

deathsweep said...

You're 100% right on this - it's really so simple - If you don't have a gun, you CAN'T shoot it - if you do have a gun, chances are, someday it will be used. When you're trying to put out a fire you don't add fuel to it, kerosene and flames mix just as well as guns and civilians, especially kids.

DS