Students packing heat

In response to Chris McPherson’s letter yesterday, “”Concealed weapons holders a danger to others,”” I offer two crucial ideas: the general reliability of our fellow Americans and the principles our country ideally operates from. While Mr. McPherson questions the education of civilians, he does not do so for government employees – one could generalize just as easily that citizens who want to rely on a firearm will be more efficient than a police officer that is forced to carry one around. One must also look at the education of a licensed citizen: What is offered is not merely education on the mechanics and technical use of a firearm, but the laws regarding its use and the way it should be responsibly used. National Rifle Association classes, for example, hammer into the student’s head the idea that responsibility and legal liability are central in firearm use. Furthermore, most of these school shooting scenarios
doubtfully involve a maniacal murderer shooting students with a pistol from 50 yards away. To assume that licensed citizens have insufficient experience and will use it is more than mere skepticism, it’s extreme pessimism unfounded in the reality of so many skilled American gun owners. This fits in just as well with ideals I would assume McPherson holds as an American concerning individual responsibility.

Police should not be relied upon to be superheroes, flying in to the situation in the nick of time and miraculously saving everyone. What is needed in these situations to prevent mass murder followed by the criminal’s suicide is an immediate local response by a skilled and armed individual; this will be far more likely if responsible, law-abiding citizens will be able to effectively defend themselves – as they rightfully should be able to do. In an assault, counting on Tucson police, who even on University of Arizona Police Department territory just outside campus have responded to an assault hours late, may not be the greatest idea. What should be focused on is that police are not bodyguards. They can help, but they are not responsible for your protection. They’re responsible for executing the law. Citizens are responsible for their own protection, and denying them of this freedom is to be unreasonably fearful of free citizens – in other words, tyranny. Allowing concealed weapons on campus is both the effective and American approach, and should be the default solution.

Daniel Greenberg
political science junior

Hathaway misses a critical point

Michael Hathaway misses one very critical point in his piece from Monday’s Wildcat, “”Give guns a chance.”” The presence of firearms on campuses is completely detrimental to the educational environment that our teachers, administrators and students need to feel safe. The tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University are indeed terrible, but we magnify that effect a hundred times over if we accede to the twisted designs of a few random lunatics by completely altering the environment we strive to create.

At an Arizona Legislative subcommittee meeting Monday, every police chief from Arizona’s three major university police departments testified against the bill. The UA Young Democrats had their own letter drive asking students to show their opposition to the bill and not only did more than 150 students sign, but additionally every on-duty UA police officer we showed the bill to also signed.

More than anyone, the officers who patrol our campuses realize that while we can’t control everyone who steps onto a college campus, having additional people with firearms only makes their job that much more dangerous and complicated. SB 1214 is a bad idea, a knee-jerk reaction to a spate of violence that while regrettable, should not dictate how we live our lives on campus everyday.

James J. Jefferies IV
President, UA Young Democrats