guns on campus? (political)

[martasfic]

I'm having one of those "can't we please mess with Texas, just this once?" moments. Seriously.

Texas poised to pass bill allowing guns on campus

1. Can we please put to rest the idea that guns would prevent massacres in crowd areas? Maybe if you're out in the middle of nowhere, having a gun is necessary. But if Tucson showed anything, it's that some of the loosest gun-control laws in the country didn't stop the situation. IIRC, that shooter was stopped not by someone with a gun but by a brave unarmed citizen who tackled him when he stopped to reload. And wasn't there some guy who nearly shot someone else with his gun out - not the shooter but someone trying to stop the shooter?



2. If we can't even agree to that much, can we at least agree that college students are usually sleep-deprived, stressed out, and impaired either through alcohol, drugs, or caffeine stimulants? I was a college undergrad. I am a graduate student and instructor. I know that emotions run high and too often we act on impulses. This is about the last population in the world I would want to have access to guns.



3. And why, why is it okay for the right to use Virginia Tech as the catalyst for looser regs? If the left used that shooting, Tucson or any other, that would be an outrageous misuse of tragedy. Or so the media narrative would go.

Sorry. Just had to get that out of my system...

Comments

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

100% behind you here.

In my ideal world, NO ONE would have guns. That isn't possible, but for my money, the more restrictions on them, the better off everyone will be. Fewer guns = fewer people shot, whether on purpose or by accident.

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

This all reminds me of an email signature I had ages ago:

Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt

I would be happiest with the world that way, too. I am enough of a realist to realize that if you live out in the boonies you may be in a situation where the cops can't get to you in time. But there is a world of difference between you and the psycho alone in your den vs. you and the psycho in a crowd of people. For one thing, if I shoot and miss in the first case I will shoot my stereo rather than a bystander...

[frenchpony.livejournal.com]

And people wonder why I wouldn't want to live in Texas. Even in Austin. I was just there. I walked right past that clock tower where Charles Whitman shot all those people from. That's not a place that I want to see have looser access to guns.

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

LOL, I will never understand the Right's position on this issue. Yes, I know, it's a Second Amendment right (and fwiw, I'm pro-Second Amendment generally), but if we can tolerate reasonable restrictions on our other constitutional rights, why the heck not this one? I mean, the Right has absolutely no issue with restrictions to free speech, freedom from unlawful search, etc. But omg, touch the "right to bear arms" and it's 24/7 lectures on the importance of opposing the tyranny of government. *rolls eyes*

Is it really that horrible to suggest that schools and college campuses should be gun-free zones? What real abridgment of a person's Second Amendment rights happens in such cases? Where is the sanity in all this?

Sorry, I got a bit ranty. Suffice to say I'm happy I don't live in Texas (well, except for the mountain of snow we got today. That did make me think about moving to Austin for about a nanosecond, lol).

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Who the hell thinks that having more guns around is going to protect people from getting shot? I do not necessarily think that strict gun control laws will keep a determined person planning a massacre from getting access to a weapon, but I do believe that having guns around can be fatal in the case of drunken brawls, domestic disputes etc.

[avon7.livejournal.com]

I know I don't understand Americans and guns, but that Texas thing nearly made me drive off the road when I heard it on the radio. IMO more guns just mean chances for people to die. I do also know I am very anti-gun, even by the more anti-gun Australian standards, though. Putting the Shooter's Party candidates last on my 100 odd people senate voting slip makes me happy. Them not existing would make me happier, admittedly.