The Wake

As you may have noticed, our campus made the news fairly often in the past month and half the coverage hasn’t been flattering. Since the start of Sept., assaults on students has been a pretty popular activity–10 people have been assaulted since the opening weekend of school. According to the University of Minnesota Police Department website, there was just one aggravated assault and one simple assault for Sept. 2005. This may lead some people to think the safety of our campus is going to the crapper, which it very well may be. But I don’t think it’s time to start taking in wild suggestions for reckless policies. Our campus isn’t that dangerous. I can almost guarantee that you’re not going to get shot in your classes.

Well, at least not yet.

But as of late, a certain on-campus political group is working hard to make that a possibility. According to a Sept. 27 Star Tribune article, the College Republicans and a firearm instruction group were circulating a petition among students asking President Robert Bruininks and University regents to do away with policies which make it illegal to carry firearms on campus.

According to the same Star Tribune article, Bethany Dorobiala, chairwoman of the College Republicans, was quoted saying she thought that allowing students to carry guns “improves the odds and makes people feel safer and would deter potential attackers.”

Alright, alright, everybody settle down, just hold on a second. This is where some of us need to remain rational.

Yes, I agree, getting punched in the face sucks and muggings are not nearly as pleasant as, say, a cherry tart, but putting guns in the hands of students will solve nothing. You don’t just let people carry around guns to “solve” their problems–despite what the state of Minnesota thinks. This isn’t the post-Revolutionary War era when the Second Amendment actually had a relevant purpose. Packing heat may make you feel safer, but isn’t it possible to shoot someone unintentionally? I mean, you’re carrying around a loaded weapon. They are obviously meant to kill and they don’t always kill who they’re supposed to. There are lots of idiots who accidentally shoot themselves every year. Why should we let the few paranoid students endanger an entire classroom?

And exactly how effective is carrying around a gun for protection? By the time you clearly recognize that someone is after you, you would have a slim margin of time to take out a gun. What happens when your attacker has a gun too?

You’re screwed if you’re thinking paper-rock-scissors. Don’t worry though, Republican logic says to embrace the “I’ll-Shoot-You-Before-You-Shoot-Me” strategy.

It becomes obvious after contemplating the efficacy of a new student gun policy that sensible decisions need to be made by students, the University, the city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota to address the recent string of attacks. Decisions like preemptive protection by students, non-gun wielding policies by the University and the addition of more police by the city and the state would prevent more assaults.

There have been more police forces near campus on weekend nights, but after talking to Lt. Chuck Miner of the U of M Police Department, the extra police are part of a grant program aimed at combating underage drinking, not addressing assaults.

Inspector Robert Skorma of the Second Precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department informed me that it’s hard for the department to tell whether underage drinking or assaults are more dangerous for the city, citing the potential threat drunken drivers may pose. But in the end, Inspector Skorma said the department is focusing on underage drinking rather than assaults because the grant money they received from the city and the state is to be used specifically for targeting underage drinking.

I suggest anybody who disagrees with the priorities of our local government to take action with your words. It won’t come to the point where we’ll need to pull out our Glocks for legitimate protection, hopefully, but we don’t need to see how far our government will let it go.

Note:
The Wake attempted to get in contact with members of the College Republicans, but we were not lucky enough to find one to contribute to this week’s issue. If you are a campus republican, or know one that would like to add to the discussion of students wielding fire arms, contact Jenny at .