I was meaning to use today's post for something completely different (and I still may) but a news story I heard on the radio has been distracting me all morning.
This morning on KBIA during their "local" news I heard a story that sent chills down my spine. The Missouri house has passed legislation expanding the conceal and carry laws within the state. The first thing HB 668 will do is lower the age from 23 - 21, and the second thing it will do is allow for the Conceal and Carry Law to be in effect on College Campuses. The way they put it in the summary is as such:
"The substitute removes the provisions prohibiting a person with a valid conceal and carry endorsement or permit from carrying a concealed firearm into any higher education institution."
As someone who works in a "higher education institution" this scares the hell out of me!
For those of you who don't know my overall thoughts on guns let me tell you, it goes as such. You can keep your registered, legal, non-automatic guns for hunting and safety purposes on your own property in non-public areas, however, once you are within a public place put them away.
Proponents will argue that this will provide for safety within our colleges and university my question is how? Take into consideration the desensitization of our culture to violence to a highly "entitled" generation this is not a good mix. You wanna give me an "F", (brandishes firearm) how about now? Just think about it. College Campuses are a place for lively discourse and academic debate not the fear of brute force. I argue that the presence of weapons, concealed or otherwise, will do nothing but cultivate a pervasive culture of fear where individuals are scared to share their opinions for fear of physical retribution or simply out of the paralytic affect that firearms have by their nature. If this scares you as much as it does me, write your legislator within the Missouri chambers. Don't know who that is, look it up here. From here it will go to the Senate (which you can look up here) and then (if it passes) to the Governor so there's still time to block this but you have to act now!
3 comments:
Robert, Tony Hancock here I don't have a blogger account so this will show up as anonymous I am generally sure you won't leave this comment on your blog any way. but here is my take on your post...
how disappointing. At the age of 18 one can sign up for services, be sent across seas to fight in wars for this country to uphold the freedoms given to us by the constitution of the United States, but yet this state won’t allow me to take part in those freedoms….now what is right about that…..
Next if I am a law abiding citizen why I can’t I have a fully automatic firearm….many people find enjoyment in various things some golf, some online poker, some reading, some find that joy in shooting and marksmanship. If I want to go out and shoot watermelons with my AR-15 what makes me any different from someone that wants to go to the library and read.
You basically say I should only be allowed a certain kind of weapon on land I privately own…so all the public land which is owned by taxpayers (which I happen to be one of) I shouldn’t be able to have a firearm there? Many people aren’t able to afford 100 acres of land many rely on public conservation areas and government owned land both in the state they reside as well as other states. Any one from bird watchers to hikers to hunters have the right as tax payers to responsibly use that land in whatever way brings them joy. Looking beyond hunting and to personal safety why should I not be allowed to feel the same amount of safety in my truck, at work or walking across campus as I feel in my own house hold…why should I have to live in fear in every place other than my house?
As for fear of being “shot down” because you give some kid an “F”…. completely an element of lack of education on the subject matter. Is it true some shootings have occurred by folks that under current laws were able to legally own firearms who for some reason just “snapped…absolutely…..but a very small percentage of them. Have there not also been cases were a perfectly “normal” person has snapped with “road rage” and ran some other car off the road or over the cliff and killed the other person….of course there has been and there is not a single bit of difference in the two cases yet the blame it on the guns people want to ban guns…where is the ban the cars crowd at? You’re taking a few isolated cases and black balling every gun owner as an irrational out of control whack job. Truth of the matter is the vast majority of citizens with a conceal and carry permit are some of the MOST law abiding citizens in the state…common sense and reason as well as hours of training teach that using the gun we carry is the last option in any case not the first. We are forced to obtain extensive training, give up our privacy, register, and pay money for something that is our right. Knowing that we will then be held to higher standards in many cases to keep that right than those who give freely do not take part in that right.
Truthfully the odds of being hit by a car are much higher and more likely than the odds of you ever being gunned down by someone with a conceal and carry permit. This whole argument is just as emotion based as when citizen’s were finally allowed the right to carry concealed and some many people were taking about how we going back to the wild west days…and preaching how there would be standoffs and shoot outs and the blood would flow in the streets….I am still waiting to see that….
I gave this situation to my wife Jill…you are not yet a parent but soon will be but you can relate the same case to your love for Katy...put yourself in this situation…..as you know I have been around guns all my life…..I am an avid shooter and very skilled marksman…..I have total faith when aim my rifle, shotgun or pistol, release they safety and pull the trigger I will hit the target I am aiming at. Now here is what I asked Jill…say we are at the Columbia Mall …spent the day shopping ……walking back to our car...carrying our bags of whatever we bought that day…with Madison walking beside us….some nut case come along and grabs my only daughter the one person I love more any anything in this world….given all the things that happen now days to abducted kids, from rape to murder…what should I stand there and scream….call 911 as this guy with no respect for the law or anything else and very likely a repeat criminal already runs away with my daughter knowing I may never see her again…or should use my training with firearms and marksman ship pull out my pistol and use the abilities I have confidence in and quite possibility save my daughter’s life……The answer is a no brainer to me….and even Jill who sadly is also very “firearm uneducated” leaned very strongly towards the same answer when I had to do with Madison’s safety.
I will also be the first to say NO guns aren’t for everyone and not every law abiding citizen needs to be carrying Jill would never have the confidence to use a firearm for protection and for someone like that having a gun is more dangerous than not having one a gun should never be used as a warning or a hey stop measure. Any one that pulls out a firearm should be down to no other option and at that point it should be used. I hope and pray I never have to take another person’s life regardless of how worthless some people’s lives are…but I am 99% sure that if I had to pull that trigger I could do that.
I realize we are of completely different thoughts on this subject but before you take away other people rights because you wish not to take part in that right yourself…perhaps you should attend a conceal carry course, get a bit of education on the subject so you can at least form an educated fact based non emotional argument if you still hold such opinions.
Tony, there are a couple of things about your argument that I would care to rebut.
First, I appreciate your opinions on the subject matter and for you to ignore your emotions on the subject is also missing the point. The argument and discussion all too often does devolve into an emotional yelling contest which is not where I believe it should remain. However, I was just trying to make a logical argument against having concealed weapons on college campuses.
More directly to your points, to bring up military service in this argument is completely void of the issue. Our service men and women are highly trained individuals who use their weapons appropriately for the defense of the nation.
With regards to your "hobby" argument; the difference between reading, golf and online poker and shooting is obvious. The previous hobbies have very little risk of physical harm coming to either the participant or any passer by. However much I may not care for the "hobby" of hunting or marksmenship, I've never made the argument that individuals should not have the right to have weapons for that use.
Your personal safety argument is one that is often used by proponents of a conceal and carry permit and legislation. There is, however, one major flaw within your argument. If an individual attempts to kidnap, mug, or in any other way harrass another it is based on instilling fear within the victim, usually with a weapon. If a weapon is brandished by an attacker the response time is usually not enough for a victim to react. Should you react in time the violence still begets violence, however the odds of a timely reaction are few, even in this situation.
The bottom line of my argument is that the idea of a weapon in a public setting, is to instill fear within another party. I believe that instutions of higher learning should be absent of fear and allow for the freedom and expression of ideas. They should be an area of free discussion and debate within a mutual respect between individuals. Weapons on a campus shatters that environment and replaces it with one of fear and insecurity.
Thank you for your comments, and it very well maybe that we will have to agree to disagree on the subject.
Robert,
Hello it is your loving brother Matt and yes I do still check your blog on occasion, mostly to avoid studying (as is the case now), but i still check it. I, as you probably are already assuming, am going to have to side with Tony on this one. As a gun owner and a member of the military I can say that those of us who use guns do not take the responsibility lightly. In addition, i own a gun for hobby, safety, and to continually improve my skill with a rifle and pistol.
To rebut some of the rebuttles (sp), the military is highly trained and so are the concealed carry people. There are many beurocratic hoops that you must jump through in order to get the permit some of which are weapons safety.
The fear argument is not true in any way, even on college campuses. I live in a concealled carry state (Nevada for those who may not know me) and I have only seen someone carrying a handfull of times. People do not run around with t-shirts saying, "don't piss me off because I have a gun" and don't settle arguments about who jumped in line by pulling out their fire-arm. The bottom line is that people who don't follow the rules already are concealing their guns and more people with training and safety in mind carrying guns may discourage those criminals from shooting up a school.
Saying that someones response time with a weapon would not be fast enough or that violence only begetting violence is bad. Well again I will have to disagree. Be asured that if I am in a place that I am fearfull of "badguy" im already gonna have my hand on my weapon. Much like how I was with a knife in my pocket in Europe. The violence begetting violence argument doesn't apply when some jackass wants to harm you and trying to talk your way out would not work. So if he/she is willing to jeopardize my life and well-being well then so will I to theirs with some cold steel.
As far as Tony's argument about automatic weapons for the public. I am completely against this one. There is no point for a citizen to own an automatic weapon for any reason. These guns are designed to kill many people very fast and should only be reserved for the military who doesn't enjoy the responsibility but has to carry the burden never the less.
Smooches..... I'm OUT!
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