Decades ago, UT students ran to their dorm rooms and vehicles to get their rifles and kept the sniper pinned down until the police arrived and prevented him from killing more. Intellectual lightweights like Bruni abound, ignorant of facts and human nature. Their ideas cause even more death and damage than anyone assassin.
14
!9 Dead in Afghanistan are simply explained as U.S. Bombing's Collateral Damage. The Dead in the streets, college and High school shootings, are simply Collateral Damage, from the Lethal Combination of the 2nd Amendment and the National Rifle Association Gun Profit Association. Both kill the innocent, both situations are tragic, and neither can be stopped by anyone. Texas is just a pile of unavoidable proof of those truths. It's about time we accept that, and learn to 'grin & bear it'. Handwringing accomplishes nothing.
11
Show pictures of children and babies killed by guns.
19
Guaranteed grade inflation.
15
Can you bring a gun into the state government buildings in Texas? Can you bring a gun into the courthouses in Texas? And anyway, it's Texas, and this is what you would expect from Texas.
26
Frank tells of the Presidents' comments: "President Obama had it right when he said on Thursday that Americans had “become numb to this,” as evidenced by our political paralysis — or, in the case of Texas, our sprint in the wrong direction. He noted that there was now “a gun for roughly every man, woman and child in America.”
In that emotionally charged speech, the President didn't offer one suggestion on how to prevent any more mass shootings through more legislation. In fact, neither did Frank in his article.
Frank also comments: "You know, you have to ask yourself why did the founding fathers put freedom of speech as the First Amendment? They may have done that because freedom of speech is incredibly important, and if you have guns on campus, I question whether or not that will somehow inhibit our freedom of speech."
Frank didn't mention the history of speech codes on campus, which limited free expression on the grounds that some people or groups of people might be offended. The fact is that these shootings happen in places where there aren't any guns allowed. But Frank doesn't want to acknowledge that as a reason for Texas' new law allowing a select few to carry on campus. If your a potential mass murderer, wouldn't that change your calculus on where to go?
Neither the President nor Frank have any useful suggestions on how to prevent future incidents like this. That in itself is telling.
The President nor Frank have any viable suggestions
In that emotionally charged speech, the President didn't offer one suggestion on how to prevent any more mass shootings through more legislation. In fact, neither did Frank in his article.
Frank also comments: "You know, you have to ask yourself why did the founding fathers put freedom of speech as the First Amendment? They may have done that because freedom of speech is incredibly important, and if you have guns on campus, I question whether or not that will somehow inhibit our freedom of speech."
Frank didn't mention the history of speech codes on campus, which limited free expression on the grounds that some people or groups of people might be offended. The fact is that these shootings happen in places where there aren't any guns allowed. But Frank doesn't want to acknowledge that as a reason for Texas' new law allowing a select few to carry on campus. If your a potential mass murderer, wouldn't that change your calculus on where to go?
Neither the President nor Frank have any useful suggestions on how to prevent future incidents like this. That in itself is telling.
The President nor Frank have any viable suggestions
9
You gunhaters say this over and over again, as if the shooters care about whether guns are allowed on campus. Its as simple as that.
8
Ah the predictable howls of protest by the gun enthusiasts. "2nd Amendment, Bill of Rights, etc. etc." And the most laughable argument of all: "The good guy with a gun" theory.
It will only change when a some crazed gunman decides to shoot up an NRA meeting or the hallowed halls of Congress.
It will only change when a some crazed gunman decides to shoot up an NRA meeting or the hallowed halls of Congress.
55
"How perverse and nonsensical government can be."
Not so. THIS government is entirely sensical and definitely NOT perverse for the "Gun Lobby" contributes huge amounts of money to these politicians and, it seems, that's why government exists for them; to line their pockets with cash no matter the death toll.
If the American public is fed up with this they can show their disapproval by getting up and voting those who support unfettered sales of firearms out of office. If they do not, I see no way the violence will be ending anytime soon.
Not so. THIS government is entirely sensical and definitely NOT perverse for the "Gun Lobby" contributes huge amounts of money to these politicians and, it seems, that's why government exists for them; to line their pockets with cash no matter the death toll.
If the American public is fed up with this they can show their disapproval by getting up and voting those who support unfettered sales of firearms out of office. If they do not, I see no way the violence will be ending anytime soon.
18
Please, New York Times, investigate the root of this madness -- the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre and the gun manufacturers whose megamillions make sure that the NRA does their bidding. The corrupt and wrong-headed politicians and the ordinary though misguided rightwing Americans who focus on the second amendment: we need to make it clear in every instance that the NRA is bought and paid for by arms manufacturers, who could not care less about the constitution or frankly the deaths of thousands of innocents, only their own bottom line.
30
We should have a national competition to design a national memorial to victims of gun violence and locate it near the Capitol in Washington.
15
I'm not a Trump supporter, but he's got a dam good point- the cities with the strictest gun laws also have the highest crime rates: HOW is that possible? No one (except Republicans) are bothering to mention that we need to ban households with anyone considered mentally ill (the shooter who killed 9 people was on medication, by the way). This isn't "discrimination- it's common sense.
4
Everyone agrees to limits on the second amendment
You will not find the word gun in the amendment it refers to arms which would include a stinger missile, for example, and pretty much all of us think that is crazy
So we limit the amendment for common sense safety
Texas legislator like so many are just dumb about the issue
You will not find the word gun in the amendment it refers to arms which would include a stinger missile, for example, and pretty much all of us think that is crazy
So we limit the amendment for common sense safety
Texas legislator like so many are just dumb about the issue
16
Those 27 words, that which we call the 2nd Amendment, is our nation's, our collective suicide note.
32
I I know. Let's kave a debate in class about the need to carry firearms everywhere.
Student #1: "It is not only silly to think that guns are the solutions to complex problems, it is intellectually lazy."
Student #2:"Bang. Bang. Problem solved."
Student #1: "It is not only silly to think that guns are the solutions to complex problems, it is intellectually lazy."
Student #2:"Bang. Bang. Problem solved."
16
Let's stipulate that what happened in OR was a tragedy. Our condolences to the families of those who died. But let's have some perspective. About 100 people died from mass shootings last year. Reliably liberal Frank Bruni screams for control and attacks the 2nd amendment as antiquated. Last year 36000 people died in auto accidents. About 12000 were impaired by alcohol and/or drugs. What should we do Mr. Bruni? Well we could ban alcohol. Tried that, didn't work. What about marijuana? Well oh my about 7 states now have legalized it. I guess I'll pay attention to you sir when you show equal outrage about the 1.3 million abortions performed annually especially when thousands involve babies that are viable outside the womb at the time they are aborted. Stop the charade of calling abortion women's healthcare. Then maybe more will listen.
2
The most neglected sector of society is the mentally ill. It affects all cultures, colors, religions and is gender neutral.
You are still ignoring the cause of these horrific events:
MENTAL illness. The chronic mental illness never gets taken care of because the the bi-polar, depressed, mentally ill do not have a PAC to fight for better healthcare coverage.
Why do lawmakers need to listen to the mentally ill ? they are not going affect a vote, not going to donate to his or her PAC for congress, senate so just ignore them and fund the pork project of their constituents.
The mentally ill don't protest, they lash out like this and society suffers.
I suspect lawmaker would just say...they're crazy I don't need to listen or waste time money on their cause.
No , lets fund idiotic pork barrel spending like sugar subsidies, keep a military base open or poor money into bilingual education. (i speak English and Spanish fluently)
yes...nuts don't count for votes to greedy politicians but we all suffer as they continue to be neglected.
You are still ignoring the cause of these horrific events:
MENTAL illness. The chronic mental illness never gets taken care of because the the bi-polar, depressed, mentally ill do not have a PAC to fight for better healthcare coverage.
Why do lawmakers need to listen to the mentally ill ? they are not going affect a vote, not going to donate to his or her PAC for congress, senate so just ignore them and fund the pork project of their constituents.
The mentally ill don't protest, they lash out like this and society suffers.
I suspect lawmaker would just say...they're crazy I don't need to listen or waste time money on their cause.
No , lets fund idiotic pork barrel spending like sugar subsidies, keep a military base open or poor money into bilingual education. (i speak English and Spanish fluently)
yes...nuts don't count for votes to greedy politicians but we all suffer as they continue to be neglected.
4
Perhaps the state capital building where the Texas legislature meets should be a carry zone, perhaps called Capital Carry. If there are any metal detectors and other security measures protecting the legislators, remove them, as they obviously are at odds with Second Amendment rights to carry without being irritated about it. Not only the legislative assembly room, but also the hallways and offices where the legislators and their staffs work should be part of Capital Carry. The bathrooms and the cafeterias that the legislators use, as well as the gymnasium and shower and locker rooms. Nothing like coming naked out of the shower to encounter someone standing there with an Uzi locked and loaded. Let's have the legislators put their lives on the line to demonstrate that they truly believe in what they are imposing on the UT students, teachers, and staff. They talk the talk. Let then walk the walk. Until someone with a gun removes their ability to walk.
41
Mr. Bruni- I am going to ask you to be a bit more direct and honest in situations like this. "Conservative TX lawmakers..." is not as accurate as it should be. We have two political parties in this country. If the Republicans (or Democrats) are predominately responsible for passing specific legislation, please say it.
11
Has anyone notice that while unarmed black young men are being killed by the police on the street, the armed white young men are killing everybody else in schools?
It is an unavoidable perfect storm of a powerful gun lobby, corrupt politicians and uninform, non-thinking American people.
I talked about the latest mass shooting to an elder white woman, a Republican, a generally good and moral person, almost spitting fire about how President Obama wanted to take away ALL our guns. I did not think she came up with that idea herself, but given how she was probably not a critical thinker albeit a good person, she obviously passionately believed what she had been repeatedly told by the political and media pundits.
Even then, one has to ask, even if that is true, that Obama is confiscating all our guns as a way to prevent more mass shooting, the type that happened at Sandy Hook, won't that be more worthwhile than the 2nd amendment? Guns or children, why should anybody choose guns over children?
It is an unavoidable perfect storm of a powerful gun lobby, corrupt politicians and uninform, non-thinking American people.
I talked about the latest mass shooting to an elder white woman, a Republican, a generally good and moral person, almost spitting fire about how President Obama wanted to take away ALL our guns. I did not think she came up with that idea herself, but given how she was probably not a critical thinker albeit a good person, she obviously passionately believed what she had been repeatedly told by the political and media pundits.
Even then, one has to ask, even if that is true, that Obama is confiscating all our guns as a way to prevent more mass shooting, the type that happened at Sandy Hook, won't that be more worthwhile than the 2nd amendment? Guns or children, why should anybody choose guns over children?
14
"It permits guns only for people with concealed-handgun permits, for which civilians must be 21 or older and have completed some training. Few undergraduates meet those criteria."
However, at the other UT institutions, the student body has an average age well above 21 (I believe it is over 24) and they come from lower income backgrounds with fewer support systems and more stress. At UT Arlington, with its >37,000 students, most of the students are juggling work, family life, and school, on top of experiencing the strife of being in your mid-20's, buying books when you receive your weekly paycheck, and not knowing what the future holds.
If there truly is an equation for a student snapping and taking a gun into their own hands, I'd think it is more likely to be at one of the growing UT system campuses that have far less funding and support for students. Let's not forget the thousands of Texas community colleges, as we are reminded of the hard work they do educating or re-educating those who are not privileged enough to attend a school like UT Austin straight out of high school.
However, at the other UT institutions, the student body has an average age well above 21 (I believe it is over 24) and they come from lower income backgrounds with fewer support systems and more stress. At UT Arlington, with its >37,000 students, most of the students are juggling work, family life, and school, on top of experiencing the strife of being in your mid-20's, buying books when you receive your weekly paycheck, and not knowing what the future holds.
If there truly is an equation for a student snapping and taking a gun into their own hands, I'd think it is more likely to be at one of the growing UT system campuses that have far less funding and support for students. Let's not forget the thousands of Texas community colleges, as we are reminded of the hard work they do educating or re-educating those who are not privileged enough to attend a school like UT Austin straight out of high school.
7
Send the best and the brightest to any one of California's great universities.
No worries about the gun nuts, the wanna be cops, the wanna be cowboys running around as in the texas university system. Too bad texas won't defect from the union like their gun toting governor has advocated. We could then truly start securing our borders beginning with the texas border.
No worries about the gun nuts, the wanna be cops, the wanna be cowboys running around as in the texas university system. Too bad texas won't defect from the union like their gun toting governor has advocated. We could then truly start securing our borders beginning with the texas border.
16
I'm no fan of guns. They terrify me. And the stats are there for 'accidental' gun deaths in the home involving children.
However, if people want the right to have a gun or rifle, I can accept that. If people want to carry a gun on their person, anywhere and everywhere, I can accept that too.
But there are some things I absolutely cannot accept and which should not be allowed under any circumstances:
1) No private individual should be able to legally purchase semi-automatic, high capacity magazines, multiple rounds of ammunition, etc. In other words, the biggest problem is weaponry that is specifically intended to take down as many lives as possible in the shortest amount of time. There is NO REASON for any private individual to own such items. How can gun enthusiasts not understand or agree with this??!!
2) We need better, more thorough background checks before someone can legally purchase a gun. While it's clear the shooter in Oregon had mental health issues, what's not yet clear is whether there were medical records indicating he had mental health issues. If so, then he NEVER should have been able to have these weapons.
3) Since his mental health issues were known to family and friends, those family members who were known to give him some of the guns should be held on charges. Maybe that will teach people to be more careful who they give guns to, especially if his mental health problems were officially diagnosed and known to family.
However, if people want the right to have a gun or rifle, I can accept that. If people want to carry a gun on their person, anywhere and everywhere, I can accept that too.
But there are some things I absolutely cannot accept and which should not be allowed under any circumstances:
1) No private individual should be able to legally purchase semi-automatic, high capacity magazines, multiple rounds of ammunition, etc. In other words, the biggest problem is weaponry that is specifically intended to take down as many lives as possible in the shortest amount of time. There is NO REASON for any private individual to own such items. How can gun enthusiasts not understand or agree with this??!!
2) We need better, more thorough background checks before someone can legally purchase a gun. While it's clear the shooter in Oregon had mental health issues, what's not yet clear is whether there were medical records indicating he had mental health issues. If so, then he NEVER should have been able to have these weapons.
3) Since his mental health issues were known to family and friends, those family members who were known to give him some of the guns should be held on charges. Maybe that will teach people to be more careful who they give guns to, especially if his mental health problems were officially diagnosed and known to family.
14
That no NRA member has been a mass murderer (is this true?) is not relevant to whether we should restrict the availability of guns. The evidence is overwhelming that unrestricted gun ownership kills thousands of Americans every year. Every defender of the unrestricted right to carry firearms shares responsibility for the lives they destroy.
9
One must admit America is exceptional among industrialized nations on the gun issue - more of our citizens die from mass shootings. Yep, really exceptional.
17
In the end like most things in this country it is all about money. The gun industry runs the NRA and lobbies congress and state legislatures intensively. They hide behind and abuse the second amendment to line their pockets. Our government sells billions in weapons to foreign governments and "insurgents" of all kind.
Your comments and those of others on gun control fall on the deaf ears of the military industrial complex where lives do not matter Frank, only money.
Your comments and those of others on gun control fall on the deaf ears of the military industrial complex where lives do not matter Frank, only money.
6
Guns on college campuses is absolute insanity and contrary to the concept of "advanced" education.
How could any educator support permitting students to carry firearms into their classroom?
How many more lives must be lost before We the People demand an end to the carnage?
How could any educator support permitting students to carry firearms into their classroom?
How many more lives must be lost before We the People demand an end to the carnage?
4
Will gun control work as well as illegal drug possession? We know that certain drugs are illegal but has that kept the criminals from selling and distributing them?
Sometimes government miscalculates its ability to control illegal behavior and in the case of guns it assumes that making it illegal to possess guns will somehow solve the problems.
There are countries like Panama where gun control is very intense yet people kill each others with machetes, knives. Honduras has one of the world's strongest gun control laws and the highest crime rate also.
Drunken drivers kill thousands of Americans every year... are we going to illegalize automobiles?
Sometimes government miscalculates its ability to control illegal behavior and in the case of guns it assumes that making it illegal to possess guns will somehow solve the problems.
There are countries like Panama where gun control is very intense yet people kill each others with machetes, knives. Honduras has one of the world's strongest gun control laws and the highest crime rate also.
Drunken drivers kill thousands of Americans every year... are we going to illegalize automobiles?
2
As a former faculty member, I would have to echo so many of the fears and sentiments of others like my in here. As Oklahoma has recently kept threatening year after year to enact this madness I immediately contemplated retirement. Fortunately, the university presidents and security officers have prevailed. My worry went beyond the occasional student who uses his or her gun to solve a grade question or a personal issue with a student in class - my concern was as mundane as worrying about who might a gun in their bookbag or purse and would it go off when they dropped it to the floor by their seat. I also envision the madness and chaos of that moment when a shooter appears on campus and 28 more "shooters" stand up in my classroom with their own Glocks to "help out"......Yikes! I have retired now, but if I were still teaching and this was passed in Oklahoma I would retire immediately!
9
I am not sure about the legality of this, but perhaps it is time for law enforcement and the news media to start showing the public photos and videos of the carnage at these shootings. I notice they haven't done that, and I also note that it seems that nothing gets attention in our society until there is a viral video about it.
It's time we really show what's happening, so that it is not such an intellectual exercise but a punch to the gut.
It's time we really show what's happening, so that it is not such an intellectual exercise but a punch to the gut.
8
The NRA's position has always been and will always be the more people who are armed, the safer everyone will be. As a college instructor I could not imagine holding class and looking out over scores of gun-wielding students, but that is the recommendation of the NRA and its supporters. Furthermore, I could not imagine that this could ever have been a scenario envisioned by the creators of the 2nd Amendment. The NRA holds sway over Congress, and until that changes, we will be facing future gun-related horrors.
7
Your point is well taken. We need fewer 'trigger alerts' but more alerts regarding untrammeled triggers.
We surrender to terrorists and criminals by thinking Rambo or armed citizens just around the corner will protect us because the police cannot. People who have seen serious armed shootouts like myself know the idea that an armed stranger standing nearby can bring peace to the neighborhood is an illusion that will cost us our freedom and perhaps our life.
5
Here in Colorado we have had a similar policy to this proposed in Texas since 2003. University of Colorado Boulder resisted this in the courts, but failed and has had this policy for concealed carry since 2012.
There have been no ill effects or issues arise over this 12 year period here.
It's my understanding that Utah and Idaho have similar policies for concealed carry on campus.
There have been no ill effects or issues arise over this 12 year period here.
It's my understanding that Utah and Idaho have similar policies for concealed carry on campus.
2
“A big majority of campus was against this,” Xavier Rotnofsky, the student body president at U.T. Austin, told me, adding that he and others found it absurd and offensive that lawmakers acted knowingly “without the consent of the stakeholders.”
Texas lawmakers acting without the consent of or in the interest of the stakeholders, i.e., the citizens of Texas, is normal here. The Republicans have so gerrymandered the electoral districts that the state is being dominated by the right wing. This absurd concealed carry law is only one example of the nonsensical laws our State Legislature spends its time on. Voting ID laws to prevent "voter fraud" is another. Unfortunately Texas is not alone in this.
I think that the US needs a constitutional amendment making designation of voting districts the work of an independent agency staffed by statisticians and demographers rather than politicians.
Texas lawmakers acting without the consent of or in the interest of the stakeholders, i.e., the citizens of Texas, is normal here. The Republicans have so gerrymandered the electoral districts that the state is being dominated by the right wing. This absurd concealed carry law is only one example of the nonsensical laws our State Legislature spends its time on. Voting ID laws to prevent "voter fraud" is another. Unfortunately Texas is not alone in this.
I think that the US needs a constitutional amendment making designation of voting districts the work of an independent agency staffed by statisticians and demographers rather than politicians.
7
My theory about why so many so-called "conservatives" seemingly need guns with them at all times....if you look at the conservative leadership of the past two decades in politics, Bush 43's advisors, the think tanks, the NRA, etc., it is comprised almost exclusively of Baby Boomer white males who were Vietnam draft-dodgers, or in one or two cases, those who did not complete their service in the National Guard. These men are tough-talkers, but deep down I think they have a palpable fear for their personal safety, and an inferiority complex about their manhood. They know all too well that they don't have the right stuff. So they need weapons not only to feel more secure about their personal safety and fears, but also to compensate outwardly for the person they see in the mirror each day who they know deep down comes-up short in character, courage, and patriotism. Things like having a lot of guns, joining the NRA, watching Fox News, listening to Limbaugh and other right-wing radio, becoming a "tough" Republican, help to make them feel better about themselves, albeit superficially.
11
So is the problem killings or mass killings? The existence of guns on campus will slow mass killers, who largely prefer gun free zones. In terms of single killings, or murder, there are a few issues.
One is how intelligent are these people? It would be odd to be stupid and on campus, wouldn't it? Yes?
Two is momentary lapse of reason. Well I have to agree with you there, but how momentary will be the lapse if 2 other people in the room are also armed, but sane? You would see reason fairly fast, or you shouldn't be there to begin with.
One is how intelligent are these people? It would be odd to be stupid and on campus, wouldn't it? Yes?
Two is momentary lapse of reason. Well I have to agree with you there, but how momentary will be the lapse if 2 other people in the room are also armed, but sane? You would see reason fairly fast, or you shouldn't be there to begin with.
1
In the old western movies, the transition from lawlessness to civilization was marked by the new local ordinance requiring all the newcomers to hand over their guns to the sheriff. To allow guns on any campus that does not monitor alcohol use is insanity. Australia restricted gun ownership after their Port Arthur massacre and these horrific events were almost eliminated. Follow the money and you will discover more than Second Amendment disquietude.
4
I am a professor at a university in the Austin area. The ONLY people who want "campus carry" are the swaggering Tea Party half-wits, elected from mostly rural gerrymandered districts. They long for an imaginary past where "men were men" and they imagine themselves to be like John Wayne, riding the range and dispensing harsh justice without interference from the "gummint". They are lying to us, to themselves, and they are purposefully creating a society that is more violent and insecure--either out of their total allegiance to the NRA or just sheer stupidity and hubris. In any case, law and civilized society will continue to suffer the longer these miscreants are elected to public office.
17
It is too late. Even if the Texas legislature were to rescind the campus carry law it would make no difference. If a new amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 2nd Amendment were adopted, it would still be too late In fact, the ensuing carnage during the effort to pass such an amendment is unthinkable. And if it was adopted would you want the job of confiscating the then proscribed weapons?
This a country wherein there is a firearm for every man woman and child. A country in which the slaughter by gunfire of 20 five year olds does nothing to change the bloody trajectory of the American dream. A country in which influential persons believe that the solution to the 'problem' of gun violence is more guns.
The writing has been stitched on the wall in full metal jacket calligraphy:
"From my cold dead hands."
Oh yes, I hate to be a downer. It is too late.
Kevlar for everybody.
Lock and load.
This a country wherein there is a firearm for every man woman and child. A country in which the slaughter by gunfire of 20 five year olds does nothing to change the bloody trajectory of the American dream. A country in which influential persons believe that the solution to the 'problem' of gun violence is more guns.
The writing has been stitched on the wall in full metal jacket calligraphy:
"From my cold dead hands."
Oh yes, I hate to be a downer. It is too late.
Kevlar for everybody.
Lock and load.
8
I was there when Charles Whitman, "The Texas Tower Sniper," did his shootings.
Long story, I have. Much involvement with this horrible event. Had worked side-by-side with him for months before. One day he just didn't show up for work. Went up on the Tower and killed all those people.
My point is -- I'm still undecided about if arming students would have prevented such an event. It didn't seem to help at all on the recent Oregon campus slaughter. (As I understand it, OR has had a "campus carry" for many years. I'm surprised, at Liberal Oregon.)
Yet, I somehow feel that I would like to have that option of being armed. Or, at least have "someone" (teachers?) armed -- esp in K-12 schools.
I'm also conflicted about if passing more stringent gun laws would have prevented him from murdering all those people.
Similarly, I'm uncertain if psychological profiling would have/should have identified him as a "dangerous person," and taken his guns away -- or prevented him from obtaining them. There are so many seemingly "crazy" people out there that don't kill others.
In short...Although I'm a fairly intelligent, accomplished and prudent individual -- I just don't know what the answer is. Welcome to our modern, increasingly violent world, huh.
Long story, I have. Much involvement with this horrible event. Had worked side-by-side with him for months before. One day he just didn't show up for work. Went up on the Tower and killed all those people.
My point is -- I'm still undecided about if arming students would have prevented such an event. It didn't seem to help at all on the recent Oregon campus slaughter. (As I understand it, OR has had a "campus carry" for many years. I'm surprised, at Liberal Oregon.)
Yet, I somehow feel that I would like to have that option of being armed. Or, at least have "someone" (teachers?) armed -- esp in K-12 schools.
I'm also conflicted about if passing more stringent gun laws would have prevented him from murdering all those people.
Similarly, I'm uncertain if psychological profiling would have/should have identified him as a "dangerous person," and taken his guns away -- or prevented him from obtaining them. There are so many seemingly "crazy" people out there that don't kill others.
In short...Although I'm a fairly intelligent, accomplished and prudent individual -- I just don't know what the answer is. Welcome to our modern, increasingly violent world, huh.
2
I was going to spend the morning actually researching the new right-wing flavor-of-the-month pseudo study in which all the awful countries on Earth that have taken away gun "rights" have gone on to become dictatorships with genocides. Then I quickly realized that, of course, it doesn't matter. America has become so divided on what the definition of "truth" actually is, that even if I were able to research and dispel the belief that gun control leads to government sponsored mass murder, the people who really want to believe it will keep on believing it. "Fact" is fiction to the other half of America, no matter what the topic or the team.
After a lot of thought, I've concluded we may never return to a rational middle ground, constantly divided by moneyed interests -- because let's be abundantly clear about why guns are not just legal but about to become even easier to carry -- money. The NRA doesn't give a whit about the safety of anyone. More fear and more gun related mass shootings leads to more sales. More sales means more lobbying cash. More lobbying cash means more politicians to buy. Just like every other current made-up issue in America where fear and ignorance drives consumer spending.
As long as money remains more important than life, (actual) liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, you have to wonder how much longer this empire will last.
After a lot of thought, I've concluded we may never return to a rational middle ground, constantly divided by moneyed interests -- because let's be abundantly clear about why guns are not just legal but about to become even easier to carry -- money. The NRA doesn't give a whit about the safety of anyone. More fear and more gun related mass shootings leads to more sales. More sales means more lobbying cash. More lobbying cash means more politicians to buy. Just like every other current made-up issue in America where fear and ignorance drives consumer spending.
As long as money remains more important than life, (actual) liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, you have to wonder how much longer this empire will last.
8
I attend the University of Texas at Tyler. I am deeply dismayed by this law. Tyler is an extremely conservative town. I have seen multiple open carry rallies in the middle of town. Most weekends there are protests in front of a planned parenthood clinic here. The protesters were there before the lying videos were used to stir up the debate, there's just more of them now. This clinic doesn't even provide abortions, but that doesn't seem to matter to these folks. I've seen a protest in town in which one person was holding up an image of the president made to look like Hitler. In 2012 about 75% of Smith County voted for Romney. This community, and Texas as a whole, is paranoid and irrational. I attend college in this community and I was already afraid to voice my opinion on some things. Now I guess I'll just have to keep my mouth shut lest I inspire a gun nut to shoot up a classroom.
16
The day of the shooting at Roseburg, I saw the news come across my computer. A little while later, I went to the grocery store. I passed a man wearing a t-shirt with an assault rifle pictured on the front and the words, "It's my right." Let's begin to be clear and adult, shall we? This man exemplifies the mindset of the carry crowd. He had no care at all for the dead, only for asserting his "right." He put on his t-shirt and went out after the news of the shooting was announced. This is a sociopathic level of selfishness. Until we address this mindset as infantile and sociopathic, we won't get anywhere. We keep trying to treat these people as adults. We hear them using logic and think they have reason. They don't. Logic may be applied to anything but that doesn't mean it's true. When a five year-old hits a playmate, we don't give that child logic and reasons. We give that child boundaries. It's time for those of us--the majority--to assert our authority as adults and create proper boundaries for the misguided, immature people who believe their "rights" to have guns supersede the rights of others to live in peace and safety.
We have the examples of other countries. It's not only government that has lost its mind, and those elected to office who do the NRA's bidding for money. Voting is only a part of this effort we must make. Changing cultural beliefs, reasserting empathy as a value, creating good boundaries--these must also happen.
We have the examples of other countries. It's not only government that has lost its mind, and those elected to office who do the NRA's bidding for money. Voting is only a part of this effort we must make. Changing cultural beliefs, reasserting empathy as a value, creating good boundaries--these must also happen.
13
Hypocrisy, that has become one of our traits. Sad, very sad, but true nevertheless. How else can you explain the carnage that occurs so frequently? The fact that this happens, not in a war zone but in our schools of learning makes it even more distressing. As parents we should be prepared that we are not only sending our children off to get an education but perhaps, also bullets. It takes only one bad apple to turn the apple-cart. The solutions are known, the technology is present to weed out the chaff. What is missing is a collective will.
2
This country has officially gone insane. All the evidence shows that more guns = more deaths. That is a fact, and every contrary assertion is a lie. One day, this country will have more sensible restrictions on guns. The only question is how many more senseless deaths must occur before we come to our senses? In the meantime, time to boycott Texas.
5
The whole argument of students carrying weapons on campus would probably be moot, if as a society we valued the lives of our children as much as we value our money. After all,, there never seems to be any disagreement with,, or opposition to the armed guard, or armed off duty police officer standing watch in the bank lobby. There is no national or local legislation to make these locations gun free zones.
I think that as a society, it would be fair to say that we feel our money is safer when these measures are in place to deter potential criminals.
Yet with our children, we do the exact opposite. We pass legislation making our schools gun free zones, which we then broadly advertise. The schools have no security guards, or unarmed security guards at best. Knowing this, we then pack our children up and send them to said schools,
Then somehow, somehow, we believe that doing the exact opposite of what keeps our money safe will somehow keep our children safe.
I think that as a society, it would be fair to say that we feel our money is safer when these measures are in place to deter potential criminals.
Yet with our children, we do the exact opposite. We pass legislation making our schools gun free zones, which we then broadly advertise. The schools have no security guards, or unarmed security guards at best. Knowing this, we then pack our children up and send them to said schools,
Then somehow, somehow, we believe that doing the exact opposite of what keeps our money safe will somehow keep our children safe.
1
What is insane is that the minute a person walks onto a school campus in most of the country, he is completely defenseless against madmen and criminals. UCC had a security guard. He was armed with a can of spray.
Texas tracks crimes committed by concealed carry permit holders. Their rate of violent crime convictions is less than that of police officers, whom we trust to carry a gun anywhere, anytime. The difference between crimes by concealed carry permit holders and the general population is so great, that if you had a classroom of 28 permit holders with their guns and 1 non-permit holder, the 1 is more likely to commit a crime.
Bruni makes the mistake of equating the most law abiding citizens with the least law abiding.
Every mass killing at a school ends when the killer is confronted with imminent or actual armed defense. Shorten that time, and fewer people will die.
Texas tracks crimes committed by concealed carry permit holders. Their rate of violent crime convictions is less than that of police officers, whom we trust to carry a gun anywhere, anytime. The difference between crimes by concealed carry permit holders and the general population is so great, that if you had a classroom of 28 permit holders with their guns and 1 non-permit holder, the 1 is more likely to commit a crime.
Bruni makes the mistake of equating the most law abiding citizens with the least law abiding.
Every mass killing at a school ends when the killer is confronted with imminent or actual armed defense. Shorten that time, and fewer people will die.
1
I am normally against academic boycotts of any kind. But if the international academic community starts boycotting Texas universities, as I am sure it will, I will support it. Let's see how long Texan colleges and universities retain their academic ratings if scientists, scholars, and investors from Europe and Asia refuse to attend any conference, symposia, lecture or any other event at which audience may carry concealed guns. And academic ratings translate into prestige and funding. Better professors and students will leave, and Texas will remain with knuckleheads, religious nut cases, and academic failures. But who cares? You don't need brains if you can blow somebody else's brains out.
12
So they had rules about not carrying them into the classroom. How did that work out? In a nation where our public officials and our elected representatives speak out against following the laws of the land and do not follow those laws in their duties with impunity why would you expect anyone to respect and follow campus rules, the rule of law or even a police officers' demands? We have become a lawless nation and it has come down to us from the top.
I have become jaded. Oh no to the killings but to all the discussions afterward. Seems all anyone in this country from politicians to business people is to discuss our problems. Solutions elude us. Meanwhile people die from gun violence from the insane, racists, evil and even our supposed protectors. Perhaps less discussion and more introspection is warranted, but then we would have to face those things in ourselves. No lets's just have some more inane unproductive discussions and pretend we are doing something.
I have become jaded. Oh no to the killings but to all the discussions afterward. Seems all anyone in this country from politicians to business people is to discuss our problems. Solutions elude us. Meanwhile people die from gun violence from the insane, racists, evil and even our supposed protectors. Perhaps less discussion and more introspection is warranted, but then we would have to face those things in ourselves. No lets's just have some more inane unproductive discussions and pretend we are doing something.
4
I manage a graduate program for a prestigious California university. One of my roles involves recruiting each new class of students. This requires visiting individual campuses and meeting with students personally and in group settings. I set my own agenda and choose the schools I visit.
This week, I will visit Texas schools - but as of Fall 2016, I will no longer include Texas universities on my itinerary. Beyond being a symbolic protest, I am concerned about my personal safety. I have a family to support. They need me more than Texas students need to attend our graduate program.
Earlier this month, I attended Virginia Tech and was overwhelmed with sadness for the students who had to contend with that disaster. A few years ago, when my kids were in high school in Colorado, they had sporting events at Columbine high school. You can't visit these places without being moved. In fact, while there, you can think of little else. It's hard to comprehend how sentient beings can continue to move through those places without being permanently affected.
Perhaps if our conservative lawmakers and gun lobbyists had the misfortune of having to personally endure some of this tragedy, their perspectives would change. But I doubt it. They would likely call for even more guns on those campuses. It's shameful.
This week, I will visit Texas schools - but as of Fall 2016, I will no longer include Texas universities on my itinerary. Beyond being a symbolic protest, I am concerned about my personal safety. I have a family to support. They need me more than Texas students need to attend our graduate program.
Earlier this month, I attended Virginia Tech and was overwhelmed with sadness for the students who had to contend with that disaster. A few years ago, when my kids were in high school in Colorado, they had sporting events at Columbine high school. You can't visit these places without being moved. In fact, while there, you can think of little else. It's hard to comprehend how sentient beings can continue to move through those places without being permanently affected.
Perhaps if our conservative lawmakers and gun lobbyists had the misfortune of having to personally endure some of this tragedy, their perspectives would change. But I doubt it. They would likely call for even more guns on those campuses. It's shameful.
4
If you think arming students in their dorms is ironic, this senior of some seven decades is reminded of something similar incident.
Watching a rerun recently of an episode of "All In The Family" from the 1970's, Archie Bunker, a character whose red neck conservative logic defies credulity, is interviewed by Walter Cronkite as part of a "Man of the People" piece. Cronkite asks Archie his thoughts on ways to curtail skyjacking, a growing problem at the time, but the biggest fear one faced when flying.
Archie's answer, given with the attitude of the all-knowing braggadocio of someone who thinks he's solved the problem, when in actuality has made it worse, boastfully explains to Uncle Walter: If every passenger on the plane was armed with a gun then skyjacking would cease. Archie, the archetype numb skull, was made to play the fool. His idea was an embarrassment to all but a few like-minded friends.
That parody was broadcast over forty years ago. It is amazing to see that a fictional television character four decades past has become a credible solution to gun violence by a gun lobby run amok, its political arm permeating many otherwise sane gun owners, who now have come to fear fear itself.
The power of the media to play a positive influence on peoples thinking has taken a turn for the worse.
DD
Manhattan
Watching a rerun recently of an episode of "All In The Family" from the 1970's, Archie Bunker, a character whose red neck conservative logic defies credulity, is interviewed by Walter Cronkite as part of a "Man of the People" piece. Cronkite asks Archie his thoughts on ways to curtail skyjacking, a growing problem at the time, but the biggest fear one faced when flying.
Archie's answer, given with the attitude of the all-knowing braggadocio of someone who thinks he's solved the problem, when in actuality has made it worse, boastfully explains to Uncle Walter: If every passenger on the plane was armed with a gun then skyjacking would cease. Archie, the archetype numb skull, was made to play the fool. His idea was an embarrassment to all but a few like-minded friends.
That parody was broadcast over forty years ago. It is amazing to see that a fictional television character four decades past has become a credible solution to gun violence by a gun lobby run amok, its political arm permeating many otherwise sane gun owners, who now have come to fear fear itself.
The power of the media to play a positive influence on peoples thinking has taken a turn for the worse.
DD
Manhattan
4
One can see where a law like this makes some sense considering the path the USA is on. Conservative climate change denial will lead to fundamental shifts in the environment (already has) resulting in more economic stratification (areas will add or lose jobs depending on drought etc). Banking and usury laws likewise redistribute wealth away from most groups, causing more social inequity. There will be constant buildup of the military and apparently eternal war. Meanwhile, personal freedoms will be more tightly regulated under conservative rule: certain groups not allowed to marry, womens health rights denied, all health care restricted including psychiatric (already states are curtailing mental health). State funding of higher education continues to erode resulting in greater debt. Perhaps the draft returns requiring students to fight on foreign lands, all resulting in social unrest on campus, more disturbed PTSD students etc.. In this conservative dysfunctional dystopic campus milieu, students likely need firearm for their own safety. It will be brutal out there.
1
If the goal is to reduce/eliminate these mass shootings, then the basic elements of point defense should become standard. Identify the locations: schools, theaters, churches and the like where masses of people congregate with no easy escape. Establish a strong perimeter with defended entry/exits. Establish identification procedures that prevent unauthorized persons from entering. In short, give up the free lifestyle we enjoy in the US.
There is a reason that no mass shootings have occurred inside airport terminals.
Failing this, I am on board with mandatory reporting by mental health professionals to appropriate authority of individuals who display the symptoms common to mass shooters. Psychologists have developed the appropriate profile - again, think no fly list.
Failing that, individual carry seems a prudent alternative. Return fire seriously degrades one's ability to aim.
There is a reason that no mass shootings have occurred inside airport terminals.
Failing this, I am on board with mandatory reporting by mental health professionals to appropriate authority of individuals who display the symptoms common to mass shooters. Psychologists have developed the appropriate profile - again, think no fly list.
Failing that, individual carry seems a prudent alternative. Return fire seriously degrades one's ability to aim.
1
It is much more than just guns. Or insanity. It is that the entire culture has been divided into winners and losers, a zero sum culture of so-called "exceptionalism" that sees itself as beyond normal attitudes concerning morals, ethics or just plain civility. The US is truly a huckster society, always has been and I'm afraid the fraudulence of that particular attitude has permeated everything: religion (where one is supposed to find ethics and morals), politics (where one is supposed to find the common good) and social intercourse (where one is supposed to find friends and family). All of these have become poisoned by this self-congratulatory exceptionalism and the result of that is the "losers" having to make a statement. But then the US did slaughter the Indians and any "others" that got in its "exceptional" way, so one could say that these mass shootings and the 33,000 dead last year from gun violence is just the American Way. 20 dead elementary students two years later and nothing is done proves my point. The US is a sick society...exceptionally so.
8
We heard almost the same arguments from tobacco executives: we sell a legal product, there is no link between our product and cancer, it is an individual choice. The gun people have an enshrined right on their side that they declare is absolute. They also sell a legal product. The differences are that the tobacco industry did not, and does not enjoy legal protection from product liability lawsuits and that government health researchers are not prohibited, again by law, from collecting data about gun sales, use, and deaths. Let's start by eliminating the product liability protections used as cover by the firearms industries.
9
I am a biologist. Scientists cherish exceptional biological situations because such deviations shed light on how things normally work. Maybe what is now needed is a truly exceptional situation to illuminate the problems of gun ownership in the United States. I suggest mandatory carry. All citizens should be required to carry a firearm at all times. Fiscal conservatives will like this idea because there already is a gun for every man, woman and child in America. No need to spend money to manufacture the needed firearms. Socialists will like this idea because all that is needed is the redistribution of the existing guns, like a progressive income tax. Those who have many guns will simply be required to give some of their guns to those who have none.
The result of course will be carnage – an abrupt and rapid explosion in the murder rate. The good news will be the illustration of clear cause and effect. More guns result in more murder; fewer guns will result in less murder. One would naturally expect the appropriate legislation to follow. This is how Darwin figured out evolution.
The result of course will be carnage – an abrupt and rapid explosion in the murder rate. The good news will be the illustration of clear cause and effect. More guns result in more murder; fewer guns will result in less murder. One would naturally expect the appropriate legislation to follow. This is how Darwin figured out evolution.
5
I commented here earlier about all this -- and described how I was present, in a very close way, when Whitman did his Tower killings at UT. I also expressed substantial uncertainty on how to prevent such things.
With a bit more reflection, I remembered some of my previous thoughts on a solution. (Due to my past experience in this area, I've been thinking on such topics for a very long time, over the course of many such mass killings.)
The ultimate answer, of course, is for our country to become less violent. (More like Europe.) Our U.S. culture is violence -- from athletics, to movies, to video games, corporate warfare, etc, etc, etc. It's part of what makes us "great." The dominant force on the planet.
But, until we remove a large piece of this violence element from "who we are," there will always be crazies who interpret our culture as the permission to kill. No matter what we do.
OK, a solution. Now the impossible -- how do you implement it?
With a bit more reflection, I remembered some of my previous thoughts on a solution. (Due to my past experience in this area, I've been thinking on such topics for a very long time, over the course of many such mass killings.)
The ultimate answer, of course, is for our country to become less violent. (More like Europe.) Our U.S. culture is violence -- from athletics, to movies, to video games, corporate warfare, etc, etc, etc. It's part of what makes us "great." The dominant force on the planet.
But, until we remove a large piece of this violence element from "who we are," there will always be crazies who interpret our culture as the permission to kill. No matter what we do.
OK, a solution. Now the impossible -- how do you implement it?
2
The Umpqua killer shot himself as armed police moved in on him.
The Umpqua killer shot unarmed civilians in a part of the Umpqua campus that was a gun free zone.
The Umpqua killer was clearly suffering from severe mental illness.
The Umpqua killer was well aware of the media coverage for other mentally ill killers, any number of whom were looking to kill themselves, or be killed, while attracting as much attention to themselves as possible.
The majority of large state mental hospitals closed years ago, and the mentally ill are often treated by not much more than a bottle of pills, and a pat on the head by the mental health profession.
The number of spree killings has increased in recent years. Any number of which took place in gun free zones.
Guns have been legal in the US during it's entire history. Semi-automatic guns have been legal in the US since their invention in the 19th century. Guns with detachable ammo magazines, as well as those with loading clips, have been legal in the US since their invention in the 19th century.
The Umpqua killer shot unarmed civilians in a part of the Umpqua campus that was a gun free zone.
The Umpqua killer was clearly suffering from severe mental illness.
The Umpqua killer was well aware of the media coverage for other mentally ill killers, any number of whom were looking to kill themselves, or be killed, while attracting as much attention to themselves as possible.
The majority of large state mental hospitals closed years ago, and the mentally ill are often treated by not much more than a bottle of pills, and a pat on the head by the mental health profession.
The number of spree killings has increased in recent years. Any number of which took place in gun free zones.
Guns have been legal in the US during it's entire history. Semi-automatic guns have been legal in the US since their invention in the 19th century. Guns with detachable ammo magazines, as well as those with loading clips, have been legal in the US since their invention in the 19th century.
4
It is not enough to object to Texas' solution. The victims in Oregon were totally, completely, undeniably defenseless.
If you object to carry, provide solutions to defend them.
If you object to carry, provide solutions to defend them.
5
We are the great land served by lawmakers like Louie Gohmert and Ted Cruz. You think campus carry at UT is lunacy ? Recently, our public elementary school changed its on-campus gun policy. They now have a police officer who walks down the hall daily, openly carrying a gun during regular school hours! And this is elementary school, not even high school.
At the PTA meeting, the school principal brushed off concerns from some parents by reading off a script that this was the new ISD policy and referred parents to the district authorities for questions. Nothing has changed since the meeting - the police officer continues to this day, on his beat down the school hall with a gun.
At the PTA meeting, the school principal brushed off concerns from some parents by reading off a script that this was the new ISD policy and referred parents to the district authorities for questions. Nothing has changed since the meeting - the police officer continues to this day, on his beat down the school hall with a gun.
5
These large scale executions of our innocent American brothers and sisters represent a public health crisis, and by that I mean not the health of the killers, but the survival of the victims and would be victims. This is not an issue of the mental health of mass murderers. Society cannot cure the minds of mass murderers. It can, however, attack the makers and possessors of this arsenal of deadly weapons. If, as the president stated in response to this latest horror in Oregon, there are enough weapons for every American to have one (approximately 318.9 million), then we need to cut those numbers down. A gun buyback, including legal guns, would cost $318,900,000,000 at $1,000 per gun, even less if only handguns were targeted. We're worth the money.
2
Given the commen sense and raw intellectual power of the Texas legislature, it's easy to see why Texas leads America in job creation and as the prime relocation destination. Science has proven that tighter gun control laws increase crime rates. Just look at the extreme levels of violence in Obama's Chicago. The science is settled!
1
This is all about politics and cynicism. The Texas legislature is a disgrace. I wonder how many of their children will be attending the University of Texas?
3
Yes, I am a college Professor as well and I am against campus carry.
However, I am not against it because I will feel more unsafe, I already do.
The only way to reduce gun deaths in America is to make it a normal developed
country, which requires removal of the 2nd amendment. In other countries people can also go hunting, without the 2nd amendment - just not if they are mentally deranged.
I am against guns on campus, because they appeal to the lowest registers of human emotion and intelligence and hence are incompatible with the mission of a university, like brothels, booze bars and college football.
However, I am not against it because I will feel more unsafe, I already do.
The only way to reduce gun deaths in America is to make it a normal developed
country, which requires removal of the 2nd amendment. In other countries people can also go hunting, without the 2nd amendment - just not if they are mentally deranged.
I am against guns on campus, because they appeal to the lowest registers of human emotion and intelligence and hence are incompatible with the mission of a university, like brothels, booze bars and college football.
12
I'm not sure if THIS meets the exact definition of irony, but it definitely meets the exact definition of insanity: Florida will be next. A similar "campus carry" bill awaits Florida's next legislative session. If you liked reading about Florida State athletes' culture of thuggery - boys-will-be-boys robbing, raping, and occasionally shooting it up - you'll love their adventures with legally concealed weapons. Stay tuned!
3
A WELL REGULATED MILITIA BEING NECESSARY TO THE SECURITY OF A FREE STATE Those in the Supreme court who decided that gun rights are an individual right, not a group right seem to have eliminated the first part of the Second Amendment to arrive at their wrong and lethal finding. Well I hope they got a bang out of it, because lots of citizens have, resulting in violent murders, injury, terror in the streets and reinstating the law of the wild west where the person quickest with the gun acts as judge. A large majority of voters of both parties support changing the law to increase safety, including a 75% of NRA members. Yet the country is being held hostage by 25% of the NRA who terrorize congress to impose their will. The impact of the law has been to put gun deaths on the fast track. I can't think of a mass shooting incident where people were saved by using guns to protect themselves. So what's the point? Slavery is illegal in the US, yet the vast majority of voters are enslaved by NRA extremists and their handmaidens in Congress. Historically, the primary mission of the NRA was TO TEACH GUN SAFETY. Wow! Have they ever strayed from that path! Guns kill. Guns turn an argument into a murder. Guns picked up by children maim and kill children. Does any of the carnage described resemble anything close to an organized militia or an orderly nation? It sure doesn't look that way to me! Time to take off the blinders and put the NRA extremist minority out of business.
16
I'm sorry to say that UT's losing football team will be a bigger deterrent to future Longhorns than campus carry, though I'd love to see parents rise up in huge numbers and say they will not consider sending their children to the school until that ridiculous "law" is overturned.
3
The simple answer, we are doomed.
4
We seem to have a lot of disaffected people in this country who also have a lot of disposable income to spend on guns and quasi-military apparel. Why not channel this into forming your own foreign legion to go over and fight ISIS?
5
Now those students in Texas need the REAL "trigger warning". Madness.
5
Thank you Mr. Bruni, for remembering the beginning of the repeating tape loop of mass shootings on campuses fifty years ago. I was finishing my senior year at the University of Texas that summer. Normally, I would have been one of those unsuspecting students walking from my physics class, across the mall under the Tower, to the library, but on this day, I had skipped class. I was about to start Peace Corps training, which required me to have some dental work, so I was at the dentist's office, where we heard the terrible news on the radio. 14 others were not as lucky as I was. Their lives were cut short just as they were beginning, just as the victims of the latest campus mass shooting.
Fifty years later, and gun laws are more lax than ever. The tape loop is not only repeating endlessly- it is speeding up.
Fifty years later, and gun laws are more lax than ever. The tape loop is not only repeating endlessly- it is speeding up.
7
As long as the gun lobby has the Second Amendment to hide behind, effective gun control is all but impossible. There isn't enough language in the Second Amendment to differentiate between the types of guns that should be banned, and those that shouldn't. I never thought I'd say this, but the only answer is to repeal the Second Amendment and replace it with a new amendment with language specific to the types of guns that are legal and those that aren't. I have no problem with hunting rifles -- that's basically what the founding fathers were protecting 240 years ago. Let's amend the law to protect those and ban everything else.
7
Absolute nonsense. Bruni's column today on guns is one of the most regressive pieces of fear mongering I've ever read.
Bruni's concept that a student licensed to carry a gun will then whip it out in the middle of a "heated" classroom debate is laughable. Bruni’s vision of faculty members quacking in front of their classroom inhibited in a free exchange of ideas is ludicrous. These propagate the canard that university and college campuses are havens for shrinking violets ensconced in their ivory towers divorced from everyday reality.
Face it - Oregon, Columbine, etc. drive the left in to a heightened frenzy for gun control because it focuses on unstable, young white men, some their sons, lurking out there. Some small fraction of those men are so sick they go on these killing rampages. This confronts the left with gun violence in the places they live, work, study and play. Gun violence in the inner cities is a distant abstract to many on the left since it is “only” impacting lower class minorities who are shooting each other up in domestic disputes and drug battles.
The reality is that the MSM exponentially enhances these incidents. However, they are a small fraction of the gun violence we tolerate here in America every day.
We as a country have accepted, endorsed and embraced a gun culture and the violence that goes with it since our inception. This is not changing short of re-writing the Constitution. So, deal with it and move on to issues that can really be changed.
Bruni's concept that a student licensed to carry a gun will then whip it out in the middle of a "heated" classroom debate is laughable. Bruni’s vision of faculty members quacking in front of their classroom inhibited in a free exchange of ideas is ludicrous. These propagate the canard that university and college campuses are havens for shrinking violets ensconced in their ivory towers divorced from everyday reality.
Face it - Oregon, Columbine, etc. drive the left in to a heightened frenzy for gun control because it focuses on unstable, young white men, some their sons, lurking out there. Some small fraction of those men are so sick they go on these killing rampages. This confronts the left with gun violence in the places they live, work, study and play. Gun violence in the inner cities is a distant abstract to many on the left since it is “only” impacting lower class minorities who are shooting each other up in domestic disputes and drug battles.
The reality is that the MSM exponentially enhances these incidents. However, they are a small fraction of the gun violence we tolerate here in America every day.
We as a country have accepted, endorsed and embraced a gun culture and the violence that goes with it since our inception. This is not changing short of re-writing the Constitution. So, deal with it and move on to issues that can really be changed.
4
Meaningful legislation will only happen if loved ones of powerful people, 1%, congressmen, gun makers or NRA were to become victims of gun violence.
8
"The new law says that the university president can move to exempt certain areas, but university administrators fear that every such move will be legally challenged and prompt political blowback." So what...do it, and too bad for the political blowback. And concerns about having to identify the exempt areas?...com'on, that's a pathetic excuse. Fight back people, don't wave the white flag in advance. Give-in here and their next move will probably be to try to force UT to become a right-wing religious school.
4
The 'right' that infringes like none other, is the so-called 'right' attributed to bear arms, by the Second Amendment on corporate right wing steroids.
A gun when it's fired infringes on the right to free assembly, freedom of speech, LIFE, LIBERTY, and certainly the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS by anyone except, perhaps, the alienated paranoid psycho with the warm gun.
Even the right to own a gun has introduced into the great American discourse the option for every moronic jerk (who no doubt believes otherwise-that they are the enlightened protector of virtue) to introduce into the debate, 'well I own a gun, and . . .' Let me complete the subtext that this paradigm introduces: ''I own a gun, so think about that, I have the potential to go psycho and show up at your door and shoot you if you make me look like a fool, or out debate me, humiliate me, or make me feel bad, or demeaned.''
Gun control, and greatly restricted presence of guns in our world - including a general crackdown on the arms industry and gun dealers. Really. Can anyone argue reasonably that guns improve the climate anywhere? Yemen? Chicago? Oregon? Anywhere?
A gun when it's fired infringes on the right to free assembly, freedom of speech, LIFE, LIBERTY, and certainly the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS by anyone except, perhaps, the alienated paranoid psycho with the warm gun.
Even the right to own a gun has introduced into the great American discourse the option for every moronic jerk (who no doubt believes otherwise-that they are the enlightened protector of virtue) to introduce into the debate, 'well I own a gun, and . . .' Let me complete the subtext that this paradigm introduces: ''I own a gun, so think about that, I have the potential to go psycho and show up at your door and shoot you if you make me look like a fool, or out debate me, humiliate me, or make me feel bad, or demeaned.''
Gun control, and greatly restricted presence of guns in our world - including a general crackdown on the arms industry and gun dealers. Really. Can anyone argue reasonably that guns improve the climate anywhere? Yemen? Chicago? Oregon? Anywhere?
6
The campus carry law in Texas will not add to student safety - as Mr. Bruni points out it is limited to those students and professors and others over 21 who have a concealed weapon permit. I suspect that campus carry is only the first stage in making campuses "safer" in Texas. True "safety" will come when open carry for all is legally established, and no idiot liberals are allowed to make restrictions to the law anywhere. Absolute true "safety" will finally be achieved when open carry applies to all places at all times with no age restrictions. Perhaps open carry should in fact be made mandatory - imagine metal detectors that sound an alarm when no gun is carried ... .
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-guns-campus...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-guns-campus...
3
Who is more absurd, the elected officials who enact such stupid legislation or the people that vote for them?
We don't want you to bring guns to grocery stores, church or campus, concealed or otherwise. Gun owners, you have a right to bear arms. But if you bear them in inappropriate places, you will be shunned and despised.
We don't want you to bring guns to grocery stores, church or campus, concealed or otherwise. Gun owners, you have a right to bear arms. But if you bear them in inappropriate places, you will be shunned and despised.
10
Contrast Texas law allowing "campus carry" on all public college grounds with the regulations regarding the possession and carrying of privately owned firearms on Ft. Hood, Ft. Bliss, Dyess AFB, or any of the remaining dozen other Army and Air Force bases in the state of Texas.
Compared to the military, weapons possession in the college classroom is all but mandatory in Texas.
Perhaps all Texas public institutions of higher learning should be declared military installations and regulated by the Department of Defense.
Compared to the military, weapons possession in the college classroom is all but mandatory in Texas.
Perhaps all Texas public institutions of higher learning should be declared military installations and regulated by the Department of Defense.
5
I remember two incidents from long ago university days in which I argued with dangerous people and didn't realize it. Fortunately, neither was armed at the time. One was later expelled for threatening a faculty member; the other, in a famous incident, shot and killed his rabbi and himself. Would I have argued with them had I suspected they might be carrying? Silly question. Continued life beats free speech every time. Of course carrying guns on campus, concealed or otherwise, inhibits freedom of speech.
3
I recently received in the mail an offer from Wayne LaPierre itself. Here's part of it:
"Remember, we're fighting powerful gun-hating politicians in Washington, DC and state legislatures....anti-gun judges....U.N. global gun ban diplomats....anti-gun billionaires....and the freedom-hating media-elite.
"Their agenda includes nothing less than GUN REGISTRATION, GUN-OWNER LICENSING, GUN BANS, and other restrictions that all but obliterate our Right to Keep and Bear Arms."
Would someone please name for me even one "U.N. global gun ban diplomat"? He then goes on to plead for donations - anything from $25 to $100. The hideous old freak ends his little tirade by telling me,
"Unless you and I stand together it's only a matter of time before we lose our freedom, our heritage and our American way of life....
"PS: And please - even though joining NRA is not required to enter the sweepstakes - urge you to become a member of NRA at this critical moment in the history of Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms."
The gun crazies hate it when I do this, but here it is in its entirety:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Does anyone know what happened to the "well regulated" thingy? I'm just curious.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
"Remember, we're fighting powerful gun-hating politicians in Washington, DC and state legislatures....anti-gun judges....U.N. global gun ban diplomats....anti-gun billionaires....and the freedom-hating media-elite.
"Their agenda includes nothing less than GUN REGISTRATION, GUN-OWNER LICENSING, GUN BANS, and other restrictions that all but obliterate our Right to Keep and Bear Arms."
Would someone please name for me even one "U.N. global gun ban diplomat"? He then goes on to plead for donations - anything from $25 to $100. The hideous old freak ends his little tirade by telling me,
"Unless you and I stand together it's only a matter of time before we lose our freedom, our heritage and our American way of life....
"PS: And please - even though joining NRA is not required to enter the sweepstakes - urge you to become a member of NRA at this critical moment in the history of Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms."
The gun crazies hate it when I do this, but here it is in its entirety:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Does anyone know what happened to the "well regulated" thingy? I'm just curious.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
6
Wait until someone goes after a coach for losing too much (Texas if 1-4). I feel for anyone at UT, but these same conservative fundamentalists are pushing for armed students at Michigan colleges. With the gerrymandered state legislator and court appointees, they are well on their way of getting it.
US culture is more and more idiotic, extreme and violent. Our leaders should question where all this rage comes from if Capitalism is going to constantly be trumpeted as the best system in world history and we have a litmus test of "American exceptionalism" to get elected.
US culture is more and more idiotic, extreme and violent. Our leaders should question where all this rage comes from if Capitalism is going to constantly be trumpeted as the best system in world history and we have a litmus test of "American exceptionalism" to get elected.
7
I feel like Blues Traveler here, "perhaps I've grown a little cynical", but it sure seems, given no one cared to stop this train way-back-when, that someone or something wanted us all to have guns. Or maybe it was just those selling guns and making money. But, now, they want us to carry them. I may be stupid, but it looks to me, that some don't care if a few first graders and college students are bumped off from time to time. Because, if they cared, they would have did something.
3
Apparently it's the new craze among American conservatives to pass state laws for entirely symbolic purposes, just to prove that they can.
This law may or may not cause a problem, but it sure as hell isn't solving one, which used to be the reason we made laws.
Can teachers at least ask their students to unload their weapons, stack all munitions at the front of the class, and place all brass knuckles, switchblades, box cutters, Molotov cocktails, improvised explosive devices and "clocks" in the designated receptacles? Turn all chainsaws to "off" and cellphones in airplane mode. Tanks and amphibious landing craft in Lot B only. No airstrikes after 10 pm.
And of course,
"No strafing in the hallways!"
This law may or may not cause a problem, but it sure as hell isn't solving one, which used to be the reason we made laws.
Can teachers at least ask their students to unload their weapons, stack all munitions at the front of the class, and place all brass knuckles, switchblades, box cutters, Molotov cocktails, improvised explosive devices and "clocks" in the designated receptacles? Turn all chainsaws to "off" and cellphones in airplane mode. Tanks and amphibious landing craft in Lot B only. No airstrikes after 10 pm.
And of course,
"No strafing in the hallways!"
8
It is time to accept the fact that people who do not want reasonable regulation regarding the purchase and possession of guns, really do not care if the rest of us are cut down in a hail of bullets. Because it's all about them and their obsessive need to be armed. I find it ironic that these same people blame the killings, as in Oregon, on mental illness. It it not a form of mental illness to be afraid to go out on the street without a weapon? I suggest that for the near term people vote with their feet. Don't send your child to Texas for college. Insist that your child go to a school with full security. That will cost money and even the disgusting sheriff in Oregon may notice if his taxes go up. Do not patronize businesses that allow people to be armed on the premises. Money talks. And as for Congress, they have made a calculation that money from the gun lobby, and the support of gun owners, is more important than the life of some kid in Oregon who is just going to class.
6
No one wants to address the reality. We do not live in the same world our parents or grandparents did, and sadly, we can never go back there again. No more June and Ward Cleaver days.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again...the bad guys will ALWAYS be able to get guns, whether it be in a Dick's Sporting Goods or a back alley. Had someone trained in firearms, other than the shooter, been carrying that day, then maybe, just maybe, it might have only been one dead, instead of nine.
I don't profess to have the answer to all these mass shootings, but then again, it's obvious from all the articles, and comments, including my own, neither does anyone else.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again...the bad guys will ALWAYS be able to get guns, whether it be in a Dick's Sporting Goods or a back alley. Had someone trained in firearms, other than the shooter, been carrying that day, then maybe, just maybe, it might have only been one dead, instead of nine.
I don't profess to have the answer to all these mass shootings, but then again, it's obvious from all the articles, and comments, including my own, neither does anyone else.
4
Thank you Cyndi! No, we don't have all the answers, but there is one thing that both you and I DO know...these mass school shootings do NOT occur where citizens are legally armed, only where guns are banned!
As a Texan and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, I am appalled that the Texas Legislature, in its infinitesimal wisdom, would enact such foolish and unnecessary legislation as the 'Campus Carry law, and even more so, that it would be ratified and endorsed by the UT-Chancellor. It almost makes me ashamed to have to admit that I was born here, and, God help me, live here.
11
Wonder what Molly Ivins would say about the 'ledge' now...
2
The tragedy in Oregon ought to be instructive. The real hero ended up taking 7 bullets and the shooting only stopped when the trained professional police showed up. The notion that untrained kids are going to save lives toting concealed weapons is the real delusion here.
10
Trained individuals often make mistakes during shootings. Remember the shooting at the Empire State Building a few years ago?
Everyone thinks they're going to be cool-hand Luke during a shooting.
Everyone thinks they're going to be cool-hand Luke during a shooting.
1
Ok, so let's picture the situation where a lone shooter opens up in a college classroom or maybe the student center. Then we can imagine all those concealed weapons also coming out. Mayhem! Every shooter thinking it's now a gang opening fire. Then come the police. All the shooters are targets.
After the smoke clears how will they even know who started it, who was involved?
The law of unintended consequences. A tragedy in the making.
After the smoke clears how will they even know who started it, who was involved?
The law of unintended consequences. A tragedy in the making.
9
Yeah, we need more gun-free shooting galleries (such as Umpqua Community College) so that crazed gunmen can maximize the number of casualties before they are taken out.
The funny thing about criminals is that they don't mind breaking the law, so all it would achieve is to make sure that law-abiding citizens would be unarmed and defenseless against these killers.
The funny thing about criminals is that they don't mind breaking the law, so all it would achieve is to make sure that law-abiding citizens would be unarmed and defenseless against these killers.
1
Charles Whitman killed his wife and mother during the early morning hours of August 1, 1966. He then drove to the University of Texas campus, where he ascended to the top of the Texas Tower. From his perch high in the tower, he shot and killed 16 people. If upon arriving on campus he had seen a sign declaring that it was unlawful to bring firearms onto campus, he would have turned around and gone home. He was already facing the death sentence for the two murders he had just committed, but in Texas, carrying a firearm into a gun-free zone is a Class A misdemeanor. This would have look bad on his record.
1
I am glad I live in a gun free zone of Chicago. The rest of the country should follow and we should disarm cops.
1
I have been a university professor on a UT campus for the last 20 years. Yes i have encountered my share of very peculiar students, students suffering from depression, delusions, suicidal tendencies, marital trauma, drugs, academic stress, enraged students overed grades. I've been stalked, accused of favoritism, all the etc. issues that go along with teaching students to explore, share and challenge in a learning environment. In that 20 years i have never encountered a gun, knife, or any other weapon in the classroom nor has there been an incident on campus that i can remember. IN fact i have not seen any convincing statistics that even remotely warrant the need for carrying weapons on campus. Add up all the students who have attended college classes over the years and then all the deaths by guns on campus and what is the percentage of likelihood that you will be a victim of gun violence. Does encouraging (by arms race mentality) more guns on campus improve this statistic? Does something that is not broken need fixing? Will enraged students who just happen to be carrying a weapon lose temporary sanity? will students carrying a gun have the expertise and training to react with clarity and measured accuracy if that rarest of occasion to defend against a shooter occurs? These questions seem to be irrelevant in the decision to make laws in Texas despite living in a democracy of the people.
3
I think about the man in Florida a few years back who shot and killed a younger man in a theater over a minor dispute. If the older guy hadn't been carrying, the dust-up between the two would have been limited to words or, at worst, fisticuffs.
1
This is an easy one. Boycott the UT system. If the administrators don't listen to reason, maybe they'll listen to the sound of tuition dollars, Federal loans, and grant money marching out the door and down the street to somewhere saner.
4
This article is inaccurate. Texas Government Code §411.2031(d) allows universities to set their own rules and regulations in dormitories: "An institution of higher education or private or independent institution of higher education in this state may establish rules, regulations, or other provisions concerning the storage of handguns in dormitories or other residential facilities that are owned or leased and operated by the institution and located
on the campus of the institution."
on the campus of the institution."
1
Remember that Rick Perry, the longest serving governor in Texas history, suggested that the way to stop a shooter in a movie theater, after the last movie theater shooting, was to allow theater goers to be armed - a good guy with a gun would stop the bad guy with a gun who had started to shoot people in a dark, noisy theater filled with panicked movie goers. Go get'em Cowboy!!! No gun free zones was the answer to public mass shootings. Remember this moron never lost an election in the state of Texas - tells you a lot about the majority of Texans. Perry made a fool of himself on the national Presidential stage twice. Remember that Oregan already allows students to bring guns to campus - so does Texas, the new Texas law (more symbolic mostly) will expand the rights of gun carrying students and not allow public institutions the option to opt out from the law. For the latest Oregon campus shooting, there were students on campus with guns - good guys with guns. The campus was NOT a gun free zone. Did NOT stop the mass killer from using his weapons arsenal to take innocent lives. States with the most lax gun laws have the most gun violence. Of course, asking the majority of voters in Texas to absorb that information is asking too much. Remember the same "geniuses" voted for Perry - let's have a gun fight in a movie theater - again and again. The same state gave us George W. - America and the entire world are still recovering. Thanks Texas.
10
Bullet-Riddled Bodies Do Not Lie. Guns Kill. Get Them Off the Streets of America. WE must demand that every gun in America be registered on a national database, licensed and fully insured for liability.
24
With 2/3rds of the 33,000 Americans who die from gunshots every year being suicides, mass shootings happen one personal American death at a time due to individual madness, despair and depression. With so many of the most infamous mass killers ending up committing suicide or being shot to death, the act of mass killing seems to be a combination of homicide and suicide. Neither gun control nor criminality in the conventional sense appear to have anything to do with this underlying problem.
Mental illness carries a stigma plus medical scientific mystery. Dealing with guns is a tough politically partisan issue. Mental health is underfunded, understaffed and unrecognized. With family and friends being on the at-risk front line without the expertise or resources to help. An estimated 50% of our homeless are suspected of being mentally ill. Veterans are disproportionately among represented among the suicides. Family members are often the first victims of mass killers.
Rather than focusing on this as a gun control and criminal justice problem we need to deal with the mental health issues that lie at the root of these shootings. With the 2nd Amendment and guns in a third of American homes getting rid of or controlling guns is futile. While a criminal record is public information, mental illness is too often undiagnosed or privately protected information if diagnosed. And while mental illness may explain much of this, most mentally ill humans do not engage in these acts.
Mental illness carries a stigma plus medical scientific mystery. Dealing with guns is a tough politically partisan issue. Mental health is underfunded, understaffed and unrecognized. With family and friends being on the at-risk front line without the expertise or resources to help. An estimated 50% of our homeless are suspected of being mentally ill. Veterans are disproportionately among represented among the suicides. Family members are often the first victims of mass killers.
Rather than focusing on this as a gun control and criminal justice problem we need to deal with the mental health issues that lie at the root of these shootings. With the 2nd Amendment and guns in a third of American homes getting rid of or controlling guns is futile. While a criminal record is public information, mental illness is too often undiagnosed or privately protected information if diagnosed. And while mental illness may explain much of this, most mentally ill humans do not engage in these acts.
4
In other words, let's do nothing.
There is a simple response to it. Mental illness is universal. Mass shootings are not. A mentally ill man in China attacked a kindergarten class with a knife, wounding twenty, none of whom died. An ideologically crazed individual in Israel attacked a gay pride parade with a knife, wounding six, only one of whom died. Mental illness is often a code word for poor impulse control. If you give such an individual a means to translate his outburst of anger into deadly unstoppable force, as we do in America by allowing madmen to have guns, scores will die. If he lacks such means, few will die or none.
3
I don't believe man is born mentally ill, so could someone please explain how one gets to be mentally ill? Is this a racket, too? Man's mind can only accept so much unrighteousness. And what triggers these individuals? I think there is more to the story than we are hearing.
When I was in high school, back in the early 70s, students used top sometimes bring guns to school in the gun racks in the back window of their pickup. Maybe they were going dove hunting after school.
My older brother won a candy selling contest, and could choose the prize he got. One choice was a semi auto rifle, and that was what he chose. They gave it to him at the school, and he brought it home on the school bus.
No trouble whatsoever. No one got shot. Back then people had more sense than today, the schools have changed from institutes of learning, to indoctrination centers.
My older brother won a candy selling contest, and could choose the prize he got. One choice was a semi auto rifle, and that was what he chose. They gave it to him at the school, and he brought it home on the school bus.
No trouble whatsoever. No one got shot. Back then people had more sense than today, the schools have changed from institutes of learning, to indoctrination centers.
1
I attended UT at Austin in the 70's. It was truly an oasis of culture and learning surrounded by a wild west landscape. It appears now that the cowboys have ridden into town.
11
Instead of cowboys..maybe we should call them gunslingers?
There is nothing wrong with the Second amendment. It clearly says "well-regulated". The Second amendment 100% requires regulations. If you are responsible and well-trained and insured member of well-regulated militia, than you can own gun. If you are not a member of well-regulated militia, you can't own a gun. Which part of "well-regulated" NRA doesn't get?
15
The chancellor for the University of Texas system, William McRaven, says: “I have spent my life fighting for the Second Amendment.” It’s one thing to waste your life, but quite another to use the Second Amendment as justification for to bearing arms in the home in modern times. He has spent his entire life attempting to waste lives of others; he brags about it, and he has no place influencing the lives of college-age Americans.
2
I live in Austin, Texas and started to write a comment about how gerrymandering here has impacted the quality of legislators elected, which led to the "campus carry" battle. Police chiefs, university presidents, and all manner of other thoughtful people tried to weigh in on the gun expansion legislation, but our elected officials had their minds made up. Some of them are evil, some of them are stupid, some of them are preening, narcissists, and the good ones are probably exhausted from trying to talk reason to them. Sad, scary times . . .
25
America has a bizarre unofficial irrational and inchoate but very pervasive cult, the worship of guns and their related violence. It's an ineradicable epiphenomenon, which someday the scholarly minds may study as we learn about the cult of thuggee from the early days of the Raj in India...
4
Looks like we're giving NRA a new argument in favor of more firearms hidden in more kids' schoolbags: Free speech now includes carrying and using a gun. Sounds nuts, but our conservative-dominant Supreme Court has already said free speech includes giving and spending cash -- with no limits -- on political campaigns. It's not corruption, say our brilliant top judges: Money=Free Speech.
So now we can look forward to more state legislatures enacting more pro-gun laws -- like requiring every student from pre-K thru college to carry one or more guns at all times. It's not potential murder and manslaughter because Guns=Free Speech.
So now we can look forward to more state legislatures enacting more pro-gun laws -- like requiring every student from pre-K thru college to carry one or more guns at all times. It's not potential murder and manslaughter because Guns=Free Speech.
4
Wow, way out there with that one - "requiring every student from pre-K thru college to carry one or more guns at all times."
I don't think that proposal is being promoted by anyone, anywhere (excepting lefty delusions).
I don't think that proposal is being promoted by anyone, anywhere (excepting lefty delusions).
The Florida State Legislature is pursuing the same course as Texas: campus carry. The NRA-sponsored and lobbied bill died in the Senate last year but they are at it again. And that isn't the only ridiculous gun law that has been proposed.
Not only would I not send my child or grandchild to school in Florida, but I will also think seriously about moving out of the state if the other laws pass. I live three blocks from one of the Florida campuses and on occasion have attended a program there. I would not do so again. Although I am sure the Florida legislature does not care about me, I wonder how much the state will care when it impacts their biggest industry: tourism. I would advocate for an all-out anti-tourism campaign, sending travel warnings all over the country and the rest of the world: Florida and Texas (etc) are not safe places.
Not only would I not send my child or grandchild to school in Florida, but I will also think seriously about moving out of the state if the other laws pass. I live three blocks from one of the Florida campuses and on occasion have attended a program there. I would not do so again. Although I am sure the Florida legislature does not care about me, I wonder how much the state will care when it impacts their biggest industry: tourism. I would advocate for an all-out anti-tourism campaign, sending travel warnings all over the country and the rest of the world: Florida and Texas (etc) are not safe places.
11
With so many retired people in Florida I think you can be a potent force for sanity. Call and write your legislature, threaten to move away and deprive them of your taxes. In the end that's what your (our) representatives care about.
I used to wonder about nobody objecting to the requirement for auto insurance--now I see that it was a question of money for the insurance agencies. Given that reality, the only thing that will change the gun situation is people with (ever less) money threatening to pull it out of the trough that the politicians and big business feed at.
I used to wonder about nobody objecting to the requirement for auto insurance--now I see that it was a question of money for the insurance agencies. Given that reality, the only thing that will change the gun situation is people with (ever less) money threatening to pull it out of the trough that the politicians and big business feed at.
1
Why is it ALWAYS Texas? It's like an alternate universe!
15
Living here can be surreal. We elected a new governor who is in a wheel chair because of a tragic accident. He made millions by suing the people responsible for his accident. Then when he became an elected official he sponsored a law that limited personal injury awards for lawsuits just like the one he filed to a few hundred thousand dollars and few people here acknowledge the hypocrisy at the heart of Greg Abbott's political career.
2
A gun represents a kind of thought: fear is the defensive mode; hatred is the offensive. Sadly the defensive can easily shift into the offensive, as fear is so often hatred under a mask. A gun gives the fearful a false sense of safety; to hatred, a false sense of power. In 'Key Largo" the gangster [Edward G. Robinson] is a cocksure bully until the hurricane approaches. Seeing the fear in his eyes, Humphrey Bogart taunts him: "What are you going to do now? Shoot it??" Relying of a gun for safety or power does not address the enemy within us. One point of a college education is discovering a degree of self-knowledge and perspective. The history of violence teaches the futility of force as a lasting solution to problems.
4
What can one say in the face of a group psychosis that grips an entire nation?
Psychotherapy doesn't work on patients who don't believe they have a problem. The world may see America as the crazy aunt locked up in the cellar but Americans see themselves as citizens of an exceptional culture that everyone wants to join.
Perhaps an intervention would work but how do you threaten a country that thinks it's better than everyone else? Sometimes the best therapy for dangerously delusional patients is to isolate them from the sane world on a locked ward, administer antipsychotic meds and hope they come to their senses.
Meanwhile the world needs to be warned that coming in contact with America's violent popular culture may be dangerous for their health!
Psychotherapy doesn't work on patients who don't believe they have a problem. The world may see America as the crazy aunt locked up in the cellar but Americans see themselves as citizens of an exceptional culture that everyone wants to join.
Perhaps an intervention would work but how do you threaten a country that thinks it's better than everyone else? Sometimes the best therapy for dangerously delusional patients is to isolate them from the sane world on a locked ward, administer antipsychotic meds and hope they come to their senses.
Meanwhile the world needs to be warned that coming in contact with America's violent popular culture may be dangerous for their health!
11
Sometimes I like to play the "devil's advocate, " and as I have mentioned in past comments, the devil can be sometimes very intelligent. How many of the mass shooters were charter members of the NRA? I can't think of one, because the NRA teaches responsible gun ownership and social skills as well. The organization is always on the lookout,, always on the
"qui vive" to spot the "dangerous disappointed,"(Ken Kesey's phrase)those loners/members who may have slipped on a banana peel in life, and want the rest of the world to pay for their rejection.. We will have to co-exist with the NRA for the foreseeable future, and therefore we should,try to reach a modus vivendi with the organization for the commonweal. Liberal rants coming from the left about "gun nuts," in reference to NRA members do not help to advance the dialogue.Such rodomontade only further alienates gun owners and the Organization, because how can u reason with a "gun nut?"I write as someone who has no "skin in the game," does not own a gun, never hunted, and frankly despise those who kill defenseless animals.We need a Theodore KHEEL, master negotiator, to step in to effect something in the nature of a rapprochement between gun owners and their opponents.The tragic events in Oregon may be a teachable moment for all concerned.
"qui vive" to spot the "dangerous disappointed,"(Ken Kesey's phrase)those loners/members who may have slipped on a banana peel in life, and want the rest of the world to pay for their rejection.. We will have to co-exist with the NRA for the foreseeable future, and therefore we should,try to reach a modus vivendi with the organization for the commonweal. Liberal rants coming from the left about "gun nuts," in reference to NRA members do not help to advance the dialogue.Such rodomontade only further alienates gun owners and the Organization, because how can u reason with a "gun nut?"I write as someone who has no "skin in the game," does not own a gun, never hunted, and frankly despise those who kill defenseless animals.We need a Theodore KHEEL, master negotiator, to step in to effect something in the nature of a rapprochement between gun owners and their opponents.The tragic events in Oregon may be a teachable moment for all concerned.
6
The problem is that all suggestions about how we might reduce the number of gun deaths is met with fierce resistance from the NRA. So, nothing is done, and the carnage continues.000000
1
Both Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook killer and his mother, had NRA certificates for training. For that matter, Timothy McVeigh belonged to the NRA and worked at gun shows.
Who cares if the NRA is alienated? They have almost single handedly stopped the previous assault weapon ban and opposed all gun control in this country for years.
92% of Americans support universal background checks, closing loopholes, etc., but NRA-funded politicians block these bills time after time.
It is a teachable moment that guns cause gun violence, and the NRA encourages more guns everywhere all the time.
Who cares if the NRA is alienated? They have almost single handedly stopped the previous assault weapon ban and opposed all gun control in this country for years.
92% of Americans support universal background checks, closing loopholes, etc., but NRA-funded politicians block these bills time after time.
It is a teachable moment that guns cause gun violence, and the NRA encourages more guns everywhere all the time.
1
To be or not to be armed in Shakespeare class is not our choice, ever since something is rotten in the state of mind of our Republican 'leadership', their wannabe presidential candidates and their base.
Indeed, stuff happened, but it happened long ago to their collective brains. These politicians are great at 'praying' for the victims of yet another massacre and their family members. Their praying neither brings the
At the same time they are insisting that anyone who criticizes the Guns uber Alles culture in this land of the not so free and the not-so-brave armed to the teeth, is politicizing that tragedy.
Maybe they want to have a grace period for all their prayers lasting a couple of months before accepting that something has to be done? With the frequency of mass shootings in the US, that grace period will go on ad infinitum.
Only in America......that supposed greatest nation in the world, a nation whose population owns half of all privately owned firearms of the whole planet .
Indeed, stuff happened, but it happened long ago to their collective brains. These politicians are great at 'praying' for the victims of yet another massacre and their family members. Their praying neither brings the
At the same time they are insisting that anyone who criticizes the Guns uber Alles culture in this land of the not so free and the not-so-brave armed to the teeth, is politicizing that tragedy.
Maybe they want to have a grace period for all their prayers lasting a couple of months before accepting that something has to be done? With the frequency of mass shootings in the US, that grace period will go on ad infinitum.
Only in America......that supposed greatest nation in the world, a nation whose population owns half of all privately owned firearms of the whole planet .
11
We used to look to California as a precursor to favorable societal decisions; and now we look to Texas to find out how to be dumber as a society!
9
If I was on the faculty or staff at UT, I would stay home August 1, and August 2, and every other day until that law was repealed. And if every single other faculty and staff member did the same, and the students (and their tuition-paying parents) concluded that their expensive education was not all they had hoped it would be, perhaps they would complain to their misguided legislators, and better yet, not return them to the legislature.
19
In many countries that have restricted gun ownership and use, citizens enjoy a much higher level of safe interaction. It is tragic that the University of Texas at Austin is being pulled into the mire of fear and over-reaction. America is a failure if citizens have to be armed as they walk out their doors to live their daily lives.
Are there reasonable alternatives? Why do we require owners of automobiles to register them? Why do we require the owner to buy some kind of insurance? To inject a sense of responsibility for the safe use of autos on public roads. For the same reason, at a very minimum, we should require owners of guns to register them and possibly carry some kind of insurance in case an accident occurs. Military weaponry intended for use in wartime should not be sold to civilians.
Please read about how he United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Australia, for a start, inject sanity into their communities with a variety of restrictions on gun ownership and use. Too many Americans have separated freedom from its necessary corollary, responsibility.
Are there reasonable alternatives? Why do we require owners of automobiles to register them? Why do we require the owner to buy some kind of insurance? To inject a sense of responsibility for the safe use of autos on public roads. For the same reason, at a very minimum, we should require owners of guns to register them and possibly carry some kind of insurance in case an accident occurs. Military weaponry intended for use in wartime should not be sold to civilians.
Please read about how he United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and Australia, for a start, inject sanity into their communities with a variety of restrictions on gun ownership and use. Too many Americans have separated freedom from its necessary corollary, responsibility.
22
Tell me how registering guns and having insurance would have stopped the killer in Oregon? Criminals don't care about following the law.
Viewing this from a Canadian perspective where we have had acts of violence (notorious one being the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989) I often wonder if more stringent laws like we have in Canada and other countries make a difference. The data suggests that the laws do have an effect since there are less acts of gun violence within Canada. I believe the US has passed a point of no return since there are already to many guns in circulation and the current positions on each side of the debate are to far apart.
I do believe that the economy trumps all behavior - the US receives millions of visitors each year - I wonder if travel companies should be publishing what the gun laws are in each state and if that would cause travelers to reconsider there travel destinations. What is the probability of a visitor being a victim of gun violence in the US versus other destinations, which states are safer then others?
Imagine if visitors stopped considering Florida as a destination because of its gun laws - this in my view would have an impact.
If we consider what happened in Indiana over gay rights and the removal of the confederate flag in South Carolina these were also driven by economic realities.
I do believe that the economy trumps all behavior - the US receives millions of visitors each year - I wonder if travel companies should be publishing what the gun laws are in each state and if that would cause travelers to reconsider there travel destinations. What is the probability of a visitor being a victim of gun violence in the US versus other destinations, which states are safer then others?
Imagine if visitors stopped considering Florida as a destination because of its gun laws - this in my view would have an impact.
If we consider what happened in Indiana over gay rights and the removal of the confederate flag in South Carolina these were also driven by economic realities.
6
I have a list of do not travel sites in the US. I agree that people traveling into the U.S. Do the same. Just as one would check out the traffic laws, or any other law when they travel. If you have lived in an environment without guns, you will not have the hyper vigilance that Americans are accustomed to in certain environments. And perhaps when some of these states take an economic hit, they may rethink their laws. Tip, stay out of the Atlanta airport because they allow armed gunmen to roam the public places. For real.
I agree..we are reaching point of no return..I would like other countries to notify their travelers of State gun laws.the U.S. has warnings on travel to different countries, so Americans can be aware when they travel.
Admiral McRaven probably doesn't think about concealed knives. I'm sure he still has the Navy issue KABAR so many of us were issued. While there might be fewer casualties a trained user can still wreak a great deal of havoc with one and in short order.
What is the ratio of mass murder by knives to mass murder by guns?
3
But knives require physical effort. Gun huggers will tell you how much easier and less sweat-inducing the use of firearms is in the slaughter of innocents.
1
I'll take a knife attack over gun any day
1
There are approximately 100 million legal gun owners in the US. Study after study shows these gun owners to have a crime rate 15% that of law enforcement officials so why do we need more regulations to control these extremely law abiding people?
>
The US averages 4-6 mass shootings (defined as causing 4 or more deaths) every year which translates into 100 people or less are killed annually. According to DOJ.gov data, legal gun owners use their guns a documented 100,000 times a year to stop a violent crime or a home invasion. This number is consistent year after year. Estimates of the number of times this occurs and is not documented range from a low of an additional 100,000/year (DOJ) to 2 million (NRA and others).
>
Should we ban guns to save a potential 100 while allowing an additional 200,000+ violent crimes and/or home invasions to occur annually?
>
How do we go about finding the 4-6 individuals who will commit a mass shooting every year out of a population of 100 million by using generic laws?
>
When police take an average of 5-10 minutes to respond to a mass shooting and a magazine change can take place in 2-3 seconds, then how does restricting magazine capacities help limit mass shootings?
>
The real experts are not politicians, rather they are law enforcement officials that confront gun violence every day. I suggest you go to PoliceOne.com and read their survey taken by over 15,000 LEO's and read their opinions.
>
The US averages 4-6 mass shootings (defined as causing 4 or more deaths) every year which translates into 100 people or less are killed annually. According to DOJ.gov data, legal gun owners use their guns a documented 100,000 times a year to stop a violent crime or a home invasion. This number is consistent year after year. Estimates of the number of times this occurs and is not documented range from a low of an additional 100,000/year (DOJ) to 2 million (NRA and others).
>
Should we ban guns to save a potential 100 while allowing an additional 200,000+ violent crimes and/or home invasions to occur annually?
>
How do we go about finding the 4-6 individuals who will commit a mass shooting every year out of a population of 100 million by using generic laws?
>
When police take an average of 5-10 minutes to respond to a mass shooting and a magazine change can take place in 2-3 seconds, then how does restricting magazine capacities help limit mass shootings?
>
The real experts are not politicians, rather they are law enforcement officials that confront gun violence every day. I suggest you go to PoliceOne.com and read their survey taken by over 15,000 LEO's and read their opinions.
4
Nothing will be done. Don't worry. Just expect another gun massacre -- more children killed - in a week or two. BUt, so what? Guns are precious, not lives.
1
The Second amendment requires gun-owners to be members of "well-regulated militia". Does the Constitution need to be amended to accommodate your views and NRA's profits, and postulate that anybody anywhere anytime can have a gun? And why not the airports and planes too?
1
Science has proven that the highest rates of gun crimes occur in cities with the strongest gun control laws. Just look at Obama's Chicago
3
Your info is old. gun laws have been weakened in chicago.straw buyers get guns from Indiana gun shows, sell them in Gary and chicago.AND, mass murder different from street crime..must be solved differently..just like u wouldn't use the same kind of gun to shoot a moose as to arm a cop?
2
Feel free to share your science with us. Site credible sources without agenda or political persuasion (either side). Then prove to us that your study is based on causation and not the likely convenient fact that the gun control has followed the high rates of gun violence so, when viewed at a moment in time, appears that the gun control has no effect (or worse) on the gun violence.
1
Perhaps there is a violent culture underlying many of the highly violent cities. If that is the case, maybe without those gun laws the homicide rates would be even higher.
2
Ever time one of these horrific shootings occur the NRA ought to give the shooter a second amendment award.Some sort of silver gun pin.After all they are the only ones who would have such authority.They are responsible for the concept that everyone toting around a gun is demonstrating his patriotism.If you want to get on idea of Scalia's "well regulated militia" just put together a group of pictures of the last 10 shooters.What do they tell us- that a picture is worth a thousand words.It is shameful how misguided our Supreme Court is in interpreting the intent of the founding fathers.Sorry for the cynical tone of the post but how can one be anything but cynical after looking a gun proliferation over the last 20 years.
11
Shocking that guns would be desirable on college campuses. Shows our country is entirely dysfunctional.
5
The national dialog is, however futilely, about doing something to make guns harder to get. Yet the only actually legislation is designed to make them easier to get. Just shoot me!
4
I completely agree that it is insane, particularly at this period in our country's "development", to encourage the carrying around of firearms, either openly or concealed. That goes double for college campuses and bars. (Bars?! Really? I mean, for God's SAKE.) However, it's pretty clear that crazy people will shoot others if that is what they want to do, regardless of whether or not their weapons are officially condoned. At this stage of the problem, if we want the problem to go away quickly, Draconian laws and actions regarding the manufacture, (re)distribution, possession and registration of firearms would be necessary, along with a simultaneous, concerted effort to alter the real problem: the increasingly prevalent and terrifying idea that reaching for a gun as the solution to an argument, an encounter, or the issues affecting our lives is thinkable.
3
No permit is required to buy a gun in most states, but they all require you to buy a license to fish.
14
A "right to fish" is not in the Constitution.
The Constitution of the United States does not guarantee you the right to fish.
It is indeed strange that, in a country that regulates the safety requirements of, e.g. cars, baby cribs, elevators, toys, and all manor of other things, we have been unable to regulate firearms.
Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is not just for gun owners, but for those of us who want nothing to do with them. Or so one would think.
Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is not just for gun owners, but for those of us who want nothing to do with them. Or so one would think.
11
When this blows up in the faces of the Texas lawmakers, and it will given the general nature of people, what will they say to justify their decision? They have had ample proof of the dangers of carrying or owning and it matters not. The only losers will be the students killed. That must be the way the legislators see it.
10
Parents, keep your children away from Texas schools. Texas lawmakers, ever shortsighted, never dissappoinrt. They forget the money schools make comes from out of state tuition, not in state. It will be interesting to see which way this goes.
13
In my observation, the most scary aspect of "gun insanity" is that disturbed people, in their majority not all that creative, get the idea to express their emotion with shooting. I watch news from my former country, Poland. Once, a fired township clerk "went postal": purchased a katana and scared everybody in her former office hacking some furniture. Shooting people out of frustration seems exceedingly rare, even in the country side where most farmers are hunters.
3
Comprehensive solution to gun violence in the U.S.?
We must put the social sciences of psychology/psychiatry on a firm objective, balanced and fair basis which means mandatory testing of all citizens--especially those in positions of power--for all qualities and abilities whether that means negative qualities such as narcissism and selfishness or positive qualities such as moral integrity or abilities such as the intellectual or artistic or musical.
In other words, psychology/psychiatry is now on a clear subjective basis because we test only particular individuals for certain qualities/abilities and one cannot really understand the individual let alone clearly label such as mad or narcissistic or what have you unless all individuals are tested to get the relativistic social situation in clear light (all individuals live in a relative situation with other individuals).
Furthermore, psychology/psychiatry today typically serves power (corporate, legal, political, etc. entities) which means, for example, we are allowed to psychologically test some people who might be suspect of mishandling guns but are not allowed to rigorously test all owners and promoters of guns to get at clear definition of characteristics of people who like to own guns.
Also comprehensive psychological testing of all citizens for qualities/abilities will go a great step forward to defeating our subjective negative and positive labelling of people and put labels of people on a true and objective footing.
We must put the social sciences of psychology/psychiatry on a firm objective, balanced and fair basis which means mandatory testing of all citizens--especially those in positions of power--for all qualities and abilities whether that means negative qualities such as narcissism and selfishness or positive qualities such as moral integrity or abilities such as the intellectual or artistic or musical.
In other words, psychology/psychiatry is now on a clear subjective basis because we test only particular individuals for certain qualities/abilities and one cannot really understand the individual let alone clearly label such as mad or narcissistic or what have you unless all individuals are tested to get the relativistic social situation in clear light (all individuals live in a relative situation with other individuals).
Furthermore, psychology/psychiatry today typically serves power (corporate, legal, political, etc. entities) which means, for example, we are allowed to psychologically test some people who might be suspect of mishandling guns but are not allowed to rigorously test all owners and promoters of guns to get at clear definition of characteristics of people who like to own guns.
Also comprehensive psychological testing of all citizens for qualities/abilities will go a great step forward to defeating our subjective negative and positive labelling of people and put labels of people on a true and objective footing.
We should ban psychiatrists and psychologists as it appears they have confused and mis- and/or over-medicated U.S. citizens. Moreover, they now advocate for mental illness = transgenderism. The wheels have come off the psychiatric profession, which has absolutely no credibility. Revoke all their licenses and lets start over.
Nice try. BUT, do you have any idea how long it would take to test every citizen? Testing and write-up alone would require a good 12 hours of one's time! And would once per citizen be enough to reassure you?
More importantly, there is abundant evidence - abundant! - that dangerousness is notoriously difficult to predict.
If someone is in treatment and they express a clear intent to do harm to person or property, all mental health providers are mandated to either get that person hospitalized, to notify the police or the intended victim. But how often does a patient offer up such information? Well, it is rare in my own experience.
If an individual wants to kill, they rarely advertise that to someone in authority. And while mass killers may seem to fit a "profile" so do hundreds and thousands of other people - the vast majority of whom do not ever harm a soul.
It is so easy to imagine screening all citizens. But unless you screen everyone frequently, with some magic method that we do not have... Well, way easier to repeal the second amendment!
More importantly, there is abundant evidence - abundant! - that dangerousness is notoriously difficult to predict.
If someone is in treatment and they express a clear intent to do harm to person or property, all mental health providers are mandated to either get that person hospitalized, to notify the police or the intended victim. But how often does a patient offer up such information? Well, it is rare in my own experience.
If an individual wants to kill, they rarely advertise that to someone in authority. And while mass killers may seem to fit a "profile" so do hundreds and thousands of other people - the vast majority of whom do not ever harm a soul.
It is so easy to imagine screening all citizens. But unless you screen everyone frequently, with some magic method that we do not have... Well, way easier to repeal the second amendment!
Mass shooting fatalities
2009-2013 per 1,000,000 people
1 - Norway 15.3
2 - Finland 1.85
3 - Slovakia 1.47
4 - Israel 1.38
5 - USA 0.72
6 - Belgium 0.63
7 - Netherlands 0.42
8 - Germany 0.31
9 - UK 0.19
10 - Canada 0.17
Only USA and Belgium have lax gun control laws....
2009-2013 per 1,000,000 people
1 - Norway 15.3
2 - Finland 1.85
3 - Slovakia 1.47
4 - Israel 1.38
5 - USA 0.72
6 - Belgium 0.63
7 - Netherlands 0.42
8 - Germany 0.31
9 - UK 0.19
10 - Canada 0.17
Only USA and Belgium have lax gun control laws....
5
That is the Rampage Shooting Index, a known disingenuous statistical distortion.
Population of countries on your index:
1. Norway 5 million
2. Finland 5 million
3. Slovakia 5 million
4. Israel 8 million
5. USA 320 million
Surely someone as analytical as you can see how one mass shooting in a tiny country can have a disproportionate effect on their per capita rate. The volume of mass shooting deaths in the USA is still overwhelmingly number 1. In fact, the statistic that more Americans have died from domestic gunfire than from all American wars combined still holds up. (PolitiFact)
Population of countries on your index:
1. Norway 5 million
2. Finland 5 million
3. Slovakia 5 million
4. Israel 8 million
5. USA 320 million
Surely someone as analytical as you can see how one mass shooting in a tiny country can have a disproportionate effect on their per capita rate. The volume of mass shooting deaths in the USA is still overwhelmingly number 1. In fact, the statistic that more Americans have died from domestic gunfire than from all American wars combined still holds up. (PolitiFact)
1
Interesting. Private colleges can opt out but public ones cannot. So, maybe the Texas legislature has finally found a way to get the state out of paying for higher education. If parents decide the state universities are too dangerous, they will not send their children there. I would never send a child there nor would I teach there. It really is too dangerous. The educators how can will probably look for jobs elsewhere. Who wants to work in an armed environment?
So, lower enrollment might means savings for the state as experienced and tenured professors move out. Maybe they are hoping to privatize all education in the state and this is the means to do it. I wouldn't put it past them. Now it is time for open carry at the governor's mansion, the state court houses, and the state house. What's good for the goose.....
So, lower enrollment might means savings for the state as experienced and tenured professors move out. Maybe they are hoping to privatize all education in the state and this is the means to do it. I wouldn't put it past them. Now it is time for open carry at the governor's mansion, the state court houses, and the state house. What's good for the goose.....
10
This is all true, even the notion of guns on any public educational campus other than in the hands of security personnel signifies the impending downfall of us as a society.
The issue with many of the "gun people" is they don't want debate about anything, they see us as already in an an anarchic state and they are going to take charge
What stupid, reprehensible thinking.
The issue with many of the "gun people" is they don't want debate about anything, they see us as already in an an anarchic state and they are going to take charge
What stupid, reprehensible thinking.
6
UT professors have no rational choice but to start carrying guns themselves. And to be very generous when grading the paper submitted by that odd, quiet lone wolf.
6
My husband and I both teach on two different colleges, and both of us will be very careful when submitting final grades.
I am a faculty member at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. We have over 600 beds and hundreds of patient visits per day and as a degree awarding Instituion ( PhD's in the sciences) are subject to the carry law. Up to know we have had the wisdom to prohibit guns anywhere on campus with a large warning sign at every entrance.
Earlier I wrote to our governmental liaison advising him that campus carry would not only pose a risk to patients and the medical staff ( can you imagine the possibility that a disgruntled patient or family member might decide to take revenge for a "a not getting better") but also impede the recruitment of faculty from out of state who don't want to take the risk that there will be some crazy who decides to wander outside the prohibited "gun free" area and either accidentally or purposely discharge a fire-arm.
The administration has appointed the usual committee to take up the issue. As faculty we should be in the forefront of protecting our patients ( god knows we hammer away at this issue every day in clinical care). However it seems that in Texas we often live in another universe where reality is trumped by politics and ideology(our governor has spent millions for border patrol when immigration is down and has endorsed the spying on US troops by conspiracy theory crazies as our troops conducted exercises in Texas). God help us if a disaster happens with our patients and families! I worry every day now about this. Enough said.
Earlier I wrote to our governmental liaison advising him that campus carry would not only pose a risk to patients and the medical staff ( can you imagine the possibility that a disgruntled patient or family member might decide to take revenge for a "a not getting better") but also impede the recruitment of faculty from out of state who don't want to take the risk that there will be some crazy who decides to wander outside the prohibited "gun free" area and either accidentally or purposely discharge a fire-arm.
The administration has appointed the usual committee to take up the issue. As faculty we should be in the forefront of protecting our patients ( god knows we hammer away at this issue every day in clinical care). However it seems that in Texas we often live in another universe where reality is trumped by politics and ideology(our governor has spent millions for border patrol when immigration is down and has endorsed the spying on US troops by conspiracy theory crazies as our troops conducted exercises in Texas). God help us if a disaster happens with our patients and families! I worry every day now about this. Enough said.
20
No where in the Constitution does it say that the NRA is a surrogate of our Legislators.
5
"He said he had no idea that his son owned more than a dozen firearms" The gunman's father made this asinine statement. Absentee and irresponsible parents kill far more people than guns ever will Most of the deaths are not so sensational and newsworthy but they are far more excruciating than a quick death from a gun shot. This troubled child would have killed by illegal guns, bomb, fire, knife, axe, machete...You name it. FAMILY!!!
1
This "child" was an adult. Does every parent in America know where their adult son or daughter is at all times, I think not.
1
He was 28 years old -- not a child.0
1
@nicolasdupre: To paraphrase the NRA: "A bad guy with 13 guns who plans murders will not be stopped by a good guy with one gun running for his life"
5
There were students on campus in Umpqua CC with guns. They just couldn't get to the shooter in time.
A gunman with an automatic weapon can walk into a classroom full of guns and still kill a dozen or more people before any reaction could occur.
A gunman with an automatic weapon can walk into a classroom full of guns and still kill a dozen or more people before any reaction could occur.
8
Relax; it's only Texas being Texas. I have never understood why we stole it from Mexico. Any chance we can give it back?
12
In only 22 words you have summed it up perfectly. You go Tom
1
This is a terrific (in every sense of the word, unfortunately) column by Frank Bruni.
It is long past the time for us simply to be angry and aghast at the irresponsibility of state and federal legislators corrupted by N.R.A. money carefully doled out or withheld on behalf of gun manufacturers and sellers.
We, as the majority of American voters, need to speak through the ballot box by punishing the elected officials who perpetuate this travesty.
It is long past the time for us simply to be angry and aghast at the irresponsibility of state and federal legislators corrupted by N.R.A. money carefully doled out or withheld on behalf of gun manufacturers and sellers.
We, as the majority of American voters, need to speak through the ballot box by punishing the elected officials who perpetuate this travesty.
10
The justification that is given for loosening gun laws (campus carry, open carry, etc) is that having "armed citizens" would have an impact on crimes, particularly mass shootings. Either a potential gunman would know that everyone is armed and will not start shooting (I believe this was an argument made by Archie Bunker about airplane hijackings), or more "armed citizens" would be able to stop a gunman more quickly. I suppose that the first argument cannot be studied, but has anyone actually studied the second argument? Outside of convenience store owners who shoot robbers, I recall one story where someone with a concealed handgun intervened in a shooting. In Texas, we have had years of concealed carry, as have a number of other states. Has anyone studied the effect civilian concealed carry (not including off duty police or the like) has actually had on crime? Have licensed carriers intervened? Effectively or ineffectively? Did they run from the shooting like everyone else? Were they not in a position to intervene? Likewise, how often have people with concealed carry permits brandished or used their guns illegally? I don't want guns on campus, or most places for that matter, but some data might make me feel better (or worse) about my position.
2
From a study by the CDC:
Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year, in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008.
http://www.nap.edu/read/18319/chapter/1?page=
Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million per year, in the context of about 300,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2008.
http://www.nap.edu/read/18319/chapter/1?page=
In Houston, a carjacking victim was shot by the good guy with a gun who then took off after seeing his mistake. In OR, armed students didn't get involved ..thought SWAT team would shoot them
1
The NRA will not permit research on gun violence - -and our Congress does what the NRA wants.
1
The 2d Amendment recognizes an individual's right to own guns and permits reasonable gun legislation. That is the law of the land.
In the 20th century, the bogus claim that the Founders' original intent was to limit guns to military purposes was met with another bogus claim from the NRA -- that the original intent was to create an absolute right to own and bear arms. The fact is that both bogus claims are mere political slogans that have helped create a strong political cleavage that is remarkably stable.
The majority of Americans appear to have a greater fear that government will unreasonably take away their weapons than they do of the possibility that they themselves will be victims of a gunshot. That is a political problem -- not a constitutional one. Continuing to argue over opinions as to what the Constitution ought to mean is hurting, not helping.
Banning weapons from a college campus could be done reasonably. It probably won't, however, because the terms of the political debate will not permit it.
In the 20th century, the bogus claim that the Founders' original intent was to limit guns to military purposes was met with another bogus claim from the NRA -- that the original intent was to create an absolute right to own and bear arms. The fact is that both bogus claims are mere political slogans that have helped create a strong political cleavage that is remarkably stable.
The majority of Americans appear to have a greater fear that government will unreasonably take away their weapons than they do of the possibility that they themselves will be victims of a gunshot. That is a political problem -- not a constitutional one. Continuing to argue over opinions as to what the Constitution ought to mean is hurting, not helping.
Banning weapons from a college campus could be done reasonably. It probably won't, however, because the terms of the political debate will not permit it.
3
Your reading of the situation is as flawed as your reading of the 2nd amendment. Why are militias mentioned if that was not the intent? Bogus arguments like yours that try to make both sides of the argument look equally unreasonable don't help.
2
"We are very happy to be in Pike County, in a place where people love the Second Amendment and love guns.. ." Kook Jin Moon (Owner of North Korean spawned Unification Church's firearms factory).
Gun salesmen use the 2nd as an advertisement to make money. No more, no less.
Gun salesmen use the 2nd as an advertisement to make money. No more, no less.
3
Just and excellent article. You clarified the insanity in a way that makes it very clear and understandable. GOP. Guns Over People.
4
Are those with concealed carry permits allowed to bring guns into Texas government buildings, including the state Capitol?
If not, why not?
If not, why not?
11
I know there is a federal law that guns cannot be carried into federal buildings, even if the gun toter has a license to carry. Can guns be carried into state office buildings in Texas and into the state legislature and its offices?
I was heartened to read that the students and faculty are against the law, and I read somewhere that public opinion polls indicated a majority of Texans are against allowing guns on campus. Frank's column is excellent and spells out so many reasons that guns have no place on college campuses and in the classrooms. I say this as a retired professor.
What could go wrong on a college campus where some young people are extremely emotionally immature; under treatment for mental illness or have mental illness but are not treated; distraught over a bad grade or broken love affair; are loners being taunted by other students; are substance abusers or just on a drunken binge and happen to be carrying guns?
What goes on in Texas needs to stay in Texas. I know some fine people from Texas, but there is something seriously really wrong with their politicians--take Ted Cruz for example.
I was heartened to read that the students and faculty are against the law, and I read somewhere that public opinion polls indicated a majority of Texans are against allowing guns on campus. Frank's column is excellent and spells out so many reasons that guns have no place on college campuses and in the classrooms. I say this as a retired professor.
What could go wrong on a college campus where some young people are extremely emotionally immature; under treatment for mental illness or have mental illness but are not treated; distraught over a bad grade or broken love affair; are loners being taunted by other students; are substance abusers or just on a drunken binge and happen to be carrying guns?
What goes on in Texas needs to stay in Texas. I know some fine people from Texas, but there is something seriously really wrong with their politicians--take Ted Cruz for example.
11
Remember when Texas threatened to secede?
Maybe it's time to take another look at that idea...
Maybe it's time to take another look at that idea...
4
Texas students:
Don't let the Texas legislature rob you of a real university experience, an experience of peace, search for truth, and civility!
Shut the university down now! Moritorium until ALL guns are prohibited from campus!!!!
Don't let the Texas legislature rob you of a real university experience, an experience of peace, search for truth, and civility!
Shut the university down now! Moritorium until ALL guns are prohibited from campus!!!!
4
Some of the students at the Oregon campus had concealed-carry permits. Did that make them safer?
4
The interim president stated the campus was "gun free". Although Oregon law allows concealed carry, it's up to the administration to decide.
1
Thank goodness our great state of Florida is next in this race to arm every US citizen. The thinking is that if EVERYONE has a gun, no one will get killed, or, in the case of a mass shooting, everyone will "open up" on the shooter, killing everyone in the room, of course.
Getting a gun and learning how to use it properly--you know, by watching gangsters in movies with silencers on their guns--will be the way it goes. Everyone should have a loaded gun or 3 on them at all times. They did in the old West, and look how well that worked out!
Laws let people carry guns into bars in lots of states, and no one has ever been killed in a bar or outside a bar, ever! What could possibly happen in a college classroom? As for heated debate, well, we can't have young learners actually TALKING about issues. They have to toe the party line or be shot, period. With today's PC culture, any discussion not conforming to what you are told to believe is taboo. Say, don't be reading 1984; it is inflammatory. Instead, read a nice farming book like, oh, I don't know, maybe Animal Farm? How dumb of me! College is only a training school for learning how to manipulate the stock market so you can steal all the money. There is no need for arts or reading or discussion or anything except that.
When a legislator's kid is shot in class, this law may change. Until then...enjoy a very quiet four years of college where no discussion is permitted and everyone is armed to the teeth. What could possibly go wrong?
Getting a gun and learning how to use it properly--you know, by watching gangsters in movies with silencers on their guns--will be the way it goes. Everyone should have a loaded gun or 3 on them at all times. They did in the old West, and look how well that worked out!
Laws let people carry guns into bars in lots of states, and no one has ever been killed in a bar or outside a bar, ever! What could possibly happen in a college classroom? As for heated debate, well, we can't have young learners actually TALKING about issues. They have to toe the party line or be shot, period. With today's PC culture, any discussion not conforming to what you are told to believe is taboo. Say, don't be reading 1984; it is inflammatory. Instead, read a nice farming book like, oh, I don't know, maybe Animal Farm? How dumb of me! College is only a training school for learning how to manipulate the stock market so you can steal all the money. There is no need for arts or reading or discussion or anything except that.
When a legislator's kid is shot in class, this law may change. Until then...enjoy a very quiet four years of college where no discussion is permitted and everyone is armed to the teeth. What could possibly go wrong?
5
What makes you think legislators care about their children more than they care about their guns?
1
As a UT alumnus (1975) I recall the worst thing having to worry about was getting chewed out for firing up a reefer in philosophy class. The last few decades have seen the society moving stridently to the right, with even the kids (I can say that now) opting for MBAs instead of lit or fine arts or even economics. Not to mention hard sciences. But my state legislators have also fallen into the filthy pit of willful ignorance and stupidity by passing such an insane law. None of them are very well educated,in the classical sense of the term. We Texans used to pride ourselves with our common sense. Now we elect dingbats that make me ashamed of where I come from, and makes me nervous whenever I go back for a visit. Because you just can't tell who is packing.
7
As a professor, if I see a young white man carrying a gun in the hallway or the classroom, I would immediately notify the authorities of a possible shooter. Emails would go to all students, and the campus would close down. There would be a panic in the classroom building.
How does this help education? You cannot ignore a potential danger given how many campus mass killings have taken place. Even if that young white man was just some NRA gun nut, there is a good chance he would end up dead, or even worse, that those around him would.
And there is not a gun culture in America. There is a gun culture in conservative white male circles. They all want to pretend to be law enforcement or military in their fantasies and share an unhealthy paranoia about being surrounded by the enemy.
How does this help education? You cannot ignore a potential danger given how many campus mass killings have taken place. Even if that young white man was just some NRA gun nut, there is a good chance he would end up dead, or even worse, that those around him would.
And there is not a gun culture in America. There is a gun culture in conservative white male circles. They all want to pretend to be law enforcement or military in their fantasies and share an unhealthy paranoia about being surrounded by the enemy.
7
All we (the sane) need to combat this absurd law is some Texas high school football sensation who announces he's going to Arkansas because he's afraid to play for a school with students with guns.
3
Bruni speaks of the 2nd as from another epoch, but the 2nd interpreted as a right for individuals to own guns is less than a decade old: District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008. It was the result of a masterful campaign by The NRA, and its ideological allies.
I am tired of even advocates of stiffer gun laws conceding off-the-bat that the 2nd guanantes that right. It does now, but tilt the makeup of the Supreme Court by just one member (Heller was a 5-to-4 decision) and the 2nd goes back to how it was properly interpreted for more than 200 years.
Advocates of sane gun control need to, to coin a phrase, stand your ground on this point. The 2nd correctly re-interpreted will be a crucial, fundamental step in protecting American lives from gun violence.
I am tired of even advocates of stiffer gun laws conceding off-the-bat that the 2nd guanantes that right. It does now, but tilt the makeup of the Supreme Court by just one member (Heller was a 5-to-4 decision) and the 2nd goes back to how it was properly interpreted for more than 200 years.
Advocates of sane gun control need to, to coin a phrase, stand your ground on this point. The 2nd correctly re-interpreted will be a crucial, fundamental step in protecting American lives from gun violence.
3
Perhaps next year's campus book at UT (and maybe every other campus) should be the late historian Richard Hofstadter's classic "The Paranoid Style in American Politics." Although many of the names and cases will be a bit obscure, the issue is as timely as ever.
2
Extreme ideologies, whether on the right or left, thrive on paranoia---threats from without or from within. You see this paranoia in every utterance during the Republican debates --- whether talking about immigrants or Obamacare. The remedies for this paranoia are simple---build walls, deport immigrants, carry a gun. The goal always is having the ability to protect oneself from the "other"out there, coming to get us and our families. Of course, the real antidote for this paranoia is education, which provides the intellectual, social, and emotional tools, to understand and respond rationally to perceived threats from those with different beliefs, different skin colors, different life styles. The Texas legislature, a bastion of paranoia, has decided enough is enough, we need to infuse paranoia in institutions designed to dispel paranoia.
2
I hope that the law also allows citizens to carry guns into the Texas legislative sessions.
5
This policy is commonsense acknowledgement that the butterflies are out of the box, they are anywhere and everywhere, and they aren't getting back into the box. There are over 150 million guns out there in our country.
Welcome to the OK Corral. You're either packing or you're a sitting duck.
Welcome to the OK Corral. You're either packing or you're a sitting duck.
There is no "one size fits all" explanation for our descent into a society weakened and deranged by it's gun obsessions. Truly, there is some clinical "madness" inhabiting the fringes of this insanity. We have the demonstrably false narratives ("guns make you safer") and the, just as false, constitutional analysis that posits "second amendment remedies" (even the misguided -- and novel -- SCt decision which mildly supports this nonsense, fails to support much of the argument it is used to bolster). But as I listen to the background music which accompanies this issue (can't really call it a "debate" can we?), I find a recurring theme which provides the framework for much of today's politics: We are a childish and ignorant people, and, sadly, we seem to become a bit more of both each day. To be sure, there are practical reasons for some to have guns, and I include hunters and hunting weapons among these, but for the overwhelming majority of gun owners, they are but toys, dangerous toys. A practical, if not actual political majority is so protective of this right to play with toys that it must construct bogus and counterfactual justifications for, what in the end, viewing the damage wrought by these toys to our society (and to the sub-adolescent advocates of their "God-given right" to pack them) it is clear that only a childish selfishness can be blamed for the current state of affairs. I don't see a path to enlightenment in this situation.
6
Forget screening for "mental illness". The only effective way to stop these all-too-common tragedies is to control the guns or the ammunition.
In case the Congress, appalled by this last event and moved by Obama's speech shows up Monday morning and wants to institute "mental health screening", can anyone, from any perspective or training, please specify the question(s) or process that will:
1. Accurately determine who is at risk, now or in the future, to use their guns irresponsibly?
a. Corollary #1: where will you set the cut-off? A slight risk? Moderate risk? Serious risk?
b. Corollary #2: not preclude legitimate gun owners from obtaining the particular guns they desire?
2. Be acceptable to all of the stake holders in the gun legislation debate?
3. Be accurate regardless who administers the testing procedure and interprets the results?
4. Be robust enough that a sociopath can't game the answers?
5. Prevent the buyer from giving the gun to a relative who is not stable enough to pass the test? (As in the Sandy Hook event?)
Do not allow the debate to shift to the sorry state of mental health care or the lack of screening. It will only prolong the agony and put a fig leaf on the problem.
In case the Congress, appalled by this last event and moved by Obama's speech shows up Monday morning and wants to institute "mental health screening", can anyone, from any perspective or training, please specify the question(s) or process that will:
1. Accurately determine who is at risk, now or in the future, to use their guns irresponsibly?
a. Corollary #1: where will you set the cut-off? A slight risk? Moderate risk? Serious risk?
b. Corollary #2: not preclude legitimate gun owners from obtaining the particular guns they desire?
2. Be acceptable to all of the stake holders in the gun legislation debate?
3. Be accurate regardless who administers the testing procedure and interprets the results?
4. Be robust enough that a sociopath can't game the answers?
5. Prevent the buyer from giving the gun to a relative who is not stable enough to pass the test? (As in the Sandy Hook event?)
Do not allow the debate to shift to the sorry state of mental health care or the lack of screening. It will only prolong the agony and put a fig leaf on the problem.
2
Texas leads the way...
The Texas legislature-NRA logic is more students with more guns keeps the Texas campuses safe. Therefore following their logic students in Texas should be openly carrying multiple guns to class. At least an assault rifle with scope, a sawed-off shot gun and two semi-automatic handguns on each student. Oh, and don't forget a strap or two of armor piercing bullets over the shoulder. And if we really want to maximize safety isn't it time to make fully automatic machine guns available to Texas students? Then Texas campuses will be the safest in the country.
Yes, Texas leads the way alright...to total insanity. I would never matriculate to a Texas college, I would never allow a child of mine to even travel to a Texas campus for a sports, inter-collegiate or entertainment event, much less attend a class there.
The Texas legislature-NRA logic is more students with more guns keeps the Texas campuses safe. Therefore following their logic students in Texas should be openly carrying multiple guns to class. At least an assault rifle with scope, a sawed-off shot gun and two semi-automatic handguns on each student. Oh, and don't forget a strap or two of armor piercing bullets over the shoulder. And if we really want to maximize safety isn't it time to make fully automatic machine guns available to Texas students? Then Texas campuses will be the safest in the country.
Yes, Texas leads the way alright...to total insanity. I would never matriculate to a Texas college, I would never allow a child of mine to even travel to a Texas campus for a sports, inter-collegiate or entertainment event, much less attend a class there.
7
When, last year, we looked at several countries for our son's university studies, we exluded the U.S., the main reason was the gun culture which leads to these terrible shootings and senseless deaths.
8
No, Frank, it's not a lesson in how "how perverse and nonsensical government can be" it's a lesson in how perverse and nonsensical the out-of-control American right wing can be.
There is a big difference.
There is a big difference.
6
Frank, here are three suggestions to address this.
Starting on Aug. 1, 2016 the faculty and students who are against "campus carry" (you should have used "asinine" in place of or along with "amiable" alliteration) should gather in the commons areas of every public college in Texas and refuse to enter the classroom until the Texas legislature or Gov. Abbott suspends this ridiculous law. But good luck with that. Abbott is just as crazy as the legislature when it comes to gun sanity. He's on a first name basis with Ted Nugent, if that gives you any idea of where he's at in this mess.
Boycott completely all Texas public college campuses until "campus carry" is rescinded. Don't even set foot on them.
Public colleges in states that don't allow guns on campus could pressure their legislatures to allow them to offer in-state tuition rates to students from Texas.
Starting on Aug. 1, 2016 the faculty and students who are against "campus carry" (you should have used "asinine" in place of or along with "amiable" alliteration) should gather in the commons areas of every public college in Texas and refuse to enter the classroom until the Texas legislature or Gov. Abbott suspends this ridiculous law. But good luck with that. Abbott is just as crazy as the legislature when it comes to gun sanity. He's on a first name basis with Ted Nugent, if that gives you any idea of where he's at in this mess.
Boycott completely all Texas public college campuses until "campus carry" is rescinded. Don't even set foot on them.
Public colleges in states that don't allow guns on campus could pressure their legislatures to allow them to offer in-state tuition rates to students from Texas.
10
The problem qualifies as a form of national cognitive dissonance. Huge numbers of people are being killed by guns in a "developed nation" that allows recreational use of automatic weapons that can be purchased at gun shows everywhere. We have a dysfunctional background check system that leaks like a kitchen strainer. More and more evidence is piled. Yet our leaders double down and refuse to do anything about at, or as little as possible, due to political fear of people who sell the guns or some peculiar notion that the Founding Fathers would have approved of our pistol-packing insanity. The more we find out how wrong-headed we are the more many double-down and find ways to ignore the evidence. It is stunning.
2
Thank you Mr. Bruni.
It is good to hear a sane voice on this subject.
It is good to hear a sane voice on this subject.
1
It's time for a new law called "Statehouse Carry" that will allow guns and other firearms into the State Capitol building, particularly during sessions of the legislature. Then let's see whose ox gets gored.
12
That's been the law in Texas for years.
A man who really believes that more guns solve our problems is a man who needs his head thoroughly examined, and not allowed a gun!
3
This is an excellent piece on the misgovernance or malgovernance of the University of Texas at Austin by the nut-conservative state legislature, but I hope that Bruni or Collins will go further and look more comprehensively at that legislature's destructive misrule of the University. It is not only guns that have the faculty scared, it is the anti-intellectual, anti-autonomy, anti-intellectual-freedom and overbearing attitude to the legislature toward the faculty that has the faculty worried and painted into a corner.
5
The mental illness issue in the gun debate is a red herring. The FBI reports that in 2012 there were nearly 9,000 firearm homicides. Were all of those shooters mentally ill? I don't think so.
4
The idea that "good guys with a gun" would help on college campuses is absurd for many reasons, not least of which is this: If the police are called to campus because of an active shooter and see someone running around with a gun, what are they going to do? They have two choices: 1) shoot the person, or 2) hesitate to shoot the person in case they are the good guy with a gun. Why would we want to create that kind of ambiguity for trained members of law enforcement?
The "good guy with a gun" fantasy is representative of a larger problem in conservative thinking: the inability to step into someone else's shoes and imagine what the world would look like from there. In this case, they can't imagine what it would look like to the police if there were a bunch of "good guys with guns" running around everywhere during an active shooting -- let alone what it would look like to all the poorly trained "good guys with guns" as they all tried to shoot each other.
The "good guy with a gun" fantasy is representative of a larger problem in conservative thinking: the inability to step into someone else's shoes and imagine what the world would look like from there. In this case, they can't imagine what it would look like to the police if there were a bunch of "good guys with guns" running around everywhere during an active shooting -- let alone what it would look like to all the poorly trained "good guys with guns" as they all tried to shoot each other.
16
Rachel, probably the best argument that can be made against concealed or open carry. Well done.
2
Maybe not a complete solution, but a first step: Recognize students' right to own and transport various kinds of weapons, but make possession of ammunition they can fire from those weapons grounds for immediate expulsion.
For anyone sane, the choice this presents should be a no-brainer: Do you want to keep, carry, and be able to discharge a weapon on campus... or do you want to complete your education? Anyone legally possessing a weapon, by the way, I.e., who has obtained a carry permit, will agree to random inspections of living quarters, backpacks, and vehicles to assure that he or she is always in compliance.
In the strictest, most literal sense, the Second Amendment doesn't recognize any right to ammunition -- That's just a 'liberal' and overreaching interpretation of the dubious right to own and bear a fire-able weapon in the first place.
For anyone sane, the choice this presents should be a no-brainer: Do you want to keep, carry, and be able to discharge a weapon on campus... or do you want to complete your education? Anyone legally possessing a weapon, by the way, I.e., who has obtained a carry permit, will agree to random inspections of living quarters, backpacks, and vehicles to assure that he or she is always in compliance.
In the strictest, most literal sense, the Second Amendment doesn't recognize any right to ammunition -- That's just a 'liberal' and overreaching interpretation of the dubious right to own and bear a fire-able weapon in the first place.
3
It's interesting how profiling works in this country. We criminalize human behaviors when black people exhibit them. If a black man looks at a police officer, drives a BMW, or stands in front of a hotel, those are grounds for overwhelming and brutal police force. Why no wholesale profiling of white men who make up the bulk of mass shooters? White citizens demand the policing of blacks in violation of their constitutional rights. Well, I pay taxes. I vote. I demand that every white man who fits the mass murderer profile undergo a search. Take their guns and get them some counseling services. Sounds un-American? I didn't create this gun culture. But I have to live in it. I do believe in gun confiscation and stiff gun control. Have you ever seen the kinds of people who stockpile guns, leave them lying around on nightstands and kitchen tables, or who allow their nine-year-old daughter to handle an Uzi? They're nuts. They are not decent citizens. They are fearful of "the other." And they use the 2nd amendment as a warning to the rest of us. Besides, many of these sick people are supremacists preparing for the race war. This is madness. I have had enough of the guns and gun deaths.
5
A radical suggestion: let's drop this subject for a while. The rhetoric is always the same. No new insights are forthcoming form either side for years now. And it is clear that most Americans are OK with this sort of mass killing. How else to explain the utter indifference, the intransigence, the utter lack of political will to consider, much less pass, even half- or quarter-measures that at most will make it a little more difficult for a few to get their hands on guns? Unfortunately for them, those who want this madness to stop will have to wait until the situation becomes so outrageous that a majority is roused from its stupor. I must confess, however: after that school shooting in CT a few years ago produced no meaningful action whatsoever, I shudder to think what it's going to take to change hearts and minds on this subject.
3
Yeah, nothing will ever change. Americans love their guns, more than they love their children.
1
Just a reminder that ALL Texas state schools are affected here. For the past ten years, I have taught at the fourth largest state university in the lone star kingdom. The enrollment is close to 40,000. Here, I have taught some of the best, most well-adjusted students of my career, as well as a handful of troubled individuals I found it necessary to refer to the campus counseling center. A few years ago, one of my brightest students, besieged by a personal problem, took his life with a parent's firearm (not on campus), underscoring the delicate balance some young people strive to maintain during the college years. His tragedy sent me to the counseling center -- for advice on how to handle his loss with the class. Since then, I've been hyper-vigilant, watching for signs of stress in the young people I have the privilege to teach. But this close attention is often difficult to bear, and "campus carry" may well send me into retirement. To fear for one's own life, as well as the lives of students, is too much to ask of an educator.
16
Read Breitbart's John Nolte's article on "if the murderers targeted media instead of schools". He posits that the dishonest media does their initial reporting then leaves the scene. All that is needed in these schools is enhanced security. It is demanded before you enter the NYTs building. Why not schools? Why do we advertise "gun free zones"?
The gun controlled advocates have no answers, only cheap political platitudes. What are their solutions to stop school shootings? They have none, except the obvious: Better security. How about letting the security guards carry a gun?
BTW: For those favouring confiscation, in Australia, where guns were confiscated by the government 20 years ago, on the same day of the OR shooting, 2 people were shot to death in Australia. The bad guy was able to obtain a gun. And the victims couldn't protect themselves.
The gun controlled advocates have no answers, only cheap political platitudes. What are their solutions to stop school shootings? They have none, except the obvious: Better security. How about letting the security guards carry a gun?
BTW: For those favouring confiscation, in Australia, where guns were confiscated by the government 20 years ago, on the same day of the OR shooting, 2 people were shot to death in Australia. The bad guy was able to obtain a gun. And the victims couldn't protect themselves.
4
Oregon allows guns on campus. This latest shooting was NOT in a gun free zone, it was in a gun friendly zone. There were students with guns on campus - did not stop the murderer from using his firearms arsenal from killing - guns/rifles make the killings more lethal - his innocent victims. Facts matter. Who is being dishonest now?
Gun murder rate in Australia: 0.11
Gun murder rate in the US where all those good guys with a gun live: 3.55
You really picked a poor example to make your case.
Gun murder rate in the US where all those good guys with a gun live: 3.55
You really picked a poor example to make your case.
1
You are not listening. There have been suggestions about how to mitigate gun deaths. All suggestions have been ridiculed by the gun nuts So, we do nothing -- and the carnage continues.
2
You want guns on campus? Come to the other UT - Utah (all state campuses) has permitted this same thing for years. Ironically, guns are NOT allowed in the State Legislative chambers - lockers are helpfully provided while you observed your senators at work.
Sadly, this is what we get when we refuse to provide funds for the mental illness services that would obviate the need for the self-defense argument that fouls the waters of our discourse. It's security on the cheap, and it's shameful.
Sadly, this is what we get when we refuse to provide funds for the mental illness services that would obviate the need for the self-defense argument that fouls the waters of our discourse. It's security on the cheap, and it's shameful.
I was waiting for you to get to the part about all the horrific consequences of guns being allowed on Utah state school campuses.
Oh, right, there weren't any.
FWIW - Oregon state law mandates that concealed carry permit holders cannot be denied access to publicly owned buildings and facilities with the exception of courts. This includes the State Capitol, where there have been - no problems.
The Umpqua CC blanket "No Gun" policy was something the school had no legal authority to even implement and it may well have cost people their lives.
Discourse is not served by avoiding the self-defense argument - is there any more basic human right than that of defending your person against unprovoked violence? Can such a right be meaningful if people are denied the means of exercising it?
Utah Constitution:
Utah: The individual right of the people to keep and bear arms for security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state, as well as for other lawful purposes shall not be infringed; but nothing herein shall prevent the legislature from defining the lawful use of arms. Art. I, § 6 (enacted 1984)
Oh, right, there weren't any.
FWIW - Oregon state law mandates that concealed carry permit holders cannot be denied access to publicly owned buildings and facilities with the exception of courts. This includes the State Capitol, where there have been - no problems.
The Umpqua CC blanket "No Gun" policy was something the school had no legal authority to even implement and it may well have cost people their lives.
Discourse is not served by avoiding the self-defense argument - is there any more basic human right than that of defending your person against unprovoked violence? Can such a right be meaningful if people are denied the means of exercising it?
Utah Constitution:
Utah: The individual right of the people to keep and bear arms for security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state, as well as for other lawful purposes shall not be infringed; but nothing herein shall prevent the legislature from defining the lawful use of arms. Art. I, § 6 (enacted 1984)
There are several jobs open in my field available at Texas state universities for which I am well qualified and bring a good deal of experience and wisdom. I have not and will not even consider applying. It's for many reasons but all of them are summarized by allowing the carrying of a gun on campus.
Putting it together with the trigger warnings, has no one considered they are now so wanted and needed by students whose personalities are deformed by in the long term knowing there are those in their midst who have no compunction about killing them? And that in thousands of lesser instances of social aggression from their classmates that shooting is merely the most extreme of violence that is commonplace?
There is something really wrong for these students with parents both helicopter hovering them, resorting to bullying themselves in the name of protecting them their whole lives. Anybody will use any fault or flaw no matter how slight in another to get ahead. As mad as the guns are and we must do something, guns are the symptom. People who have them are the cause.
Putting it together with the trigger warnings, has no one considered they are now so wanted and needed by students whose personalities are deformed by in the long term knowing there are those in their midst who have no compunction about killing them? And that in thousands of lesser instances of social aggression from their classmates that shooting is merely the most extreme of violence that is commonplace?
There is something really wrong for these students with parents both helicopter hovering them, resorting to bullying themselves in the name of protecting them their whole lives. Anybody will use any fault or flaw no matter how slight in another to get ahead. As mad as the guns are and we must do something, guns are the symptom. People who have them are the cause.
2
Where to ban ownership of guns ? Isn't that the question ?
and why NOT have a public debate on this subject...instead of just the
OPINIONS of spin on COMMERCIAL media ...that is newspapers/magazines.
and the revolting spin on MSNBC and CNN and FOX so called news...which
none of these political commercial media are...and I include the New York Times.
all biased ...for or against The revolting Gun Lobby which funds and controls
All of Congress as well as ALL commercial medial...so
where is the real public outrage...I guess..Bernie Sanders who is at this time
the ONLY candidate who is not owing any allegiance to all commercial
newspapers as well as all commercial Television...
Go figure then Bruni...and who supports your job...Gun Lobbyists well
isn't it time for the NYTimes to print the facts or "all the news which is FIT
to print".....let's be "real" about who dictates what to say or print..
I and bet you ...the NYT editors will refuse to print this...which is the truth !!!
and why NOT have a public debate on this subject...instead of just the
OPINIONS of spin on COMMERCIAL media ...that is newspapers/magazines.
and the revolting spin on MSNBC and CNN and FOX so called news...which
none of these political commercial media are...and I include the New York Times.
all biased ...for or against The revolting Gun Lobby which funds and controls
All of Congress as well as ALL commercial medial...so
where is the real public outrage...I guess..Bernie Sanders who is at this time
the ONLY candidate who is not owing any allegiance to all commercial
newspapers as well as all commercial Television...
Go figure then Bruni...and who supports your job...Gun Lobbyists well
isn't it time for the NYTimes to print the facts or "all the news which is FIT
to print".....let's be "real" about who dictates what to say or print..
I and bet you ...the NYT editors will refuse to print this...which is the truth !!!
"a well regulated militia being necessary for the security of a free state" now means a well regulated college campus includes students and faculty carrying and packing arms for the security of the campus. Is that really what the framers of the second amendment intended or is this just another accommodation to the gun sellers and their lobby ; the NRA?
3
And I'm sure the first amendment applies only to the religions practiced by the Founding Fathers. It also applies only to the town crier, printing press, and other forms of media that existed at the time
Student on campus under 21 aren't legally allowed to have alcohol, either. Consider how well that keeps alcohol out of the hands of undergraduates.
Consider the problems that alcohol brings with it. How many sexual assaults, for example, involve alcohol use or abuse by one or both parties?
Campuses full of 18- to 22-year-olds, the risk-assessment portions of whose brains are not fully developed, full of raging hormones and volatile emotions, some of whom suffer emotional disorders, without the supervision or discipline as they might have in the armed forces, with recreational drugs available, and alcohol ubiquitous ... what could go wrong?
While in the combination of youth, alcohol, and firearms, it may be the alcohol that is the worst problem, it is the combination of all three that worries me.
Consider the problems that alcohol brings with it. How many sexual assaults, for example, involve alcohol use or abuse by one or both parties?
Campuses full of 18- to 22-year-olds, the risk-assessment portions of whose brains are not fully developed, full of raging hormones and volatile emotions, some of whom suffer emotional disorders, without the supervision or discipline as they might have in the armed forces, with recreational drugs available, and alcohol ubiquitous ... what could go wrong?
While in the combination of youth, alcohol, and firearms, it may be the alcohol that is the worst problem, it is the combination of all three that worries me.
6
In conversation and writing we need to call the NRA the National Mass Murder Association.
6
When Texas passed the concealed weapon carry law, crime decreased 7% and has continued at the decreased rate. Criminals who don't bother with "no carry zones" tend to pick locations for their crimes where they believe the citizens are unarmed, like schools. In Texas public schools where I live, the external doors are locked and there is always an armed police officer on campus. We don't have shooting in schools because the criminal knows that schools are protected. Criminals likewise don't rob or kill in restaurants anymore because they know they will die trying with so many carrying concealed weapons. The people who go into schools to kill are cowards and will avoid placed they think will result in their immediate death. In Texas the headline reads, "KIller shot dead by armed citizen". This entire article is nothing but a red herring because the real problem is places with strict gun laws and the highest murder rates, 10-25% higher than Texas per 100,000 folks. How many will die in that bastion of extreme gun laws Chicago this weekend? Obama did not tell the truth about the gun law data but we all know that not telling the truth is the norm for him. What exactly were these "gun safety laws" he kept mentioning? I have never heard him offer a single idea that would have changed the Oregon situation. Not ONE!!
4
Stop clouding the debate with facts and common sense! Just mindlessly repeat the liberal mantra: Big Government gun control is the answer.
James: Has anyone ever asked you why no guns are allowed in the legislature? Could it be that the elected representatives are afraid of a father whose child was killed by one of those concealed carry individuals at UT and he wants to exact his revenge on those legislators who promoted this insane law? Or why the NRA Head Office is a no carry zone as well. I am sure because Wayne LaPierre is too fearful for his life with all the horrible things he said after Sandy Hook. So these individuals are to be protected but not a student at UT. Truly a sad state of affairs that the U.S. has become.
EH
EH
1
Big Business-Ever wonder why your malls and movie theaters are becoming more and more empty? Well it isn't just the internet shopping or home shopping network. Who wants to get shot up just because you went to a movie or a mall?
Local taxpayer-Ever wonder why your local taxes are going up? Who do you think pays for the first responders, SWAT teams, school security, emergency room every time a "bad guy" with a gun shoots up the place?
Public Boards of Education- Ever wonder why enrollment is going down when the birth rate is going up? No it is not just religious alternative education. Who wants you kids exposed to constant searches and drills on "mass shootings" just to prevent them from being shot to death at school.
Health Ins Companies- please explain to me just who is paying for all the additional care that innocent victims require? Just the gun owners with health insurance? Of course not. Only NRA members or gun owners? No everyone is paying for this costly additional security.
The NRA has not only given everyone the right to bear arms unregulated any place but all the costs that goes with lack of regulations. A smart candidate would run commercials listing all the additional tax dollars "right to bear arms" unregulated is costing the average tax payers. Hard to believe any candidate could defend that costly craziness.
Local taxpayer-Ever wonder why your local taxes are going up? Who do you think pays for the first responders, SWAT teams, school security, emergency room every time a "bad guy" with a gun shoots up the place?
Public Boards of Education- Ever wonder why enrollment is going down when the birth rate is going up? No it is not just religious alternative education. Who wants you kids exposed to constant searches and drills on "mass shootings" just to prevent them from being shot to death at school.
Health Ins Companies- please explain to me just who is paying for all the additional care that innocent victims require? Just the gun owners with health insurance? Of course not. Only NRA members or gun owners? No everyone is paying for this costly additional security.
The NRA has not only given everyone the right to bear arms unregulated any place but all the costs that goes with lack of regulations. A smart candidate would run commercials listing all the additional tax dollars "right to bear arms" unregulated is costing the average tax payers. Hard to believe any candidate could defend that costly craziness.
3
The underlying thread of this piece is that ordinary people are somehow influenced by the guns that they may carry to commit murder. This assumes that the foundations of democracy are completely false: the People cannot ever be trusted with anything - they need to be disarmed and protected from the evil that all of us common folk have just waiting below the surface.
Strangely, reality is far different: states with Shall-Issue concealed carry laws have lower crime rates and those who actually legally carry weapons are almost never involved in violence.
To dispute Mr. Bruni's thesis that evil guns inspire groups of normally peaceful people to mayhem, all he has to do is observe the members of our armed forces. They are made up of almost every group of every part of our country, yet daily proximity to guns and explosives almost never results in murders.
Campuses are collections of the People. Some, a few, are insane and/are criminals. Some, very few, have learned that campuses are also collections of completely vulnerable and intentionally disarmed folks who are vulnerable to any single sicko that shows up with a gun. What if we take away that certainty that a classroom is "fish in a barrel" where some deranged loser can calmly murder men and women without fear of being opposed? How different would all of these campus shootings ended if a single responsible individual had his or her own pistol to end the killing spree before it started?
Strangely, reality is far different: states with Shall-Issue concealed carry laws have lower crime rates and those who actually legally carry weapons are almost never involved in violence.
To dispute Mr. Bruni's thesis that evil guns inspire groups of normally peaceful people to mayhem, all he has to do is observe the members of our armed forces. They are made up of almost every group of every part of our country, yet daily proximity to guns and explosives almost never results in murders.
Campuses are collections of the People. Some, a few, are insane and/are criminals. Some, very few, have learned that campuses are also collections of completely vulnerable and intentionally disarmed folks who are vulnerable to any single sicko that shows up with a gun. What if we take away that certainty that a classroom is "fish in a barrel" where some deranged loser can calmly murder men and women without fear of being opposed? How different would all of these campus shootings ended if a single responsible individual had his or her own pistol to end the killing spree before it started?
Concealed weapons are permitted. obody with a gun tried to intervene.
“Universities are uniquely liberal institutions and they’re targets for conservatives,” Neuberger noted, adding that campus carry may well have been their way of “attacking the bedrock of liberal values that the university represents.”
Perhaps this is what the true purpose of reinterpreting the 2nd amendment in the Heller decision is all about - attacking liberal thought and bedrock liberal institutions (education, public space, open dialogue) through the implicit force of individual gun ownership.
Clearly there is a major disconnect between what the majority of people want in reasonable gun restrictions and what has been possible in the halls of congress. I, for one, am not buying that we’re getting the government we deserve. The game has been rigged against the majority of Americans who believe in the free and open exchange of ideas in public spaces.
Perhaps this is what the true purpose of reinterpreting the 2nd amendment in the Heller decision is all about - attacking liberal thought and bedrock liberal institutions (education, public space, open dialogue) through the implicit force of individual gun ownership.
Clearly there is a major disconnect between what the majority of people want in reasonable gun restrictions and what has been possible in the halls of congress. I, for one, am not buying that we’re getting the government we deserve. The game has been rigged against the majority of Americans who believe in the free and open exchange of ideas in public spaces.
4
The 'argument' that more guns makes us safer is akin to saying that
if we put more cars on the road there will be less accidents. It's absurd.
Republicans are absurd.
if we put more cars on the road there will be less accidents. It's absurd.
Republicans are absurd.
5
But science has proven this to be true. Explain the gun violence in gun-free Chicago
it will probably take a mel brooks moment (when a dropped textbook sets the guns of all 400 undergraduates in a lecture hall blazing) to wake up the overstuffed shirts that we elect to office...if not the brooks moment then, perhaps, its conclusion, a very slow pan of a sam peckinpaugh carnage.
2
Was Mr. Bruni making the case for guns or for gun control? The rational for campus carry is simple. The UCC campus was gun free (even for security guards) meaning the gunman had a free shot with little initial risk. Now, if say 5% of the students were armed and could actually shoot back, that might be a greater deterrent even for a madman.
I am baffled by the Times characterizing the gunmens actions as "asking about religion". According to eye witnesses, he only asked for the Christians. He then killed them creating another mass killing of Christians solely for their faith. I guess martyring Christians isn't limited to ISIS.
I am baffled by the Times characterizing the gunmens actions as "asking about religion". According to eye witnesses, he only asked for the Christians. He then killed them creating another mass killing of Christians solely for their faith. I guess martyring Christians isn't limited to ISIS.
4
The shooter had links on his Facebook page that were anti-Israeli and pro-jihad.
1. Let's bring back the Brady Bill.
2. Let's require metal detectors for every public building and property, from 7-Eleven to supermarkets to shopping malls to movie theaters to public libraries to universities and schools to restaurants to ice cream parlors to barber shops to ubiquity and beyond.
3. Let's implement local government system of police patrolling/"security guards" on foot 24/7 for every block of public space, like you would imagine in London or Europe... LEO Patrollers who would walk the grounds of neighborhoods and communities and metropolitan streets and shopping malls, as a "Howdy you do" officer, gauging and moderating the ambience of public demeanor/temperament.
If someone is carrying a weapon in public, entering and exiting buildings, or in open public space, at least everyone would know.
Thus, we bypass both sides of extreme anti-gun controllers and mental health.
Note for thought: The proposal for increasing mental healthcare is disappointing when 1.) Mental healthcare fails to treat and improve patients 2.) Habeas corpus is denied 3.) We're talking about a Minority Report PreCrime scenario that is bound to be flawed.
And lastly, never vote for policies that give in to fear of what might be.
2. Let's require metal detectors for every public building and property, from 7-Eleven to supermarkets to shopping malls to movie theaters to public libraries to universities and schools to restaurants to ice cream parlors to barber shops to ubiquity and beyond.
3. Let's implement local government system of police patrolling/"security guards" on foot 24/7 for every block of public space, like you would imagine in London or Europe... LEO Patrollers who would walk the grounds of neighborhoods and communities and metropolitan streets and shopping malls, as a "Howdy you do" officer, gauging and moderating the ambience of public demeanor/temperament.
If someone is carrying a weapon in public, entering and exiting buildings, or in open public space, at least everyone would know.
Thus, we bypass both sides of extreme anti-gun controllers and mental health.
Note for thought: The proposal for increasing mental healthcare is disappointing when 1.) Mental healthcare fails to treat and improve patients 2.) Habeas corpus is denied 3.) We're talking about a Minority Report PreCrime scenario that is bound to be flawed.
And lastly, never vote for policies that give in to fear of what might be.
News Flash August 10, 2020. Congress has approved and the President has signed a bill authorizing conceal and carry within the Capital building.
News Flash August 21, 2020. Congress was closed when deliberations over a bill requiring stop lights to be universally changed from a vertical to a horizontal configuration led to gunfire and 60 plus legislatures were shot some fatally. Details at 6.
News Flash August 21, 2020. Congress was closed when deliberations over a bill requiring stop lights to be universally changed from a vertical to a horizontal configuration led to gunfire and 60 plus legislatures were shot some fatally. Details at 6.
1
I am old enough to remember the tower shooting at UT/Austin. Perhaps that is what began the NRA's propaganda campaign. Since then we've had mass shooting after mass shooting, and after each one the gun nuts come out of the woodwork and spout their despicable NRA talking points. The founding fathers would turn in their graves.
I hava a question for the gun nuts: Why does the Second Amendment begin with the phrase "A well-regulated militia"?
How many of those who extoll the Second Amendment have ever bothered to read the Federalist #29? How many have even heard of Madison's journal of the Constitutional Convention, which reports in detail on the framers' discusions of the militia and the origins of the Second Amendment? The gun nuts don't care about such historical details; they get all their talking points from NRA propaganda. The NRA was in favor of gun control for most of its history -- more than a century -- until it got hijacked by the gun industry in the l970s. Until the gun lobby began its propagandizing for the hard right, no one ever dreamed that the Second Amendment would be the basis for unregulated private ownership of military-style weapons, personal handguns, or open carry laws. Because it was never intended to be.
I hava a question for the gun nuts: Why does the Second Amendment begin with the phrase "A well-regulated militia"?
How many of those who extoll the Second Amendment have ever bothered to read the Federalist #29? How many have even heard of Madison's journal of the Constitutional Convention, which reports in detail on the framers' discusions of the militia and the origins of the Second Amendment? The gun nuts don't care about such historical details; they get all their talking points from NRA propaganda. The NRA was in favor of gun control for most of its history -- more than a century -- until it got hijacked by the gun industry in the l970s. Until the gun lobby began its propagandizing for the hard right, no one ever dreamed that the Second Amendment would be the basis for unregulated private ownership of military-style weapons, personal handguns, or open carry laws. Because it was never intended to be.
10
Open carry has been the norm in Oregon (legally) since 1859 when it became a state.
This was "never intended to be"??
Open carry in Roseburg, Oregon (2013) Note the police response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olPkAYsNmQY
This was "never intended to be"??
Open carry in Roseburg, Oregon (2013) Note the police response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olPkAYsNmQY
As a proponent of tighter handgun control laws and generally less handguns in the public, I find this piece maddening. It make a very weak case. It falls into the tired format I've seen many times before:
* Lament the insanity of some aspect of our gun culture,
* Throw out some broad statistics:
"a gun for roughly every man, woman and child in America.”
* Provide a, perhaps emotionally compelling, but weak argument:
“If you’re in a heated debate with somebody in the middle of a classroom and you don’t know whether or not that individual is carrying, how does that inhibit the interaction between students and faculty?”
(Really? Gun-play might result from a heated classroom debate? I'm a former college professor and this strikes me as very dubious.)
Advocates for tighter gun control need to confront the fact that there is some data to support the claim that guns promote safety. The situation is complex and needs more sophisticated reasoning than provided by this piece.
* Lament the insanity of some aspect of our gun culture,
* Throw out some broad statistics:
"a gun for roughly every man, woman and child in America.”
* Provide a, perhaps emotionally compelling, but weak argument:
“If you’re in a heated debate with somebody in the middle of a classroom and you don’t know whether or not that individual is carrying, how does that inhibit the interaction between students and faculty?”
(Really? Gun-play might result from a heated classroom debate? I'm a former college professor and this strikes me as very dubious.)
Advocates for tighter gun control need to confront the fact that there is some data to support the claim that guns promote safety. The situation is complex and needs more sophisticated reasoning than provided by this piece.
2
REAEM: What an inflammatory comment. I am surprised the NYT ran it. R u advocating a race war, with African AMERICANS and Hispanics on one side an "whites," an inappropriate term, on the other?
The 2'nd Amendment is clear that the right to bear arms is directly related to the need to maintain a well-regulated militia. The answer to responsible gun ownership is to follow the 2'nd Amendment and maintain that militia, with all of its "well-regulated" mandates in effect. This should include registering for the militia as a necessary condition to gun-ownership, undergoing regular and intense routine training, and occasionally being called up for duty to serve our national interests at home and abroad.
9
And the first amendment applies only to the town crier and the printing press since these were the only media in use at the time
Even if you are correct about the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution, only five states do not recognize an individual right to bear arms and/or specifically note this as an individual right in their *state* constitutions.
And militias were not organized at the federal, but at the state level.
Still, a well trained and equipped militia would be good to have. If we want to follow the Swiss model, that could be good.
Of course that would also mean going back to being a confederacy and doing away with all but a tiny fraction of our current professional military, dramatic reductions in the armies of fedcops we now support and also in our militarized intelligence agencies.
How does that sound?
New Hampshire State Constitution:
New Hampshire: All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state. Pt. 1, art. 2-a (enacted 1982).
http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/beararms/statecon.htm
And militias were not organized at the federal, but at the state level.
Still, a well trained and equipped militia would be good to have. If we want to follow the Swiss model, that could be good.
Of course that would also mean going back to being a confederacy and doing away with all but a tiny fraction of our current professional military, dramatic reductions in the armies of fedcops we now support and also in our militarized intelligence agencies.
How does that sound?
New Hampshire State Constitution:
New Hampshire: All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state. Pt. 1, art. 2-a (enacted 1982).
http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/beararms/statecon.htm
Why the complaints? They elected representatives who share their values.
2
Thinking about immigrating to Canada? Think again. They have universal health care and so one of the requirements is that the prospective immigrant be healthy.
1
With all the gerrymandering, we've reached a point where the crazy elect the crazy and the rest of us are left to suffer.
1
Very simple answer. Stop making believe everyone who is born in the US not only has an inalienable right to go to college, but *must* go to college. I know a HS guidance counselor who was told by his principal "we must have 100% of our graduates going to college or we have failed".
In other countries, only the best and brightest go to high school, let alone college. Why must we force not only academically above-average kids to go to college, but force average and below-average kids to go too?
We are creating young adults who feel like failures because we can't see that many would be better off in trade school, or eve attending college after working a few years.
It saddens me when I teach freshman science and i have students who took the Advanced Placement version in HS sitting next to students who never took the subject at all. We have multiple students who have failed the class 4 or more times, and are paying to take it each time. College for everyone doesn't work, and creates more issues than it solves.
In other countries, only the best and brightest go to high school, let alone college. Why must we force not only academically above-average kids to go to college, but force average and below-average kids to go too?
We are creating young adults who feel like failures because we can't see that many would be better off in trade school, or eve attending college after working a few years.
It saddens me when I teach freshman science and i have students who took the Advanced Placement version in HS sitting next to students who never took the subject at all. We have multiple students who have failed the class 4 or more times, and are paying to take it each time. College for everyone doesn't work, and creates more issues than it solves.
6
This article is about guns on campus. Are you suggesting that if nobody goes to college, they are less likely to get cut down in a mass shooting?
I will assure you that there will be less if no gun deaths at universities that allow concealed carry versus universities that follow the liberal drumbeat and ban firearms on campus. When will liberals realize that the only public places that mass gun deaths occur are in gun free zones. When was the last time you heard of someone walking into a gun store or a gun show and commit mass homicide by gun ?
2
The community college in Oregon allowed concealed carry because Oregon enacted a similar law recently. In other words, you're wrong. I live in the UK currently, and there's a reason these shootings repeatedly headline the BBC: because it doesn't happen here. Because people aren't allowed to carry loaded weapons.
The recent presidential debate ended when all the candidates shot each other to death.
That's nonsense, these killers don't care if they die. They want to go out in a "blaze of glory". You mention Chicago, why not New Orleans, or Memphis, or Atlanta ? . In fact, people in the South, full of guns die from gun shots far more than anywhere else.
1
Our country is self-destructing in just about every area, and the obsession with guns one important example. The conundrum is that the majority of people can see that we have massive problems, yet the majority of people keep electing politicians who are pledged to make things worse. This can not end well for the country and most of us.
8
What's particularly scary about this is the fact that young adults often have their first psychotic breaks in college. They are away from home in a new place with new stressors. They are not necessarily thinking rationally and their brains have not fully developed.
And don't forget that UT campuses also have thriving graduate schools, with students in their mid 20s, legally able to carry concealed.
What I'm most surprised about is the lack of outrage from UT faculty and staff. If I were working there, I'd be looking for a job elsewhere.
And don't forget that UT campuses also have thriving graduate schools, with students in their mid 20s, legally able to carry concealed.
What I'm most surprised about is the lack of outrage from UT faculty and staff. If I were working there, I'd be looking for a job elsewhere.
2
Ladies and gentlemen...it's too late. Even if the Texas legislature were to rescind the Campus Carry law, if tomorrow a new amendment to the Constitution was passed repealing the 2nd Amendment, who would want the job of collecting now prohibited firearms? Imagine the carnage which would ensue merely trying to pass such an amendment. Really, I hate to be a downer, but we are living in a country where the slaughter of 20 five year olds did virtually nothing to change the blood soaked course of the American dream. We live in a country wherein there is a firearm for every man, woman, and child. A country where many believe that the solution to the 'problem' of gun violence is more guns.
Oh yeah...the writing is stitched on the wall in full metal jacket calligraphy.
"From my cold, dead hands."
It is too late.
Oh yeah...the writing is stitched on the wall in full metal jacket calligraphy.
"From my cold, dead hands."
It is too late.
1
Sadly, the epidemic of school massacres only serves as a cluster of deaths resulting from someone with a gun. Every day, in our local paper's Metro section, single instances of gun deaths are reported along with the mundane stories of lost dogs and community meetings. The single instance gun deaths reported daily -- usually from a bar fight, a confrontation with an estranged spouse, a mistaken intruder, a gang initiation, a child playing with a gun killing a sibling -- have an annual total far surpassing any single cluster event. The massacre is daily across this nation. There is indeed a mental health problem associated with gun deaths: it is all of us who have turned numb as others succumb to the hallucinogenic mythology that a gun is neutral, protected property rather than a tool of injury, death, and disability.
4
I have lived too close to two student massacres--Blacksburg-2007 and Erfurt-2002. I am personally aware that the instructors are the first ones shot. In a situation where it is legal to have a gun in a classroom, a crimal offense is committed only at the point when the bullet leaves the chamber and at that point, it is too late.
1
Why stop now, great state of Texas? Your finest legislators ought not rest until the (il)logical end, which is to mandate open carry of loaded handguns as a requirement for attendance at classes.
For the sake of decency, please return that oily part of America's crotch, Texas back to its rightful owners, Mexico. We can discuss the rest of the vicious south after the next shooting. Next week? Tomorrow? Will it be you? Me? Louis Gohmert...
1
To the infamous list of American euphemisms which include "friendly fire", "eliminate with extreme prejudice", "collateral damage" , intense interrogation" etc., I will now add "campus carry".
The hypocrisy of many Republicans has reached new heights. On the one hand, they vigorously espouse the sacredness of every life and oppose abortion; and on the other hand, they are outraged over even the weakest of gun control measures. Aren't the lives of those innocents slaughtered in Oregon a few days ago just as sacred as those of the unborn?
4
Like many people overseas we watch in horror at the continual mass shootings taking place in the US. The conversation and lack of any change that follows is simply bewildering.
US universities are reaching out to our college age son and we are seriously considering wether this is sensible choice given the rise in university based killings. One thing I can guarantee is that Texas is not a choice. The environment they have created there might suit the politicians but it is not a suitable place for a young people to mingle, grow up and expand their minds.
Mind you, as we watch those same politicians we can conclude that expansion of the mind is not something they are capable of, or interested in. Just the votes Maam.
US universities are reaching out to our college age son and we are seriously considering wether this is sensible choice given the rise in university based killings. One thing I can guarantee is that Texas is not a choice. The environment they have created there might suit the politicians but it is not a suitable place for a young people to mingle, grow up and expand their minds.
Mind you, as we watch those same politicians we can conclude that expansion of the mind is not something they are capable of, or interested in. Just the votes Maam.
As a former university faculty, I am appalled... although not shocked since it is Texas.
During my tenure, there was a number of times each semester when a student who was upset over a grade or my approach to grading their test visited me in my office. In the majority of instances, the conversation was low key and unemotional. But there were at least 8 times that I recall the student was upset to the point that another faculty member poked their head into the door.
The idea of an emotionally distraught student acting in a violent rage toward a professor is not unheard of. College can be a challenging time for many and emotions can run high.
Adding guns into this environment is a recipe for more altercations and violence.
During my tenure, there was a number of times each semester when a student who was upset over a grade or my approach to grading their test visited me in my office. In the majority of instances, the conversation was low key and unemotional. But there were at least 8 times that I recall the student was upset to the point that another faculty member poked their head into the door.
The idea of an emotionally distraught student acting in a violent rage toward a professor is not unheard of. College can be a challenging time for many and emotions can run high.
Adding guns into this environment is a recipe for more altercations and violence.
9
Anyone who works on a university campus knows this is a bad idea. Not only will it inhibit free discussion in the classroom, it will be much more of a problem during the alcohol driven student social life. This is the world the NRA, all of the Republican part and too many in the Democrat Party have allowed because gun manufactures must make their profits out of Americans killing other Americans with guns.
3
"When it comes to guns, we have lost our bearings in this country..."
Only guns Mr. Bruni?
I would argue that guns are just a symptom of the madness that grips a faction of this country. The rhetoric tells a larger story.
Only guns Mr. Bruni?
I would argue that guns are just a symptom of the madness that grips a faction of this country. The rhetoric tells a larger story.
These killers are raised by unhappy, angry parents. Who give them the guns and encourage them to hate. And this included mothers, like the one in Sandy Hook and the one in Oregon. Who gives mentally ill sons guns and encourages them to shoot them? These women should be prosecuted as accessories to the murders of the innocent. There's the Oregon shooter's mother bragging online about her guns, and telling patients that she and her son go to shooting ranges. Try her, convict her, and put her in jail. Ditto with the parents of the Charleston church murderer.
1
So how can you, with a straight face, make the argument that more guns will make us safer?
“So how can you, with a straight face, make the argument that having an unarmed security guard will make a school safer?
“So how can you, with a straight face, make the argument that having an unarmed security guard will make a school safer?
Who proposed that as the alternative? Take out 'security guard' and insert 'straw man.'
Sadly, the epidemic of school massacres only serves as a cluster of deaths resulting from someone with a gun. Every day, in our local paper's Metro section, single instances of gun deaths are reported along with the mundane stories of lost dogs and community meetings. The single instance gun deaths reported daily -- usually from a bar fight, a confrontation with an estranged spouse, a mistaken intruder, a gang initiation, a child playing with a gun killing a sibling -- have an annual total far surpassing any single cluster event. The massacre is daily across this nation. There is indeed a mental health problem associated with gun deaths: it is all of us who have turned numb as others succumb to the hallucinogenic mythology that a gun is neutral, protected property rather than a tool of injury, death, and disability.
As a teacher I'm stunned that an institution of higher learning would agree to model a world for young people in which it isn't safe to leave your home without the ability to instantly kill a crowd of people.
The grotesque notion that the Oregon shooting would have resulted in fewer deaths if the faculty had been armed sounds like something in an NRA brochure. The general public is not trained to shoot firearms, and a two-hour course on the rifle range isn't going to change that. Can you imagine the additional fatalities if a bunch of teachers and students had added to the bullets flying on that day? How many innocents would have died in the panicked crossfire alone? The only people who should have guns are those who use them professionally, and who are required to qualify for their use through constant recurring safety training.
One of the talking heads on CNN yesterday was saying that the U.S. should examine how Australia and Europe deal with gun violence. Of course he neglected to mention a destination that you don't have to get on a plane to visit: Canada. Our gun laws are far too strict for even the most liberal of U.S. lawmakers, since we don't have the burden of a willfully misinterpreted second amendment to contend with, and none of our political parties is in the employ of the NRA.
Look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death...
Gun deaths per capita in the U.S. - 10.6
Gun deaths per capita in Canada - 2.2
The grotesque notion that the Oregon shooting would have resulted in fewer deaths if the faculty had been armed sounds like something in an NRA brochure. The general public is not trained to shoot firearms, and a two-hour course on the rifle range isn't going to change that. Can you imagine the additional fatalities if a bunch of teachers and students had added to the bullets flying on that day? How many innocents would have died in the panicked crossfire alone? The only people who should have guns are those who use them professionally, and who are required to qualify for their use through constant recurring safety training.
One of the talking heads on CNN yesterday was saying that the U.S. should examine how Australia and Europe deal with gun violence. Of course he neglected to mention a destination that you don't have to get on a plane to visit: Canada. Our gun laws are far too strict for even the most liberal of U.S. lawmakers, since we don't have the burden of a willfully misinterpreted second amendment to contend with, and none of our political parties is in the employ of the NRA.
Look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death...
Gun deaths per capita in the U.S. - 10.6
Gun deaths per capita in Canada - 2.2
2
I don't have a direct stake in this (not American, and don't live there), but theme which appears to unite these mass shootings is that a gun was brought into an area where guns were not permitted.
The dangerous situation appears to be where the only gun there is held by the shooter. So either the surrounding area needs to be 'de-gunned', impracticable airport style security needs to be present at every entrance, or guns held by others need to be present as a deterrent.
I know that the vast majority of readers of the New York Times would like the first option to be taken, but that appears to be politically non-viable, as that would involve essentially banning guns. The second option is unlikely to be practicable on a substantial campus, unlike airports and capitol buildings. So maybe 'campus carry' is the best option available in this awful situation.
The dangerous situation appears to be where the only gun there is held by the shooter. So either the surrounding area needs to be 'de-gunned', impracticable airport style security needs to be present at every entrance, or guns held by others need to be present as a deterrent.
I know that the vast majority of readers of the New York Times would like the first option to be taken, but that appears to be politically non-viable, as that would involve essentially banning guns. The second option is unlikely to be practicable on a substantial campus, unlike airports and capitol buildings. So maybe 'campus carry' is the best option available in this awful situation.
Frank, using your logic we must adopt and convert to an on line model for all education. That way all students will be protected in their own homes, especially if there is a ready gun in the house to deter a home invasion. The home is the ultimate 'concealed carry' environment. Well, at least until the government tries to take all our guns away, something O is working on. That will unsettle all our freedoms, which is what government is always about.
1
Your argument is that ANY gun regulation equates to zero guns being in the hands of the citizenry. That argument is completely false. Using the same logic, there would be zero cars on the highway because cars are highly regulated. Your reasoning makes no sense at all.
In overturning more than seven decades of settled law, the four hard-right ideologues of the SCOTUS, plus Anthony Kennedy, also ignored English grammar by ruling that the first four words of the Second Amendment (followed by a comma) did not form the controlling clause (so much for John Roberts' testimony during his confirmation hearings as to his great respect for stare decisis).
Then there is the inarguable fact that the only firearms the Founders had any awareness of whatsoever were hand-loaded, single-shot flintlocks.
Questions of grammar and eighteenth-century technology aside, to even suggest that the Founders intended for private citizens to have a "right" to unregulated ownership and usage of modern-day weapons of mass carnage -- and, literally, war -- is a sign of stark mental illness.
Then there is the inarguable fact that the only firearms the Founders had any awareness of whatsoever were hand-loaded, single-shot flintlocks.
Questions of grammar and eighteenth-century technology aside, to even suggest that the Founders intended for private citizens to have a "right" to unregulated ownership and usage of modern-day weapons of mass carnage -- and, literally, war -- is a sign of stark mental illness.
2
The presence of weapons has been shown to increase aggressive behavior.
The argument "It's not guns, it's our lack of respect for life" is a false argument because there is actually a causal connection: possession or presence of a weapon increases belligerent behavior and decreases respect for life.
That important finding should be emphasized each and every time these arguments come up. This is self-induced insanity.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-psyched/201301/the-weapons-effect
The argument "It's not guns, it's our lack of respect for life" is a false argument because there is actually a causal connection: possession or presence of a weapon increases belligerent behavior and decreases respect for life.
That important finding should be emphasized each and every time these arguments come up. This is self-induced insanity.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/get-psyched/201301/the-weapons-effect
2
Why not cite a precedent set by Wyatt Earp when he instituted a sort of gun control?
Is it legal to carry a gun into a TX court room? How about TX state capital building or their house chambers?
2
College students, here's a test:
QUESTION ONE:
President Obama made a plea to the press: Calculate the number of deaths caused by terrorists since 9/11 vs. the number of deaths caused by guns.
According to CNN, from 2001 - 2013 the number of US citizens killed overseas as a result of terrorism: 350.
From 2001 - 2013 406,496 US citizens died by firearms on US soil.
What percentage is the number of Americans killed by guns in our homeland higher than the number killed by terrorists overseas?
ANSWER: 116,141% MORE AMERICANS were killed by guns in our own homeland than by terrorists overseas.
QUESTION TWO: There are 318,000.000 Americans, approximately 4,200,000 in the NRA. What percentage of Americans are in the NRA?
ANSWER: 1.32%
We're all fed up with the 1% who control most of the money, but I'll be damned if the 1.32% of us who own most of the guns continue to force their paranoid way of life on the other 98.68% of us.
Enough. There are way more of us than them. SPEAK UP. NOW.
QUESTION ONE:
President Obama made a plea to the press: Calculate the number of deaths caused by terrorists since 9/11 vs. the number of deaths caused by guns.
According to CNN, from 2001 - 2013 the number of US citizens killed overseas as a result of terrorism: 350.
From 2001 - 2013 406,496 US citizens died by firearms on US soil.
What percentage is the number of Americans killed by guns in our homeland higher than the number killed by terrorists overseas?
ANSWER: 116,141% MORE AMERICANS were killed by guns in our own homeland than by terrorists overseas.
QUESTION TWO: There are 318,000.000 Americans, approximately 4,200,000 in the NRA. What percentage of Americans are in the NRA?
ANSWER: 1.32%
We're all fed up with the 1% who control most of the money, but I'll be damned if the 1.32% of us who own most of the guns continue to force their paranoid way of life on the other 98.68% of us.
Enough. There are way more of us than them. SPEAK UP. NOW.
3
Thomas Jefferson, one of our founding fathers, was not an Absolutist. First, his understanding was that a "well-armed militia" was the alternative to a standing army (which we currently have). That was the reason for expecting the right to gun ownership. Secondly, within months of having founded the University of Virginia, in 1825, he and the trustees of the school banned the ownership and use of guns on the campus because of the rowdy behavior of students who intimidated the mostly foreign born faculty, and the fear that they would use the weapons (including swords) on each other. Those are hardly the attitudes of an Absolutist, and he is certainly one of the main characters whom Originalists would want to consult to ascertain the intent of the writers of the 2d Amendment.
1
Well stated, I am so glad to see someone correctly interpret the Second Amendment and the founder's intentions. They did not want us to have a large standing army but have state militias of citizen soldiers. We're over two hundred years farther down the road now so maybe we need to revise our thinking on this issue but given our current divisive political atmosphere that seems virtually impossible.
What we should be asking is why someone at a university would want/need to carry a concealed weapon in the classroom. The problem is that in asking the question you realise how far we've fallen. A functioning society doesn't need to ask that sort of question. No one living in a functioning/stable society should have to fear for their life while they are attending university classes. We may be beyond repair.
2
The tragic irony after the latest shooting in Roseburg, Oregon is the rabidly pro-gun stance of its sheriff John Hanlin. The 2013 letter that Hanlin sent to Joe Biden after Sandy Hook, warning that he would not "enforce or allow any federal agents to enforce regulations enacted by Congress to further gun control." beggars belief. If in the seemingly unlikely event that our craven Congress begins seriously talking about sensible gun control, does Hanlin intend to become the Kim Davis of assault weapons? I suppose he would cite "God" as his authority. If "law and order" ever truly crumbles in this country, it will not be because of the lack of guns in the hands of private citizens, but because of the over abundance of them.
A Harvard study found that a good number of college students already carry guns on campus and that there are plenty of illegal guns on campus. Obviously, most students are not inclined to carry guns. It is not clear if the new law will make things better or worse. I'm guessing things at MIT and lots of other campuses won't much change. This controversy strikes me as a tempest in a teapot.
2
I wouldn't send any kid of mine to a school where this was going on.
3
Should there be a "Congress carry" as well? Of course not, but the lack of one belies the so-called conservative's knowledge that such rules make people less safe, not more. Hence, campus carry is an intentional reduction in safety for students and faculty, who are vulnerable and cherished. Why tolerate this reckless disregard for life? Vote out the hypocrites.
1
It's ludicrous to allow guns, any weapons on school grounds period.
1
My favorite part of the language of the second amendment is "well-regulated."
4
It is frustrating that we complain that men with "mental illness" have access to guns then later, at trial, we work so hard to prove they are not mentally ill. All are mentally ill. Addressing this is as important as gun control. Perhaps more important.
3
I am reminded of an op-ed piece here in the Times from February 2014 by Prof Greg Hampikian, of Boise State University, 'When May I Shoot a Student', a masterpiece of weaponized snark in reaction to a similar opening of Idaho schools to guns. I would recommend your Texas readership in particular read this op-ed and send it to their politicians (too late, I know).
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/opinion/when-may-i-shoot-a-student.htm...
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/opinion/when-may-i-shoot-a-student.htm...
1
It seems that no one is as well armed as the people of the US, except for the Taliban and the ISIS
4
The right-wingers on the Supreme Court, picked by the right-wing politicians who are funded by the gun lobby, decided after more than 200 years of precedents, to ignore the plain language of the 2nd Amendment and those precedents, and rewrite history and logic and pronounce that individuals had a constitutional right to firearms. The gun lobby has also created a culture that ignores basic decency in favor of a gun fanaticism, where guns are cherished and even worshiped to the extent that the value of human life is diminshed.
3
There is a large & devoted segment of the voting population who would shoot themselves in the head if they were told that was what they had to do to fight the imaginary liberal big-government conspiracy.
1
The country is ready for mass national street protests demanding gun safety laws, in the tradition of Occupy Wall St, the huge marches on Climate Change, minimum wage, against police abuse, and pro Black Lives Matter.
Obama and citizens are totally fed up after the latest public massacre blood bath. It’ll be a big factor in the 2016 campaign---can’t let it fade this time.
Obama on TV contrasted the US with other nations--- a crucial and neglected topic on media. We need street protests with big banners/signs listing the US death rates vs other nations. Other countries have criminals and mentally ill, but don’t have easy access to guns. Motive, means, opportunity.
The street protest theme to use is “OUR LIVES MATTER”.
This slogan alone could be a factor bringing blacks and whites and all races/ethnicities together in a common cause against easy guns for all, for profit.
Other slogans the marchers could use are obvious no brainers:
Get the NRA money out of politics.
Stop the financial support of lawmakers by gun makers.
Polls show most gun owners and many NRA members are pro gun laws. They could march with signs identifying themselves along side other protesters in public protests for TV cameras. Most police depts across the nation favor strong gun laws. How much easier their job would be with strong gun laws. Is this a chance for an historic alliance? Police and civilians, all races, ethnicities, ages, economic status. Toward national cooperation not polarization.
Obama and citizens are totally fed up after the latest public massacre blood bath. It’ll be a big factor in the 2016 campaign---can’t let it fade this time.
Obama on TV contrasted the US with other nations--- a crucial and neglected topic on media. We need street protests with big banners/signs listing the US death rates vs other nations. Other countries have criminals and mentally ill, but don’t have easy access to guns. Motive, means, opportunity.
The street protest theme to use is “OUR LIVES MATTER”.
This slogan alone could be a factor bringing blacks and whites and all races/ethnicities together in a common cause against easy guns for all, for profit.
Other slogans the marchers could use are obvious no brainers:
Get the NRA money out of politics.
Stop the financial support of lawmakers by gun makers.
Polls show most gun owners and many NRA members are pro gun laws. They could march with signs identifying themselves along side other protesters in public protests for TV cameras. Most police depts across the nation favor strong gun laws. How much easier their job would be with strong gun laws. Is this a chance for an historic alliance? Police and civilians, all races, ethnicities, ages, economic status. Toward national cooperation not polarization.
The Texas legislature has gone off the deep, deep end and isn't coming back any time soon. They seem to be on some kind of mission to make the rest of the country despise Texas and view it as a gigantic looney bin ruled over by the far, far right. Previously, they proved that they don't believe in education, taking steps to forbid the teaching of "critical thinking" in the state's public schools. They entertain any retrograde measure one can imagine and then try to double down on it in anyway possible.
Texas, however, is not as strange as they make it seem. It is a modern, urbanized state facing many of the same problems that have plagued eastern states and California as well. The legislature seems determined not to address any of those developing problems but prefers, instead, to deal with problems that don't exist, like not enough guns on campus.
Texas, however, is not as strange as they make it seem. It is a modern, urbanized state facing many of the same problems that have plagued eastern states and California as well. The legislature seems determined not to address any of those developing problems but prefers, instead, to deal with problems that don't exist, like not enough guns on campus.
4
I think that everyone who so wishes should be able to purchase a musket, nothing more, just as in the 1780s.
3
As an immigrant, I admire so many things about this great country. My life chances have become much the better for moving to America.
But I cannot for the life of me understand this obsession with guns. In Africa, where we feared armed robbers and brutal dictatorships, we were never driven to arms as ordinary citizens. I lived in England for 15 years and never met anyone who owned a gun.
America is a pretty safe society. And yet some Americans can't go shopping, can't attend social events, go to school, or attend church, without arming themselves. I'm completely at a loss to understand it.
Forgive me for saying this: but frankly it's uncivilized. Why? The Indians aren't coming. And there are no slaves that might rebel or run away. So why? Why?
America, you are better than this!
But I cannot for the life of me understand this obsession with guns. In Africa, where we feared armed robbers and brutal dictatorships, we were never driven to arms as ordinary citizens. I lived in England for 15 years and never met anyone who owned a gun.
America is a pretty safe society. And yet some Americans can't go shopping, can't attend social events, go to school, or attend church, without arming themselves. I'm completely at a loss to understand it.
Forgive me for saying this: but frankly it's uncivilized. Why? The Indians aren't coming. And there are no slaves that might rebel or run away. So why? Why?
America, you are better than this!
5
What good does making a rule against having a gun in your backpack do if someone has a gun in his backpack? Are you suggesting that everyone walk onto campus through metal detectors, that backpacks and bodies be subject to arbitrary search and seizure?
Right now, anybody standing next to you anywhere can have a knife, a gun, or even a bomb in his backpack-- or tucked under his shirt-- and all the rules you want to make against those things are only as good as the paper they are written on unless you are going to give the authorities (?) the right to search and seize anytime, anywhere, of anyone, without warrant.
If for every 300 million cigarettes smoked, there were as few cases of lung cancer as there are mass shootings in this country for the 300 million guns owned for every man, woman and child (?) we would all count ourselves lucky.
Liberals would do better if they truly faced the reasons our society seems to fill some people with such anger and hatred that the aberrant few want to go out and kill a bunch of random strangers before turning the guns on themselves or waiting for the cops to do it for them. Most of these people are unattractive, weird, unsuccessful, unintelligent, unrefined, definitely not hip to the style and travel sections of the New York Times. But those things have nothing to do with anything in our society, do they?
Right now, anybody standing next to you anywhere can have a knife, a gun, or even a bomb in his backpack-- or tucked under his shirt-- and all the rules you want to make against those things are only as good as the paper they are written on unless you are going to give the authorities (?) the right to search and seize anytime, anywhere, of anyone, without warrant.
If for every 300 million cigarettes smoked, there were as few cases of lung cancer as there are mass shootings in this country for the 300 million guns owned for every man, woman and child (?) we would all count ourselves lucky.
Liberals would do better if they truly faced the reasons our society seems to fill some people with such anger and hatred that the aberrant few want to go out and kill a bunch of random strangers before turning the guns on themselves or waiting for the cops to do it for them. Most of these people are unattractive, weird, unsuccessful, unintelligent, unrefined, definitely not hip to the style and travel sections of the New York Times. But those things have nothing to do with anything in our society, do they?
Is texas really a part of the United States? Who other than texan really cares what they do down there?
Mark's feminist half.
One snarky consulate worker, a native of Austin, Texas, I met in Mumbai to activate my Green card, after more than a year of overseas living, said sarcastically, when I told him that I had rejected applying for a faculty position in Austin many years earlier, and preferred to stay in California, "It is your loss!"
Well, well, well...Mr. Snarky, I guess it was not a bad idea afterall. Look where UT, Austin now, and where it might be going, with this new "carry gun to class permit"? Which intelligent international student is going to apply for admission there...It is going to be a lot of conservative white men with guns and a lot of Hispanics who are willing to also own guns or live with it. That is who is going to dominate UT of Austin now.
Some education they are going to receive. No discussion, no debate and no honest discourse or sharing...just fear, obedience and subservience in an authoritarian autocratic patriarchal harsh brutal system.
This is systemic pathology beyond belief. It is worse than what sometimes is written in science fiction...
One snarky consulate worker, a native of Austin, Texas, I met in Mumbai to activate my Green card, after more than a year of overseas living, said sarcastically, when I told him that I had rejected applying for a faculty position in Austin many years earlier, and preferred to stay in California, "It is your loss!"
Well, well, well...Mr. Snarky, I guess it was not a bad idea afterall. Look where UT, Austin now, and where it might be going, with this new "carry gun to class permit"? Which intelligent international student is going to apply for admission there...It is going to be a lot of conservative white men with guns and a lot of Hispanics who are willing to also own guns or live with it. That is who is going to dominate UT of Austin now.
Some education they are going to receive. No discussion, no debate and no honest discourse or sharing...just fear, obedience and subservience in an authoritarian autocratic patriarchal harsh brutal system.
This is systemic pathology beyond belief. It is worse than what sometimes is written in science fiction...
1
It is time to take a timely approach to the issue of guns and the control and use of these now lethal weapons - single shot flintlocks are a thing of the distant past. Surely everyone has noticed this obvious fact.
Cars replaced the horse-drawn carriage and rules and regulations were adjusted accordingly. One can lose one's license to drive if their behavior calls for such a result.
All the current candidates now seeking the Presidency must be asked a simple question at all of the upcoming debates.
Question:
Will you promote the repeal of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution?
If not, then why not?
Once repeal takes place, would you then promote a process to rewrite the 2nd Amendment to update the matter of guns and the control of this weaponry.
It is, after all, the 21st century - not the 18th century.
In fact, all candidates for election to the Congress should also be asked the same question.
We have to start somewhere .......... and soon.
Cars replaced the horse-drawn carriage and rules and regulations were adjusted accordingly. One can lose one's license to drive if their behavior calls for such a result.
All the current candidates now seeking the Presidency must be asked a simple question at all of the upcoming debates.
Question:
Will you promote the repeal of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution?
If not, then why not?
Once repeal takes place, would you then promote a process to rewrite the 2nd Amendment to update the matter of guns and the control of this weaponry.
It is, after all, the 21st century - not the 18th century.
In fact, all candidates for election to the Congress should also be asked the same question.
We have to start somewhere .......... and soon.
4
Isn't it interesting that the Congress of THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA doesn't permit carrying guns, or things that look like guns, or ammunition, into the UNITED STATES CAPITOL. How sensible! How rational! Why isn't that rationality transferred to Texas or wherever the NRA rules the roost? If member of Congress KNOW that they wouldn't feel safe if everybody could roam the Capitol corridors packing heat, why can't the Supremes (where the same rule applies) make sure that what keeps them safe keeps the other 312 million of us safe?
5
Now it's so scary to send kids to school or college and I don't know whether it's better to provide my son with a gun or not because I don't like the idea he's armed in the college but if not to give him a pistol means just to let him be so defenseless for anybody with firearm.
1
What new can be said, and how can we make any headway? One measure that might help change public opinion among younger men is to remove the aura of manliness from guns. Time was when guns were considered eminently cowardly, as they remove ability from the fighting equation, and allow any weasel to pretend he is powerful and important. Let's ridicule and parody gun advocates savagely in movies and TV, and call out the defenders of carrying guns in public places for what they truly are: quivering cowards, yellow to the core, utterly craven and worthy of scorn.
2
George Zimmerman felt the need to take a gun with him to Target.
Why is America too proud to look at how other countries deal with gun crime and legislation and adopt what clearly works? This level of gun crime does not happen in other first world countries - no other first world country has the number of weapons America has. The connection is obvious, the solution is obvious. The stubborn claim of "American exceptionalism" is making us exceptional for all the wrong reasons.
3
I appreciate Mr. Bruni's efforts to portray the problem of too many guns in our society and on campuses, but like a typical liberal thinker, he describes the problem posed by easy access to firearms, but offers us no solution. Nor does he answer the question formulated by advocates of the Second Amendment:Why not eliminate "gun free zones," an open invitation to a deranged shooter to come onto the school grounds and cause mayhem? What is FB's response to the belief that if there had been one student armed with an automatic pistol in that classroom at that junior college In Oregon, those 13 fatalities might have been avoided? Likewise for the carnage at Virginia Tech and Aurora.With due respect, Pres. Obama offered not one solution in his talk to the nation Friday.I have never owned a gun, never hunted, and despise those who do. But I can understand the reasoning of those who believe, given the violent world in which we live, that the "port d'arme" should be issued to students who have passed a security test.Viewing events in as more general context, perhaps it should be seen in the context of a foreign policy that has resulted in 15 years of war against indigenous peoples in the ME, and with no end in sight:One million IRAQI's dead, thanks to Bush, and O,,and the genocide continues. Juxtaposed alongside the killings in OREGON is a piece regarding the bombing of a hospital in Kunduz,resulting in at least 19 deaths."Tout s'enchaine!"
What the sane nations of the world have done to curtail gun death is limit the accessibility. We expand the availability of guns. Guess that makes us insane. Maybe we are not a mentally ill society, but definitely we are "ruled" by insane legislators. Indeed, much of the public and many gun owners see the need for some restrictions on who owns a gun. Our legislators are the insane. This should be reason enough for them to be dismissed from their positions. A government that no longer serves the will of the people needs to resign.
3
Carrying a gun or being possible to carry a gun will make you feel strong and heroic even if you are feeble physically or powerless socially. This is something like addiction to drugs and the cause is mainly psychological. You live in a fantasy world as well as in a real world; occasional carnage is the price you have to pay for this privilege. (I sometimes envy this as a person living in a country of strict gun control.)
1
About that perverse and nonsensical government: Was the legislation bi- partisan?
As a pediatrician and an educator in California, I will discourage students from ever attending school in Texas and tell parent they should be concerned about their kids going there. I will also continue to decline invitations to interview there for positions, give any lectures at medical conferences or in any way contribute to the illusion that everything is just fine in Texas.
I lived there for 7 years and I know it's not. It's broken beyond repair.
Stay away.
I lived there for 7 years and I know it's not. It's broken beyond repair.
Stay away.
1
I assume with liberal's new found concern for freedom of speech, they will now oppose any official censure or disciplinary action against a student or faculty member for anything they say or write.
1
Go ahead NRA, shoot yourself in the foot.
The NRA and the gun nuts are getting out of control. If they stay on this trajectory, they will be on target to self-implode. Between UT Austin that auto-admits top 7%, and Texas A&M that also attracts top school graduates, this is likely to upset more parents - who matter financially and politically - than the NRA can afford.
The NRA and the gun nuts are getting out of control. If they stay on this trajectory, they will be on target to self-implode. Between UT Austin that auto-admits top 7%, and Texas A&M that also attracts top school graduates, this is likely to upset more parents - who matter financially and politically - than the NRA can afford.
For the love of guns
Armed guards in every school, mall, stadium, shoe store, 7/11, Duncan Doughnuts, garden centres, drug stores, day care, restaurant, every business everywhere on every street in every town in America
For the love of guns
Armed guards in every school, mall, stadium, shoe store, 7/11, Duncan Doughnuts, garden centres, drug stores, day care, restaurant, every business everywhere on every street in every town in America
For the love of guns
3
The continued use of the term "conservative" to describe today's GOP TP (Tea Party, not toilet paper--which has a positive use) should be stopped. The Republicans have totally debauched our language, turning once honorable words into something that is their opposite. "Radical right" is more accurate, and a shorter, four-letter word used by our World War II enemies seems to be where these guys are hurtling in their quest for authoritarian control of U.S. politics and policy in the form of permanent political power.
The GOP TP seems to want to put us into a war of all against all, and uncontrolled gun violence is the fuse they are setting up to do this. The NRA and the various crackpot militias (such as the Oathkeepers) appear vying to be the armed auxiliaries of the formerly grand old party, just as right- and left-wing parties of 1930s Europe had their armed auxiliaries, most notably the SS and SA.
Mitt Romney gave the game away in his "47%" comment--somehow 150 million Americans must be gotten rid of at no cost to the politicians and the 1% who pay for campaigns and to whom our legislators and some governors pimp out their oaths of office to serve the voters and the Constitution.
The only way we can get rational gun policies in this country may be turn the guns on pro-gun groups and their paid legislators/governors.
The GOP TP seems to want to put us into a war of all against all, and uncontrolled gun violence is the fuse they are setting up to do this. The NRA and the various crackpot militias (such as the Oathkeepers) appear vying to be the armed auxiliaries of the formerly grand old party, just as right- and left-wing parties of 1930s Europe had their armed auxiliaries, most notably the SS and SA.
Mitt Romney gave the game away in his "47%" comment--somehow 150 million Americans must be gotten rid of at no cost to the politicians and the 1% who pay for campaigns and to whom our legislators and some governors pimp out their oaths of office to serve the voters and the Constitution.
The only way we can get rational gun policies in this country may be turn the guns on pro-gun groups and their paid legislators/governors.
1
Guns on campus have been illegal. That hasn't stopped the murderers. How can legalizing concealed carry for people who have undergone background checks make this situation worse?
I don't recall any gun crimes committed by those with concealed carry permits. There must be a few, but it has been rare. Permitting concealed carry by properly screened people is unlikely to change this.
I don't recall any gun crimes committed by those with concealed carry permits. There must be a few, but it has been rare. Permitting concealed carry by properly screened people is unlikely to change this.
2
With rare exceptions, all the mass shooters have been young men under 30. Mostly they bought guns legally. We could go a long way to solving the problem by raising the age at which anyone can purchase a gun to 30.
2
Here in Idaho, the concern for those of us who teach on public higher ed campuses is that for us to do our job effectively, we have to occasionally tell students they have failed--either not smart enough, not hard-working enough, not collegial enough. This is a kind of creative destruction, in the sense that some percentage of those given this message decide to surpass their assumed maximum effort, at which point their lives change for the better. But with armed students, meaning largely "traditional" college students who are in some cases still psychologically and emotionally volatile adolescents? Ever heard of the expression "killing the bearer of bad news"?
1
This war was lost long ago. The guns are already everywhere. High school kids carry. Moms walking their babies in strollers carry. Judges on the bench carry. Bruni and his colleagues will be writing exactly the same kind of column ten years from now.
1
But if we're being completely honest, of course, we'd acknowledge that the gun issue and the paralysis surrounding it is but one manifestation of the sociopathic thinking that has entered this nation's political mainstream. Calling it madness, which has been self-evident for some time now, barely begins to describe what's happening. Not unlike the global warming issue, we certainly that the gun lobby and its political adherents are fundamentally oblivious, if not hostile, to fact and evidence-based argument; they even go so far as to push legislation that denies federal agencies the ability to collect data regarding gun-related violence. And despite the fact that a vast majority of this nation's citizens actively support the enactment of some form of gun control regulation and have for some time, their growing concern is met with stone faced apathy and contempt in congress. No, this is not politics as usual, and to believe we can continue talking about the gun issue in the ghettoized, garden-variety language of politics, much less find a political solution, is ludicrous. Simply, if this country can't figure out how to cut a rogue gun lobby down to size and put it in its place, then we're entered a frightening new era in our so-called politics.
4
Professors will never know if a student has a gun in his pocket--with or without a Campus Carry law. But a would-be murder would choose a gun free campus over a campus that has a Campus Carry law. Which would the professor prefer teaching in?
Mr. Bruni, you do not get it.
The major gun menace is not homicide. It's suicide. Nationally, suicide-by-gun accounts for twice as many deaths as homicide-by-gun (20,000 vs. 10,000 annually). While the homicide rate continues its 20-year decline, the suicide rate remains elevated and steady.
As such, the risk of campus carry is that more students have immediate access to a firearm. Since depression and anxiety are incredibly common among college students and since suicide attempts are usually impulsive acts, campus carry will undoubtedly result in a higher rate of "successful" suicides.
Suicide-attempt-by-gun is the most lethal of methods, with an 85% mortality rate. Suicide-attempt-by-pill, on the other hand, has only a 1-2% death rate. If the suicide attempt is unsuccessful, there is a 90% chance of that person living without future suicide.
The sequence is clear: depression, hopelessness and pain, attempted suicide. If the suicide attempt is by any method other than gun, "failed" suicide attempt likely. If the suicide attempt is by gun, death likely.
Access to a firearm is predictive of completed suicide. If there's no access, there's zero risk of suicide-by-gun and a very low risk of completed suicide.
When discussing guns, think suicide, not homicide. Suicide is by far the most important gun menace.
The major gun menace is not homicide. It's suicide. Nationally, suicide-by-gun accounts for twice as many deaths as homicide-by-gun (20,000 vs. 10,000 annually). While the homicide rate continues its 20-year decline, the suicide rate remains elevated and steady.
As such, the risk of campus carry is that more students have immediate access to a firearm. Since depression and anxiety are incredibly common among college students and since suicide attempts are usually impulsive acts, campus carry will undoubtedly result in a higher rate of "successful" suicides.
Suicide-attempt-by-gun is the most lethal of methods, with an 85% mortality rate. Suicide-attempt-by-pill, on the other hand, has only a 1-2% death rate. If the suicide attempt is unsuccessful, there is a 90% chance of that person living without future suicide.
The sequence is clear: depression, hopelessness and pain, attempted suicide. If the suicide attempt is by any method other than gun, "failed" suicide attempt likely. If the suicide attempt is by gun, death likely.
Access to a firearm is predictive of completed suicide. If there's no access, there's zero risk of suicide-by-gun and a very low risk of completed suicide.
When discussing guns, think suicide, not homicide. Suicide is by far the most important gun menace.
I'm not exactly opposed to sane gun ownership but this madness has gone on too long. I think it's clear we must use repeal the 2nd. amendment. It wil be hard but it can be done.
2
The six largest population states in this country are run by Democrats. That's twelve Senators who would vote for repeal. Try and find another 48 to pass a bill. It takes 38 states to ratify a change to an amendment. Good luck.
The Bill Of Rights was demanded by the states as a condition to ratification of the Constitution. They are the "inalienable" rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. None of them has been amended. Amend one and they all become vulnerable. Two years ago Harry Reid wanted permission for the Congress to redefine freedom of speech by legislation. The first intended victim would have been AM radio.
Look closely at those first 10 amendments. How many of the liberties in them do you feel we can do without? The Supreme Court has already modified the Fifh Amendment in the Kelo decision by changing public use into "public purpose" to allow condemnation of personal property
The Bill Of Rights was demanded by the states as a condition to ratification of the Constitution. They are the "inalienable" rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. None of them has been amended. Amend one and they all become vulnerable. Two years ago Harry Reid wanted permission for the Congress to redefine freedom of speech by legislation. The first intended victim would have been AM radio.
Look closely at those first 10 amendments. How many of the liberties in them do you feel we can do without? The Supreme Court has already modified the Fifh Amendment in the Kelo decision by changing public use into "public purpose" to allow condemnation of personal property
If you work or study at UT;
if you are alumni;
if you are (or were) a visiting scholar on our campus;
if you a parent of a UT student, staff or faculty
if your kids are considering applying to UT in the future
if you know anyone who works or study at UT,
if you work in academia and you think that guns don't belong in schools
if you are are tired of gun violence help us to stop insanity
Share this petition to oppose guns on campus http://chn.ge/1jcoFza
if you are alumni;
if you are (or were) a visiting scholar on our campus;
if you a parent of a UT student, staff or faculty
if your kids are considering applying to UT in the future
if you know anyone who works or study at UT,
if you work in academia and you think that guns don't belong in schools
if you are are tired of gun violence help us to stop insanity
Share this petition to oppose guns on campus http://chn.ge/1jcoFza
4
Thank yoiu, Mr. Bruni--I agree with the basic sentiment and position. But it seems that you, too, have bought into NRA nonsense if you think that the problem is merely, or even primarily, attributable to outdated constitutional language. The plain words of the 2nd amendment include the idea that guns were to be "well-regulated" for "militia"...which is clearly antithetical to the current and recurrent tragedies of senseless slaughter by overarmed, lunatic gunmen. No amendment is required, just the political will to do what is right --and already constitutional--to make us all safer. What a farce...if it weren't so dark, and so important.
1
Unfortunately, I believe we have probably passed the tipping point on guns in this country, and there is no going back. There is an unhealthy aspect of the American psyche, a strange intersection of paranoia, anger and masculine insecurity that causes its sufferers to just love their guns so much that they care about little else, and are easily manipulated by organizations like (but not limited to) the NRA, lackeys of the gun industry. Put another way, if Sandy Hook brought no relief from the contagion, nothing will. Sadly, the only real chance of escape is emigration.
8
As a seventh generation Texan and proud liberal Austinite, just between you and me... the GOP has it in for Austin. First gerrymandering it to oblivion, killing the film tax incentives (and other creative subsidies) and now this. Honestly, it's very difficult to be a liberal in this state any longer, and we certainly aren't increasing its appeal to people with brains. Whittling away the liberal base in this city and the very few others (e.g. Denton) is a real agenda, a disgraceful strategy driven by big GOP donors who just want less regulation, more money, and stupider voters.
11
I know what you mean and I sympathize. It really is hard for me to go back home, even short visits.
1
Every gun owner should be required to keep a personal liability insurance policy for $2M (above that amount, it gets complicated) against the possibility of the gun in the owner's or another hand causing harm to another person that results in a claim. There are other reasons everyone should consider such protection. As a normal unarmed citizen, my policy costs only about $200 annually. I wonder what the cost would be for a gun owner with that specific clause; insurance company actuaries are good at pricing such things.
3
I can't tell you how many times I've cried, both at home and in public, when I read or hear news of the recent slaughter that occurred in Oregon. These last few years, what with policemen murdering innocent men and teens for foolish reasons, and armed, emotionally retarded men killing scores of people with an armload of weapons, I'm on the verge of getting the hell out of this dying country just as soon as possible. All of the sensible, talented people that I know have wised up, found jobs overseas, and can appreciate living where they are not in fear of life or the lives of their children. Here in the USA, the idiots have taken over the asylum, and things had better change, and soon, or I'll be off to the photographers start and saving up money for a passport.
3
Why isn't the Supreme Court an Open Carry zone? Or even a Free Speech zone? I guess there are Constitutionally sanctioned limits on rights after all. Just not where most of us live and work....
311
I don't think you can "carry" in the gallery of US Senate or the House.
Why not?
Why not?
THe use of guns to settle matters at SCHOOL has been going on in the US since the 1850s
165 years
Students unhappy with being kept after school, reprimanded, sent home....... back they came to school with a gun to shoot the teacher
Students unhappy with a grade..... back they came to school with a gun to shoot the teacher
Students upset from an argument with a classmate or being rejected by a prospective girlfriend....... back they came to school with a gun to shoot the classmate
From 11, 13, 15, 17 year olds to 20-somethings...back they came with a gun
1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s.........
How wonderful - a return to the wild west where arguments or emotional distress at school will be settled by a gun.
165 years
Students unhappy with being kept after school, reprimanded, sent home....... back they came to school with a gun to shoot the teacher
Students unhappy with a grade..... back they came to school with a gun to shoot the teacher
Students upset from an argument with a classmate or being rejected by a prospective girlfriend....... back they came to school with a gun to shoot the classmate
From 11, 13, 15, 17 year olds to 20-somethings...back they came with a gun
1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s.........
How wonderful - a return to the wild west where arguments or emotional distress at school will be settled by a gun.
6
A thoughtful observer might reflect that the privilege of carrying weapons on campus (as in other locales) might constitute a burden for students already weighed down by books, computers, cell 'phones, tablets, and other paraphernalia necessary to student life.
A logical solution to this problem, of course, might be a new product development program involving a partnership between Apple Computer and Colt Firearms, for example. From an engineering standpoint, it shouldn't be too difficult to design, produce, and market a .22, .25, .38, or .45 caliber "gun-phone" to combine the convenience of cell 'phone technology with the firepower of a solidly engineered handgun.
No longer would consumers need to carry both a gun and a cell 'phone, since the "g-phone" would combine the best elements of both. The NRA would be pleased since every living human being on the planet could be armed with substantial stopping power, even as 'cell phones proliferate. Consumers, who are already multi-tasking, could enjoy the pleasures and protections of firing a weapon without interrupting important telephone conversations, or even diverting attention while driving an automobile, texting on a "g-phone," and firing a weapon at the same time.
Of course, elementary safety considerations must be engineered into the "g-phone" so that consumers don't inadvertently fire their weapon while texting. We trust that the NRA won't object to such modest safety precautions.
[Sent from my g-phone]
A logical solution to this problem, of course, might be a new product development program involving a partnership between Apple Computer and Colt Firearms, for example. From an engineering standpoint, it shouldn't be too difficult to design, produce, and market a .22, .25, .38, or .45 caliber "gun-phone" to combine the convenience of cell 'phone technology with the firepower of a solidly engineered handgun.
No longer would consumers need to carry both a gun and a cell 'phone, since the "g-phone" would combine the best elements of both. The NRA would be pleased since every living human being on the planet could be armed with substantial stopping power, even as 'cell phones proliferate. Consumers, who are already multi-tasking, could enjoy the pleasures and protections of firing a weapon without interrupting important telephone conversations, or even diverting attention while driving an automobile, texting on a "g-phone," and firing a weapon at the same time.
Of course, elementary safety considerations must be engineered into the "g-phone" so that consumers don't inadvertently fire their weapon while texting. We trust that the NRA won't object to such modest safety precautions.
[Sent from my g-phone]
14
A modest proposal if ever I heard one. But please, don't give them any ideas.
"The students at Texas’s public universities are getting an education all right — into how perverse and nonsensical government can be."
The people who elected the nuts who passed this legislation -- in the face of overwhelming opposition from stakeholders -- are ultimately responsible for the carnage that may ensue or for the sense of fear that it will certainly instill in both faculty and students. What a way to promote "freedom" -- by those who claim to be its greatest defenders.
The people who elected the nuts who passed this legislation -- in the face of overwhelming opposition from stakeholders -- are ultimately responsible for the carnage that may ensue or for the sense of fear that it will certainly instill in both faculty and students. What a way to promote "freedom" -- by those who claim to be its greatest defenders.
8
When the inevitable happens and someone fires his weapon on campus, I hope the survivors sue the state legislator who sponsored the bill.
1
Texas has often threatened to secede again. I would suggest this would be the time. Forty-nine states works for me!
I would suggest being nowhere near the University of Texas, Austin, campus on August 1st of next year. This is the perfect day for some new nutjob to make an even bigger name for himself than Charles Whitman fifty years earlier.
On another note, what was the thinking behind making that particular date the day of enacting this new law? Was November 22nd already booked, or are they saving that for some future loosening of rifle laws and having a ceremony in Dealey Plaza in Dallas?
On another note, what was the thinking behind making that particular date the day of enacting this new law? Was November 22nd already booked, or are they saving that for some future loosening of rifle laws and having a ceremony in Dealey Plaza in Dallas?
10
Too many people in Dallas probably still think what happened that day (11/22/63) was a good thing. They hated Kennedy for his support of the Civil Rights Movement.
Perhaps Americans should ask a few questions first.
1) Do Americans suffer mental illness more than the citizens of other First World nations? Probably not.
2) Are Americans more susceptible to the violence in movies and video games than the citizens of other First World nations? Probably not.
3) Are Americans swamped with guns — specifically handguns — compared to other developed nations? Darn right.
Questions 1 and 2 are diversions.
Question 3 is really the nub of the problem.
1) Do Americans suffer mental illness more than the citizens of other First World nations? Probably not.
2) Are Americans more susceptible to the violence in movies and video games than the citizens of other First World nations? Probably not.
3) Are Americans swamped with guns — specifically handguns — compared to other developed nations? Darn right.
Questions 1 and 2 are diversions.
Question 3 is really the nub of the problem.
10
It really is a topsy-turvey world. Adults, supposedly mature enough to understand Darwin, Nietzsche and Joyce have to have their delicate psyches protected with trigger warnings. In parallel logic the right is telling them they must protect their delicate bodies with a ready finger on the trigger of a gun. We have become a timorous, wingeing nation and the trigger is our shield. Oddly the perpetrators of these tragedies are perhaps the most fearful among us. They are the vanguard of paranoia.
As for universities being fora for open discourse that ship has sailed. Guns didn't stifle debate; students and teachers did. Universities have become the arena of closed minds and moral certainty.
As for universities being fora for open discourse that ship has sailed. Guns didn't stifle debate; students and teachers did. Universities have become the arena of closed minds and moral certainty.
1
If this epidemic is about mental illness, where is the Congressional investigation about better treatment of mental illness? If it is about enforcing the laws already on the books, where is the Congressional investigation of why those laws aren't being enforced? Congress spent two years investigating four deaths at Benghazi -- why can't they spend a week or two looking at how and why dozens of children and moviegoers and college students are being killed?
"We can't eliminate gun violence" is an absurd argument. We can't eliminate a lot of things, but we can decrease their frequency. If it is a little harder to get a gun -- or we are a little better about treating mental illness -- maybe we can reduce mass killings by 25% or 50% -- and that's hundreds of people a year who are still alive and hundreds of families still in tact. How on earth did all those deaths become not worth a day of Congress's time? If you don't want a Congressional investigation, you are saying that the status quo is preferable to any changes Congress might suggest -- before even knowing what the changes are. And for people who are frustrated, don't be fooled. The problem is not "America." Most Americans agree about sensible gun restrictions. The problem is a moral failure of the specific group of people who are the current Congressional leadership. These deaths will continue growing at this rate only as long as those specific people remain in office and only as long as they keep doing nothing.
"We can't eliminate gun violence" is an absurd argument. We can't eliminate a lot of things, but we can decrease their frequency. If it is a little harder to get a gun -- or we are a little better about treating mental illness -- maybe we can reduce mass killings by 25% or 50% -- and that's hundreds of people a year who are still alive and hundreds of families still in tact. How on earth did all those deaths become not worth a day of Congress's time? If you don't want a Congressional investigation, you are saying that the status quo is preferable to any changes Congress might suggest -- before even knowing what the changes are. And for people who are frustrated, don't be fooled. The problem is not "America." Most Americans agree about sensible gun restrictions. The problem is a moral failure of the specific group of people who are the current Congressional leadership. These deaths will continue growing at this rate only as long as those specific people remain in office and only as long as they keep doing nothing.
10
Mr. Bruni's fine essay omits one group who plays a role in rejecting sensible efforts to improve gun safety. These are the people who subscribe to the belief that the true purpose of the 2nd amendment is to protect society against the black helicopters and bogus military maneuvers of the evil empire in D.C. Members of this band of brothers have on occasion prowled the streets of Texas cities, testing the limits of the new open-carry laws. Through these kinds of stunts they generate more publicity than their numbers would justify.
It is unclear what role their belligerence played in persuading the Texas legislature to enact the open-carry laws. But their uneasy relationship even with the state government makes them improbable allies in any campaign to curtail gun violence. They are more likely to identify with the nra leadership and reject the kinds of reforms outlined in Kristof's essay.
Even so, they have neither the numbers nor the influence to derail an effort at compromise, if determined politicians challenge them and their nra allies with proposals similar to the ones suggested by Kristof. A campaign that emphasizes safety rather than confiscation will focus attention on specific, achievable goals, an approach that has always appealed to the good sense of the American people. It is long past time that we shed our fears of the corrupt, cynical leadership of the nra and its allies in the anti-government movement. They are not giants, and we are not pygmies.
It is unclear what role their belligerence played in persuading the Texas legislature to enact the open-carry laws. But their uneasy relationship even with the state government makes them improbable allies in any campaign to curtail gun violence. They are more likely to identify with the nra leadership and reject the kinds of reforms outlined in Kristof's essay.
Even so, they have neither the numbers nor the influence to derail an effort at compromise, if determined politicians challenge them and their nra allies with proposals similar to the ones suggested by Kristof. A campaign that emphasizes safety rather than confiscation will focus attention on specific, achievable goals, an approach that has always appealed to the good sense of the American people. It is long past time that we shed our fears of the corrupt, cynical leadership of the nra and its allies in the anti-government movement. They are not giants, and we are not pygmies.
6
The irony is that the people who are afraid of Congress are the very same people who vote the worse nutcases in to office.
If they - or we - want a sane body of legislators who put the needs of the citizens before those of corporations and institutions like the NRA or Americans for Tax Reform (Norquist), we will have to elect them. We will have to turn off the t.v., throw away the political junk mail, and hang up on the push polling that tries to influence our vote through hate and fear mongering. We will have watch the presidential/candidate debates with a ear to policy suggestions and an eye to enacted core values. We will have to do the hard work of looking at voting records and contributor lists until we are sure we understand what we are getting when we cast our ballots in November, 2016.
As Bernie Sanders says, "Enough is enough!"
If they - or we - want a sane body of legislators who put the needs of the citizens before those of corporations and institutions like the NRA or Americans for Tax Reform (Norquist), we will have to elect them. We will have to turn off the t.v., throw away the political junk mail, and hang up on the push polling that tries to influence our vote through hate and fear mongering. We will have watch the presidential/candidate debates with a ear to policy suggestions and an eye to enacted core values. We will have to do the hard work of looking at voting records and contributor lists until we are sure we understand what we are getting when we cast our ballots in November, 2016.
As Bernie Sanders says, "Enough is enough!"
No one ever seems to mention that in these despicable and heinous campus shootings that it was illegal for the perpetrators to possess weapons on school property. Somehow making it illegal didn't stop it. Some of these were legally obtained weapons (and there's a problem there) but the whole notion of horror at the thought of licensed, background checked, thoroughly screened and trained individuals carrying a weapon is a red herring. The checks required for concealed carry are more in-depth than the 'instant' checks done when purchasing a rifle or shotgun or even a pistol. The percentage of violent crimes perpetrated by licensed, concealed carry individuals is so small as to be approaching zero. If only someone there had been legally carrying when the attack started.
1
John -
While you are at it, please explain why these ever-so-sensible and thoroughly vetted individuals need to carry a weapon on campus - or in church, the grocery store, the neighborhood bar? It isn't healthy.
While you are at it, please explain why these ever-so-sensible and thoroughly vetted individuals need to carry a weapon on campus - or in church, the grocery store, the neighborhood bar? It isn't healthy.
The Sandy Hook shootings occurred in a state with very strict gun laws. Oregon has fairly tough gun laws. The campus where the shootings occurred banned guns.
I am puzzled why Mr. Bruni is focusing on Texas -- this did not happen in Texas. He is going back to 1969 (!!!) to find a similar incident!
I am puzzled why Mr. Bruni is focusing on Texas -- this did not happen in Texas. He is going back to 1969 (!!!) to find a similar incident!
I was a parole agent for the CDCR for 23 years. Let me ask you
1) According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report Homicides Table 20 Weapons there was 1,745 homicides in California in 2013. 1,224 were gun related And isn't it true that California has among the strictest gun control laws in the country?
Texas, which is much more lax had 1,133 homicides and 760 gun related murders. Doing the math Texas had 612 less homicides and 464 less gun related homicides. Can someone explain that?
Can someone explain to me why the number of homicides dropped from 16,528 in 2003 to 11,691 in 2014?
People don't want to hear this but the people you should fear are the ones who get out of prison. They don't believe in your laws, they will not follow your laws and they don't care about you or what you have. They have no intention of working a 9-5 job and if you are what stands in their way of getting what they want they will kill you to get it. If one of these people breaks into your house you think he won't have a weapon? And what are you going to use to defend yourself? Your great rhetorical skills? A broom? A spatula? You'll be pleading for your life and it means nothing to him.
You can ignore me and that's fine. I know what they will do and why. You have no clue. Tell me, who has the advantage then, you or them? I have had my life threatened and my wife and then small daughters threatened with rape and sodomy. I have a 9mm, 1 45 cal and a 44 mag. If you don't like it I don't give a damn
1) According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report Homicides Table 20 Weapons there was 1,745 homicides in California in 2013. 1,224 were gun related And isn't it true that California has among the strictest gun control laws in the country?
Texas, which is much more lax had 1,133 homicides and 760 gun related murders. Doing the math Texas had 612 less homicides and 464 less gun related homicides. Can someone explain that?
Can someone explain to me why the number of homicides dropped from 16,528 in 2003 to 11,691 in 2014?
People don't want to hear this but the people you should fear are the ones who get out of prison. They don't believe in your laws, they will not follow your laws and they don't care about you or what you have. They have no intention of working a 9-5 job and if you are what stands in their way of getting what they want they will kill you to get it. If one of these people breaks into your house you think he won't have a weapon? And what are you going to use to defend yourself? Your great rhetorical skills? A broom? A spatula? You'll be pleading for your life and it means nothing to him.
You can ignore me and that's fine. I know what they will do and why. You have no clue. Tell me, who has the advantage then, you or them? I have had my life threatened and my wife and then small daughters threatened with rape and sodomy. I have a 9mm, 1 45 cal and a 44 mag. If you don't like it I don't give a damn
1
"According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report Homicides Table 20 Weapons there was 1,745 homicides in California in 2013. 1,224 were gun related And isn't it true that California has among the strictest gun control laws in the country?
Texas, which is much more lax had 1,133 homicides and 760 gun related murders. Doing the math Texas had 612 less homicides and 464 less gun related homicides. Can someone explain that?"
Maybe because California's population is 11+ million people larger than that of Texas. More people more murders.
Texas, which is much more lax had 1,133 homicides and 760 gun related murders. Doing the math Texas had 612 less homicides and 464 less gun related homicides. Can someone explain that?"
Maybe because California's population is 11+ million people larger than that of Texas. More people more murders.
Constitutional rights have limits and responsibilities. Guns must be treated like autos with safety legislation based upon: certificates of title and licenses; liability insurance; and 'rules of the road' governing safe use and storage. This will greatly reduce gun violence. It is LOW , LOW hanging fruit.
Responsible Gun Owners will........Assume responsibility for helping to reduce the mayhem.
Responsible Gun Owners will........Assume responsibility for helping to reduce the mayhem.
5
I can't wait to see kids carrying assault rifles to class. Will the teachers carry grenade launchers?
10
The teachers will be issued helmets and flak jackets and the EMTs will be on stand-by at the campus health station 24/7. The campus frat boys who are rapists will now be able to really subdue their victims.
1
REHARRY: U don't give ur last name, and I don't blame you.If u r trying to be funny, your "humor" goes over like a lead balloon.. Try thinking constructively, and suggest a means by which gunowners and their opponents can reach a "terrain d'entente."Obama, by blaming the recent violence on Republicans, didn't help by politicizing the situation.Notice that even the left, incarnated by EW, HRC,BS and BIDEN, tend to bite its tongue when speaking critically of the NRA. Biden always prefaces his remarks by saying, "Well, I'm a gun owner too!"How many of the "dangerous disappointed " were actually NRA members/
anyone who has had an enraged student in his or her office, say a student told he has failed a course due to plagiarism, and who has slammed the door after shouting at the professor, realizes the danger this insanity has now placed us in.
imagine the further insanity with the statement that we should carry guns to protect ourselves from such students.
imagine the further insanity with the statement that we should carry guns to protect ourselves from such students.
11
Those who choose to own guns should understand that their problem is not those of us who want more regulation.
Their problem is that increasing numbers of gun owners are showing themselves to be irresponsible in their ownership.
You cannot expect the rest of us to sit down and shut up about it.
Their problem is that increasing numbers of gun owners are showing themselves to be irresponsible in their ownership.
You cannot expect the rest of us to sit down and shut up about it.
18
Amazing how almost all of these comments are about the NRA or Republicans and no one wants to mention mental illness which is the real problem. The fantasy that background checks, outlawing assault weapons, and blaming conservatives for all these killings is mind boggling, and also very wrong because it will not stop any of these terrible murders.
I am not a conservative and in fact am a liberal Democrat who is dismayed how every time one of these horrible murders happen the mantra is more gun control. There are plenty of gun laws on the books that all of these deranged individuals violated.
After the student at Virginia Tech murdered more than thirty students and professors it was revealed that he was examined by psychiatrists six months earlier and deemed a threat to himself and others but because of the privacy laws medical professionals were not allowed to reveal this information to his parents! How would you feel if your son or daughter was sitting in a classroom with a person who was deemed to be a threat to others? Thank you fellow liberals for the absurd privacy laws.
Keep blaming it on the NRA. Keep blaming it on the right wing. Keep demanding more gun control. It will not end the carnage. The mass murders are being carried out by mentally ill individuals. As long as we fail to address this problem and are more concerned about the rights of people that are mentally ill than the rights of innocent men, women, and children more acts of violence will occur.
I am not a conservative and in fact am a liberal Democrat who is dismayed how every time one of these horrible murders happen the mantra is more gun control. There are plenty of gun laws on the books that all of these deranged individuals violated.
After the student at Virginia Tech murdered more than thirty students and professors it was revealed that he was examined by psychiatrists six months earlier and deemed a threat to himself and others but because of the privacy laws medical professionals were not allowed to reveal this information to his parents! How would you feel if your son or daughter was sitting in a classroom with a person who was deemed to be a threat to others? Thank you fellow liberals for the absurd privacy laws.
Keep blaming it on the NRA. Keep blaming it on the right wing. Keep demanding more gun control. It will not end the carnage. The mass murders are being carried out by mentally ill individuals. As long as we fail to address this problem and are more concerned about the rights of people that are mentally ill than the rights of innocent men, women, and children more acts of violence will occur.
42
How about the rights of the mentally ill to receive proper treatment? Your argument that it is strictly a mental health issues always looks perfect in retrospect, but it's not always so clear. You're argument is specious because other countries have mentally ill people but without guns there are not the mass murders we have to endure in the US all the time.
1
The question should be then what are other developed nations doing with their mentally ill that we aren't. Because apparently they are doing something right, none of them have anywhere close to the numbers of massacres our country is experiencing.
1
So you think that mental illness is more prevalent in the United States than any other country? What is your proof? What is statistically proven is the US has far more guns than other countries and far more homicides, suicides, and accidents involving guns than any other country. Look at Australia. Gun control laws work extremely well.
1
In order to fully realize the right to concealed carry in any and all Texas venues, the Texas lawmakers should pass a law allowing concealed carry in the Texas legislature and all legislative offices, with no weapons check in any government office building statewide.
Let's see the shoe on the other foot.
Let's see the shoe on the other foot.
35
The demented emotional attachment to guns these Texas "lawmakers" demonstrate by welcoming guns into the classrooms of the University of Texas is actually an assault on civilization itself. It's a direct attack on the very concept of government and the common good. A preference for fear and homicidal rage over reason.
10
Certain members of Congress, feel free to file this away for future use. It will save you some time:
"I was shocked and saddened today to learn that (number) students/church members/movie patrons were killed and another (number) were seriously injured when a deeply disturbed individual opened fire in a senseless act of violence. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
"As I have after the previous (total so far) mass shootings, I will mourn the dead, hope for healing of the wounded, and utterly fail to pass any legislation that would preserve the intent of the Second Amendment but make it more difficult for someone with a history of mental illness or criminal conduct to buy all of the guns and ammo he can carry into a school, church or theater."
Just fill in the blanks and select the correct victim category and your statement is ready to be issued. Your welcome.
"I was shocked and saddened today to learn that (number) students/church members/movie patrons were killed and another (number) were seriously injured when a deeply disturbed individual opened fire in a senseless act of violence. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
"As I have after the previous (total so far) mass shootings, I will mourn the dead, hope for healing of the wounded, and utterly fail to pass any legislation that would preserve the intent of the Second Amendment but make it more difficult for someone with a history of mental illness or criminal conduct to buy all of the guns and ammo he can carry into a school, church or theater."
Just fill in the blanks and select the correct victim category and your statement is ready to be issued. Your welcome.
7
We as a country are falling into a death spiral. There is something very repulsive when political leaders respond to these tragedies with the statement that "stuff happens". Where is our common purpose as a nation. We better find our way, and quickly.
10
A couple of years ago I had a student who had a significant amount in common with the latest shooter and Elliot Rogers. He was particularly angry at women and African Americans and was upset with some of the material I was covering in my class. Luckily the college was able resolve the issue before anything happened but it was the most nerve wracking several weeks I have ever dealt with. I'm not unused to physical violence or the threat of violence and can generally handle things pretty well. However the sheer unpredictability of the situation just wore me down. The possibility of gun violence was particularly worrisome (I was afraid of him attacking my class or possibly targeting me on the way to my vehicle.) and I was teaching in a state with relatively commonsense gun regulations. I can only imagine what would have happened if he had had been able to carry a gun on campus the day he was really upset in my classroom.
10
As a professor, I would NOT want to teach at such a school as UT Austin will soon become. Nor would I recommend Austin to anyone as a place of serious study. Slowly but surely the USA is becoming one big insane asylum.
22
Yes, you are 100% correct.
The NRA and gun lobby are the tobacco lobby of today.
They don't care how many people they kill.
It's profits they care about.
Ane they have their 2nd amendment dupes.
The NRA and gun lobby are the tobacco lobby of today.
They don't care how many people they kill.
It's profits they care about.
Ane they have their 2nd amendment dupes.
10
As they may teach in Classics, hubris is a tragic flaw. That this abomination of a political movement should proudly produce the absurdity of guns in school added to the list of falsifying access to undo women's clinics, choking research funding, suppressing the vote, creating wasteful committee hearings, and denying science itself may finally have reached critical mass. We may finally be getting it as a culture- our ideals have been stolen from us by snake oil salesmen and we've had enough. This is what the public gets for its tax dollars- elected representatives looking to exploit the citizenry for the profit of its patrons? I thought we were better than that- and I hope that our feeble comments and this excellent piece of journalism, may rally a UT father, mother,teacher or student to get as much media attention as that other public servant, Kim Davis.
9
The first year or two of college is very challenging. You have to find and develop a network of new friends. You're away from home. There are new hierarchies to fit into, that you are sure won't accept you. Your ego takes a real beating
It's a period of insecurity and sometimes paranoia. That's not an environment you want to introduce guns into.
It's a period of insecurity and sometimes paranoia. That's not an environment you want to introduce guns into.
11
I've always had the impression that Americans enjoy violence; football, endless foreign intervention, violent movies and television shows. The larger question is this; what is the pathology behind the American psyche that seems to relish violence? Of course we are frightened by the frequency of mass killings, but Americans are shot routinely by the police, shot by family members, armed gangs and so on. This country is sick with a disease, unfathomable in most developed countries. The inncocent of this sick and sore community have been abandoned by their elected officials, and left to fend for themselves, all because of an arcane concept put forth by white slave owners in the 18th century. Because we Americans refuse to acknowledge the abusdity of the second amendment and it's utter pointlessness in the modern world, we will continue to suffer needlessly. Yes, we are truly the exceptional nation.
19
Neither Heroin, Cigarettes, or Alcohol can't come as close to the addicting power of guns. Any mention of withdraw of just one gun sends the addict into a rage. American has an awful disease that may have no cure. Even the death of children has no effect on this affliction.
19
Follow the money. Opposition to universal background checks and other no-brainer gun control measures are fueled entirely by greed: always, always remember that the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation are trade organizations whose only mission is to increase profits for their constituents.
8
One simple question - are those with "carry" permits also now allowed to bring guns into the Texas state capitol? That is, if "Guns Are Good", they're good everywhere, right?
20
Why is there no review of the legislative history of the Texas law in question? Surely the legislators proferred supporting reasons other than the ones ridiculed in the article. Also, how about a statistical analysis of the "mass shootings" that have taken place in areas where guns are prohibited (most institutions, government facilities, public entertainment sites) versus those where guns are allowed to properly licensed citizens.
1
His father is 'dismayed' - His mother is 'so close to him but really missing in action.
The only way, the only way 50%+ of this stops is for parents of disturbed, autistic, psychotic (pic your mental health term) keep handguns away from their sons (our daughters aren't the problem).
But oh no, 'he's been so persecuted, challenged, ridiculed (pick your head-in-the sand adjective) all his life, let him at least have something he loves'
The only way, the only way 50%+ of this stops is for parents of disturbed, autistic, psychotic (pic your mental health term) keep handguns away from their sons (our daughters aren't the problem).
But oh no, 'he's been so persecuted, challenged, ridiculed (pick your head-in-the sand adjective) all his life, let him at least have something he loves'
6
Legally, parents have no ability to control an adult child.
Universities are liberal institutions? An out of touch statement.
Even liberal professors are scared to death of saying anything that will "trigger" an unpleasant thought or emotion among the jackboot progressive students on today's campus.
Crime, real campus rape (meaning not Rolling Stone rape), and shootings will plummet on Texas campuses. Wasn't it a non-student who climbed the tower and shot UT students? What was that . . . fifty years ago?
We are not concerned with how myopic left wing hypocrites feel about our guns. Not one bit. We understand everything that you don't understand.
Even liberal professors are scared to death of saying anything that will "trigger" an unpleasant thought or emotion among the jackboot progressive students on today's campus.
Crime, real campus rape (meaning not Rolling Stone rape), and shootings will plummet on Texas campuses. Wasn't it a non-student who climbed the tower and shot UT students? What was that . . . fifty years ago?
We are not concerned with how myopic left wing hypocrites feel about our guns. Not one bit. We understand everything that you don't understand.
2
You must be mistaken about a previous shooting from the tower at the University of Texas because firearms were forbidden on campus and we all know that criminals obey laws. These liberals have no grasp of reality and believe taking the right of responsible folks will help. I think Bruni should first explain why Chicago, with extreme gun laws, has a horrific murder rate, where Texas has 1/10 the murder rate and doesn't have extreme gun laws. This article is liberal think at its worse, without logic, facts or data.
1) Charlie Whitman, the sniper who did the Tower shootings in 1961, was an engineering student. It says so in the article. 2) What's with all the mystery in the fourth paragraph? What do you, whoever you are, understand that "we" don't? 3) Finally, in the face of every statistic that proves that having more guns around makes no one safer - in fact, the opposite is true - reading your conjecture concerning "left wing hypocrites" forces me to wonder just who in this equation is myopic.
1
It's amazing how that gun makes you feel so omnipotent and, um, not impotent. Congratulations, and I hope you don't shoot yourself or someone else by accident. Of course the statistics suggest you're much more likely to die that way, but I realize your confidence is entirely erect.
4
Texas strikes me as a very strange state, a state where intelligence and reason have given way to a distorted view of the world and a kind of egotism that scares me. Rather than view others as fellow citizens, people similar to themselves, Texans must view others as potential threats and even as enemies. Such views strike me as pathological. I would no more consider carrying a firearm than I would a samari sword. The people I see and interact with when I leave my house I assume are much like me, intent on living their lives as happily as they can, peacefully and without ill will towards others. To suppose otherwise would put me in a frame of mind that would rob me of any satisfaction I might get from being part of a community. Of course there are insane people out there, but to carry firearms to defend myself against them strikes me as insanity itself.It certainly is no way to live life. I cannot even imagine shooting or otherwise hurting another human being even if my own life were threatened. What kind of
person believes that they are in constant danger enough to carry a deadly weapon around with them? I would not like to be around such a person. I suspect that at the root of the love of guns harbored by many Americas is a deeply hidden penchant for violence and a view of the world that sees most people behaving like savages.
I'm sick to death of America's love affair with guns and violence.
person believes that they are in constant danger enough to carry a deadly weapon around with them? I would not like to be around such a person. I suspect that at the root of the love of guns harbored by many Americas is a deeply hidden penchant for violence and a view of the world that sees most people behaving like savages.
I'm sick to death of America's love affair with guns and violence.
32
It is very easy, concealed carry is a preventative measure deterring criminals from harming others. Criminals know that if they go into a Texas restaurant that they will die if they decide to commit a mass murder. This was the very circumstance that prompted the law in Texas and it has worked fantastically since then with zero mass murders where carry is allowed. Killers are basically cowards and avoid places where they might be shot dead immediately. Nobody is walking around in fear, you have completely mischaracterized the situation. DO you think it is by accident that killers pick the "gun free" zones to commit their crimes? The police do their job, but they get called in after the criminal has acted, not before. We call people like you "victims", one that can't take responsibility for their own
safety.
safety.
To say "Texans" and "Texas" as somehow monolithic is incorrect. Gerrymandered political districts have put Republicans in a virtually unassailable position for at least another decade. In my district, there is little incentive to vote, the Republican candidate is going to win 60-70% of the vote. Thus, the Republican primary decides the election. The ones who are most motivated to vote in that primary are the no-tax/low services crowd who are ultra-conservative on social issues. They also believe in ideological purity, so that any negotiation or compromise is seen as abandoning "conservative values." Hence John Cornyn was once seen as very conservative, but is now seen as almost moderate. The bottom line is that Texas has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the country, and a small minority (some might say "lunatic fringe") are responsible for electing Texas political leaders. It's not everyone - thank God we have the federal government and courts to step in at times and put the brakes on some of the worst nonsense.
What would happen if the UT faculty simply refuses to teach on campus (not refuse to teach at all but instead arrange a nearby sanctuary and move their classes there) until the law is repealed or the university is exempted from it? Fire them? Fire them all? And with whom would you replace them?
7
That would be an interesting experiment. My bet is replacements are available and would happily fill the vacant posts.
I took the Concealed Carry class in Arizona 11 years ago. It was a real joke. You'd have to be half-dead to fail the course. Don't be fooled by those who say that holders of concealed weapons permits are properly trained. It's a lie.
16
The required classes for a concealed carry permit in Texas have been reduced to 4 - 6 hours long. I've spent more time learning how to use a computer than it takes for someone to qualify to carry a gun.
We have the same idiotic law/policy at the University of Colorado. Faculty protested, but the Board of Regent went ahead and approved it. Gun nuts in Colorado made a stink, saying prohibiting guns on campus violated students' Second Amendment rights. Guns aren't allowed in dormitories, and are required to be locked up, and apparently there are few students on campus who have registered their guns for the concealed carry allowance, but the idea itself is completely insane.
What's that saying? Where am I going and why am I in this hand basket? The United States has gone completely off the rails. We are ruled by idiots bought and paid for by the NRA, who do not answer to the people, who want gun control, despite what the hysterical and loud-mouthed gun-nut minority says.
Europeans think we are the most ignorant people on the planet ... our public policy (if you can call it that) around this issue is completely idiotic. No wonder the rest of the world hates us. We're the scariest people on the planet.
What's that saying? Where am I going and why am I in this hand basket? The United States has gone completely off the rails. We are ruled by idiots bought and paid for by the NRA, who do not answer to the people, who want gun control, despite what the hysterical and loud-mouthed gun-nut minority says.
Europeans think we are the most ignorant people on the planet ... our public policy (if you can call it that) around this issue is completely idiotic. No wonder the rest of the world hates us. We're the scariest people on the planet.
18
Texas lawmakers, predominantly republicans, are abusing their power to rattle the free exchange of ideas at learning centers...by allowing guns on campus. Who but a loony teacher would want to expose himself/herself to such a risk, especially when discussing controversial matters, and even more so when assigning a note below A+? This is absolutely crazy, and Texan politicians ought to have their heads examined, in the hope of finding a few isolated neurons that can tell freedom from license. Incidentally, do these congressmen allow guns in their 'sacred' inner sanctum?
8
The author of that stupid Supreme Court decision, Heller, allowing unrestricted carrying of firearms. overturning a century of jurisprudence, was Scalia the noted "originalist." One can't help think that this legal savant who envisions what the Founders intended, would have been laughed out of the Constitutional Convention as those enlightenment thinkers devised the nation's charter. Then again, he would probably not have gone there; he would certainly have been a Tory, a supporter of the crown.
7
Robert:
To tell the truth, Scalia would have most probably not been allowed in the Convention. Italian, you know.
To tell the truth, Scalia would have most probably not been allowed in the Convention. Italian, you know.
The 2nd Amendment does not guarantee the absolute right to own any gun, any type of ammunition, or a clip holding any amount of ammunition. The 2nd Amendment does not mean that the government can not institute mandatory background checks or waiting periods. The 2nd Amendment has the word regulation in it which more than implies the the government can regulate gun purchases and ownership. Laws regarding all of these could be passed by Congress tomorrow. This President would sign them. These laws would not take a single gun away from a person who owns one legally or place an undue burden on responsible gun owners. These laws might have prevented several of the mass shootings. There is one reason these things have not come to pass: Too many politicians, Republican and Democrat, are in the pocket of the NRA.
Our lax gun laws make it easier for domestic terrorists to purchase weapons in the US which they could use to carry out terrorist acts. Our gun laws are a national security risk. Gun related violence in this country is an epidemic and more guns in more places is clearly not the answer. Wake up America. The NRA is more dangerous to Americans than ISIS and Al Quaida combined. Their lobbying and influence buying costs more American lives annually than any terrorist organization could dream of taking.
Our lax gun laws make it easier for domestic terrorists to purchase weapons in the US which they could use to carry out terrorist acts. Our gun laws are a national security risk. Gun related violence in this country is an epidemic and more guns in more places is clearly not the answer. Wake up America. The NRA is more dangerous to Americans than ISIS and Al Quaida combined. Their lobbying and influence buying costs more American lives annually than any terrorist organization could dream of taking.
12
That's all true. We've found a way to have a standing national establishment under the principle of providing for the common and and common defense even though the Constitution does provide for this.
However, when we come guns the common good and common defense seems to go the window.
However, when we come guns the common good and common defense seems to go the window.
We know what will happen. There will be accidents; people will shoot themselves, or their roommates, or their friends. There will be drinking and guns will emerge. Arguments will turn into shootings, or gunfights. People will be hit by random gunfire. Lots of students without licenses will carry.
It's guaranteed that all that will happen. Everybody knows it. Young people will be hurt or killed, but somehow it's more important to lawmakers to prove a point.
It's guaranteed that all that will happen. Everybody knows it. Young people will be hurt or killed, but somehow it's more important to lawmakers to prove a point.
5
The age of the first schizophrenic break;
The age of more freedom to binge drink;
The age at which the frontal cortex (decision making) is still not fully developed;
The age at which one can purchase & carry a gun;
The age at which one is usually in college;
lead to, in my opinion, a very volatile situation.
I would suggest that those whose frontal cortex is more mature, address this situation.
The age of more freedom to binge drink;
The age at which the frontal cortex (decision making) is still not fully developed;
The age at which one can purchase & carry a gun;
The age at which one is usually in college;
lead to, in my opinion, a very volatile situation.
I would suggest that those whose frontal cortex is more mature, address this situation.
5
Moses had to wander the dessert for 40 years, or two generations for the Israelites to forget they were slaves.
The Texas culture will not change over night, but it is changing. When I moved to Dallas in 1986, some men wore guns at their sides like modern day cowboys. Gun control was a laughable issue.
It is different now, but still not a reality. Unfortunately it will take more time, more murders!
The Texas culture will not change over night, but it is changing. When I moved to Dallas in 1986, some men wore guns at their sides like modern day cowboys. Gun control was a laughable issue.
It is different now, but still not a reality. Unfortunately it will take more time, more murders!
2
As a liberal, who supports a strong safety net ,I'm particularly appalled if I see undeserving people abuse the kindness and egalitarian spirit of our (too measly)
social welfare state. I want those programs to provide for the unfortunate needy among us.
In that same vein I'd think that the majority of responsible, sane gun owners and advocates would have an especially strong response and some genuine solutions to the regular horror and predictability of mass shootings in America.
Time for them to speak up and be heard. All this liberal hears are the shrill voices of the NRA gun lobbyists and "patriots" across the land demanding more guns and selling their canned version of "freedom" in a reinforcing feedback loop guaranteed to result in another scene of innocent bloodshed and carnage.
social welfare state. I want those programs to provide for the unfortunate needy among us.
In that same vein I'd think that the majority of responsible, sane gun owners and advocates would have an especially strong response and some genuine solutions to the regular horror and predictability of mass shootings in America.
Time for them to speak up and be heard. All this liberal hears are the shrill voices of the NRA gun lobbyists and "patriots" across the land demanding more guns and selling their canned version of "freedom" in a reinforcing feedback loop guaranteed to result in another scene of innocent bloodshed and carnage.
144
A colleague was knifed to death in his office by a student. "Campus carry" would not have saved the peaceful elderly man who was alone. Thank goodness the assailant had only a knife, not a Glock. What about the women on college campuses who are assaulted. Alcohol is often involved, so I doubt conceal carry would make them any safer. It would not have saved any of my brother's friends who died young, the first one at age 12, in his own home. That could have been my brother. I have spent time in Colombia, where colleagues of mine were shot in their offices for political reasons (with guns from the U.S.). I spent six wonderful months at the University of Texas, enjoying its unparalleled library collections and top-shelf faculty and terrific students and gorgeous campus, though that tower sometimes made me shudder. I imagined my daughter as a student there. That dream has ended. She isn't going anywhere that students are allowed to carry guns on campuses, to parties, into dorms and bedrooms, into bars, into classrooms. And I'm not sure I'm ever going back.
7
On August, 1, 1966, my parents moved us to Austin. We headed over to the UT campus where my mother planned to pursue grad school. We never made it to campus that day. We saw people crouched behind cars for some reason. Then at Guadalupe and 24th we were turned away from campus. There was a young man in the UT tower shooting on the campus below. He killed 14 people that day. No rational person could experience that and think, yes, we need more guns on campus.
I don't understand what has happened to voters' minds that can countenance electing a Congress that spends trillions on fighting terrorists - who have at most killed a few thousand - yet cannot even begin to address the easy availability of guns to the murderous young men in our midst.
And the response from the right is "stuff happens."
Madness.
I don't understand what has happened to voters' minds that can countenance electing a Congress that spends trillions on fighting terrorists - who have at most killed a few thousand - yet cannot even begin to address the easy availability of guns to the murderous young men in our midst.
And the response from the right is "stuff happens."
Madness.
525
Carried a weapon most of my life. The silly (correct word) idea that weapons will keep you safe is irrefutably wrong. The gun lobby, the #NRA, arms the incompetent, fearful and criminal for 'fun and 'profit'. This nonsense must stop.
7
Until gun control supporters donate to groups that can lobby harder and more effectively than the NRA, and until they vote as effectively as NRA members, it's just words on a page. Regrettably.
1
We have tried many things, nothing so far we have done turns out to work. What if we made the seller of any weapon and ammunition legally liable for any damages caused by the use of these weapons and ammunitions? This would get the background checks done, and would make the sellers responsible?
4
We can change this. We need to vote with gun control and banning #1. Then it will be done nothing less will do
1
UT Austin was my top pick when I applied to grad school. Since then several members of my family have graduated from UT. I've spent countless hours on the UT campus doing research. I love UT Austin. And I don't even live in America.
But there is something horribly wrong when the Texas legislature passes a law that makes it practically impossible to bar lethal weapons on campus. When the University itself thinks it is insane. When US universities are already all over the news for binge drinking and sexual assault. Against this backdrop we are informed that UT Austin must allow guns on campus, against its own better judgement.
UT Austin was a top choice for my daughter's college education. I was even willing to pay astronomical out-of-state tuition for this. But now it is not on the list. Because of campus carry. It makes no sense. I will look at Massachussetts. Or California.
This is not just about the frontier norms of Texas. Texans may have no choice but to go along. But Texas is connected to the world. Campus carry is about what message the Texas university system sends to the rest of the civilized world. If Texas wants to be the Wild West, that it is its prerogative. It just cant have the cake and eat it.
But there is something horribly wrong when the Texas legislature passes a law that makes it practically impossible to bar lethal weapons on campus. When the University itself thinks it is insane. When US universities are already all over the news for binge drinking and sexual assault. Against this backdrop we are informed that UT Austin must allow guns on campus, against its own better judgement.
UT Austin was a top choice for my daughter's college education. I was even willing to pay astronomical out-of-state tuition for this. But now it is not on the list. Because of campus carry. It makes no sense. I will look at Massachussetts. Or California.
This is not just about the frontier norms of Texas. Texans may have no choice but to go along. But Texas is connected to the world. Campus carry is about what message the Texas university system sends to the rest of the civilized world. If Texas wants to be the Wild West, that it is its prerogative. It just cant have the cake and eat it.
390
I graduated from the University of Texas. My father graduated from the University of Texas. My daughter will not be allowed to attend the University of Texas.
2
To say the obvious, where guns are outlawed, only outlaws with have guns. The first Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms so you cannot outlaw them constitutionally following its original intent. So having a country without guns is an option that is not on the table.
Every time you set up an area that does not have airport level security and ban guns, you guarantee the only civilians with guns will be outlaws, and armed officers are rare in most environment. You create an environment where all are at the mercy of an armed criminal for the very significant time when a physical crime begins until the police arrive. I believe that was a short 6 minutes in the Oregon case.
However, many lives gun free zones may or may not save from an angry single shooting, they seem to attract mass shootings, and provide an environment where they can be most effective.
Time will tell the merit of Texas's campus policy.
John
Every time you set up an area that does not have airport level security and ban guns, you guarantee the only civilians with guns will be outlaws, and armed officers are rare in most environment. You create an environment where all are at the mercy of an armed criminal for the very significant time when a physical crime begins until the police arrive. I believe that was a short 6 minutes in the Oregon case.
However, many lives gun free zones may or may not save from an angry single shooting, they seem to attract mass shootings, and provide an environment where they can be most effective.
Time will tell the merit of Texas's campus policy.
John
1
Every student on that Campus who is carrying a weapon should be considered a potential terrorist, as should all elsewhere who have "concealed carry " permits. To me this is terrorism visited on the rest of us who would just like to live our lives in peace. Going to a theater, grocery store, or shopping mall,I now carry the fear that someone in one of those venues will be carrying a weapon, and either be high on drugs or alcohol, or have mental issues, or all of the above.
The madness and chaos continues, and the politicians do not care one whit that the carnage will go on, as long as they have stayed in favor with the NRA. The tiny lives snuffed out in Newtown, the horror in Charleston and Aurora and in every other instance of mass murder in this country (too numerous to mention) brought no response from them, other than the obligatory insincere offers of "prayers and condolences" to the families who were and are still suffering. My Congressman's reply to my e-mail sent the night of the Oregon shooting pleading for reasonable gun regulation, was that he "stood by the Second Amendment", and yes I checked, he gets donations from the NRA. We are lost.
The madness and chaos continues, and the politicians do not care one whit that the carnage will go on, as long as they have stayed in favor with the NRA. The tiny lives snuffed out in Newtown, the horror in Charleston and Aurora and in every other instance of mass murder in this country (too numerous to mention) brought no response from them, other than the obligatory insincere offers of "prayers and condolences" to the families who were and are still suffering. My Congressman's reply to my e-mail sent the night of the Oregon shooting pleading for reasonable gun regulation, was that he "stood by the Second Amendment", and yes I checked, he gets donations from the NRA. We are lost.
2
Obama: "We talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Newtown, after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get *his or her* hands on a gun."
How admirably inclusive "his or her." But can you name one school assassin/suicide that was female?
How admirably inclusive "his or her." But can you name one school assassin/suicide that was female?
1
That may be true but please remember that the ones who stopped the carnage were all male as well.
Because nothing helps a bad situation like a withering crossfire. The same idiotic thing was pressed in this biennium's legislature in Montana. Luckily we had the sense not to make it law.
As a final irony, a man who was a student at Montana State University in 1990 and killed two dorm mates was up for parole last week. Because as you point out, a university is a stress free environment...
As a final irony, a man who was a student at Montana State University in 1990 and killed two dorm mates was up for parole last week. Because as you point out, a university is a stress free environment...
5
Alcohol is a constant in student life. Now throw guns into the mix.
Just what are these people thinking?
Just what are these people thinking?
6
This is Eric Lecht, Patti's husband. Here in Idaho same deal, guns on campus.
Law of unintended consequences abound:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/02/03/3625295_weapons-law-costs-idaho...
Admittedly, Idaho is just a little bit more whacko than Texas.
Still, crazy stuff.
Law of unintended consequences abound:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/02/03/3625295_weapons-law-costs-idaho...
Admittedly, Idaho is just a little bit more whacko than Texas.
Still, crazy stuff.
4
NO ONE should get a concealed carry license or be permitted to open carry until they complete a tactical-shooting course such as police take. Untrained shooters in a campus shootout will lead to more mayhem, no matter what the gun lobby says.
I am a gun owner and the gun culture today--a form of fetishism--disgusts me.
I am a gun owner and the gun culture today--a form of fetishism--disgusts me.
7
Right and this never changes until the gun lobby stops using all that politically correct "for protection" language, admits the macho fetishism is the real marketing message the shill for the gun industry and comes out and speaks the truth. People carrying personal defense weapons carry them to kill people be it for a good or poor reason.
Talks about a group that speaks a politically correct language of liberty, personal rights and protection. The NRA is the most politically correct organization in America in its message. It's always euphemism city.
Sounds like you own weapons and get it. Guns are not toys, not macho and it's no movie. More guns, more bullets more dead.
Talks about a group that speaks a politically correct language of liberty, personal rights and protection. The NRA is the most politically correct organization in America in its message. It's always euphemism city.
Sounds like you own weapons and get it. Guns are not toys, not macho and it's no movie. More guns, more bullets more dead.
The Affordable Care Act has a mental health component.
Those who insist that this is not a gun issue, but a mental health issue, should remember that as they shriek for the ACA to be repealed.
Those who insist that this is not a gun issue, but a mental health issue, should remember that as they shriek for the ACA to be repealed.
6
Is it true the major cities with the toughest gun laws have the highest firearm homicide rates? Chicago is one example. Is it also not true if you took the five largest US cities out of the mix, the US would rank one of the lowest in the world when it comes to firearm homicides despite having one of the highest rates of firearm ownership. So what's wrong with the major cities and why don't the restrictive gun laws work? What seems obvious is strict gun laws don't work and gun confiscation is always one of the first actions of a dictatorial leader. Critical thinking is called for, not political blather.
2
First of all George, do you have any references or just making it up?
Second, do you really think there is a magical barrier preventing illegally purchased or stolen guns from being stopped at the city limits?
Third, crime in Chicago (since you cited that one) is not wide spread. There are many socio-economic issues at play with the majority of violence being gang on gang attacks.
Fourth, the conservatives and NRA always clamor that there are 1000s of laws regarding gun control. The quantity of laws doesn't matter, the effectiveness does. Are they the best laws we can come up with?
Second, do you really think there is a magical barrier preventing illegally purchased or stolen guns from being stopped at the city limits?
Third, crime in Chicago (since you cited that one) is not wide spread. There are many socio-economic issues at play with the majority of violence being gang on gang attacks.
Fourth, the conservatives and NRA always clamor that there are 1000s of laws regarding gun control. The quantity of laws doesn't matter, the effectiveness does. Are they the best laws we can come up with?
How clever to not include the many mass school shootings that have occurred over the last 50 years. I don't recall these shootings occurring in the "five largest cities" as you mention in your pro gun diatribe. I think critical thinking is in order, especially by the NRA.
I have made this comment on Mr. Kristof's column, and I don't mind repeating it here.
These mass murders happen because there is money to be made. Every time one of them happens, gun sales skyrocket. The gun industry knows this, which is why they adopt an absolutist position on gun control. We are not even allowed to gather statistics on gun sales, by law.
All hail, the almighty dollar!
These mass murders happen because there is money to be made. Every time one of them happens, gun sales skyrocket. The gun industry knows this, which is why they adopt an absolutist position on gun control. We are not even allowed to gather statistics on gun sales, by law.
All hail, the almighty dollar!
12
I recently attended a family birthday party in another state in which conceal and carry is legal. The party was for a two-year-old relative, so, naturally, other toddler-aged children were present, as well.
I later learned that some of the non-family guests were carrying in the house - inside. the. house - and I was mortified. Most gun accidents occur by gun owners in their own homes. Couple that with young children running around, and certainly even the most vociferous gun owner can understand my unease. Fortunately, my brother, who is a cop, and lives in that same state, requires those who carry to leave guns in their cars before entering his home.
More guns are not the answer, and the data, as it occurs in other countries, bears that out. It is time to ignore the naysayers, re-interpret the Second, and start well-regulating gun ownership. Vote accordingly, and it shall be done.
There is absolutely no reason why someone living in an apartment needs 13 guns, including assault rifles, as the Oregon shooter did. We need a system in place that would bring attention to such a situation to be explored further, much in the same way purchasing copious amounts of Sudafed draws attention.
All other amendments to the Constitution have been changed to reflect reality. Where is it written that the Second is to remain pristine?
I later learned that some of the non-family guests were carrying in the house - inside. the. house - and I was mortified. Most gun accidents occur by gun owners in their own homes. Couple that with young children running around, and certainly even the most vociferous gun owner can understand my unease. Fortunately, my brother, who is a cop, and lives in that same state, requires those who carry to leave guns in their cars before entering his home.
More guns are not the answer, and the data, as it occurs in other countries, bears that out. It is time to ignore the naysayers, re-interpret the Second, and start well-regulating gun ownership. Vote accordingly, and it shall be done.
There is absolutely no reason why someone living in an apartment needs 13 guns, including assault rifles, as the Oregon shooter did. We need a system in place that would bring attention to such a situation to be explored further, much in the same way purchasing copious amounts of Sudafed draws attention.
All other amendments to the Constitution have been changed to reflect reality. Where is it written that the Second is to remain pristine?
329
The Second doesn't remain pristine. It has been despoiled by the gun lobby.
8
You live in a state where concealed carry is legal, so I suspect you are around handguns more than you realize but apparently have not been aware of it or had any issues.
That said, if the nation wants to make changes to the Second Amendment the mechanism exists. While "all other amendments to the Constitution" have NOT been changed, some have. However you might not like the outcome to a constitutional convention if the result was to further enshrine the rights of gun holders.
As a gun holder and someone with a Florida CWP I am willing to take the chance my right to carry or own is restricted, are you willing to take the chance that it is enhanced?
That said, if the nation wants to make changes to the Second Amendment the mechanism exists. While "all other amendments to the Constitution" have NOT been changed, some have. However you might not like the outcome to a constitutional convention if the result was to further enshrine the rights of gun holders.
As a gun holder and someone with a Florida CWP I am willing to take the chance my right to carry or own is restricted, are you willing to take the chance that it is enhanced?
2
Saffron, the current interpretation is far from "pristine". In order to purchase a gun, one does not have to document that he/she is a member of a "well regulated militia".
1
I just retired after teaching college (four colleges including one of the Big Ten and one very elite jesuit college in the east coast) for 30+ years and the idea of allowing guns in college campuses came while I was still teaching. My answer to that was: if that ever happened at where I was teaching, I would buy the biggest gun allowed under the law (I never owned a gun and never felt like I needed one) and bring that to my classes and set it on the table. This is to challenge the students to see what kind of a learning environment it would create. And if they are comfortable, so be it. If not, let them go and tell the administration "we won't take it." The disapproval should come from the students. Otherwise it would be shrugged off as "oh, those liberal professors."
This is pure insanity.
This is pure insanity.
256
I agree. I also would "meet" my classes, especially lectures remotely from say Canada.
Every time a horrendous nightmare becomes a reality we go through the same motions every time - the shock, the terror, unimaginable grief and sense of loss. We cry, we hold hands and candlelight vigils, put up ribbons, balloons, an altar in homage to the dear ones slain. We mourn, we eulogize the young lives suddenly, insanely cut short. Politicians of all hues descend on the deadly scene with their hypocritical empathy and flowery words to get their 2 minutes in front of the camera and then just vamoose. The first few burials get a mention and soon the cameras and crews disappear. I'm sorry, but I just cannot help being cynical. The bottom line issue of guns is never addressed. Politicians characteristically listen to their lord and master, the NRA and blame everything else except guns. They blame mental disorders for the carnage. Even if we agree to that, it is also a fact that college years are one of the most delicate times emotionally for students facing a new place, new friends, the fear of not doing well academically or popularity. Stress, anxiety and even depression happens to the best of students. Add the guns and there is a time-bomb. The solution is real easy. Take the guns out of the equation. It's worked wonders in Britain, Australia. If we do not have the noodles to set things right, why don't we just ape our allies? Oh! the 2nd Amendment!! Darn! We are going beyond our own universe but we are still stuck in the 1800s with this 2nd Amendment. God! I am so MAD!
7
A "well-regulated militia" = a police force, people! It doesn't mean every and any crackpot who wants to prove his "manhood."
Prior to the mid-1800s, there was no such thing as "the police." The first police force in the world was the London Metropolitan Police (1829). When a similar concept spread to the U.S., what you had was exactly the kind of "well-regulated militia" the writers of the Constitution would have had in mind. But arming every ding-a-ling who wants to shoot things or people or fuel his paranoid fantasies and hopes of being John Wayne in a western movie type shoot-out was most certainly not what the founders would have wanted, or meant, and you would have to be massively stupid to interpret it that way. We have the police. There's your well-regulated militia. Ban guns for everyone else (including off-duty police).
Prior to the mid-1800s, there was no such thing as "the police." The first police force in the world was the London Metropolitan Police (1829). When a similar concept spread to the U.S., what you had was exactly the kind of "well-regulated militia" the writers of the Constitution would have had in mind. But arming every ding-a-ling who wants to shoot things or people or fuel his paranoid fantasies and hopes of being John Wayne in a western movie type shoot-out was most certainly not what the founders would have wanted, or meant, and you would have to be massively stupid to interpret it that way. We have the police. There's your well-regulated militia. Ban guns for everyone else (including off-duty police).
9
Guns have magical properties and powers. They convey manhood and responsibility and assure a certain sort of safety. Now the chances of accidents or mistakes and how easy they make killing oneself reduce other sorts of safety, but those reductions have nothing to do with the sort of magical safety that guns create. As objects with magical powers, they are worshipped, and the regulation of guns becomes a religious issue, an infringement of the carrier's basic right to be who he or she is.
4
It isn't abut how perverse and nonsensical government is it's about how corrupt government is. Politicians in this country are bought and sold like so many cows at a stockyard. Limit campaign spending, limit campaign advertising, and you may create a climate that will rely on debate and discourse on serious issues.
52
When it comes to schools, colleges and universities, guns are what the gutless offer, in place of thought.
Always have been, always will be. And for those of you who rant about education having been occupado by the commies and the lesbians and the gays to the point that a white man can't catch a break anymore, and who talk at the same time about Second Amendment remedies, this bud's on YOU.
Always have been, always will be. And for those of you who rant about education having been occupado by the commies and the lesbians and the gays to the point that a white man can't catch a break anymore, and who talk at the same time about Second Amendment remedies, this bud's on YOU.
28
A comment on Kristof's column today points out that studies show that males under the age of 28 (on average) have not fully developed the ability to fully understand the consequences of their actions. The majority of males on college campuses are under 28. Let them carry guns without any restrictions - I think not.
Since the shooting in 1966 at the U. of Texas at Austin was mentioned a detailed Winkopedia article on this says: "Martinez (a police officer who helped shoot the killer) later credited the numerous civilian shooters for saving "many lives" by forcing Whitman to take cover, limiting his range of targets".
The shooter, Charles Whitman, 25 years old, was an ex-marine and a trained marksman, was on the 27th floor of the Texas Tower. The civilian shooters were able to retrieve their rifles easily to fire back. However, they were not trained snipers who know that shooting at a high angle one has to aim under the target.
Since the shooting in 1966 at the U. of Texas at Austin was mentioned a detailed Winkopedia article on this says: "Martinez (a police officer who helped shoot the killer) later credited the numerous civilian shooters for saving "many lives" by forcing Whitman to take cover, limiting his range of targets".
The shooter, Charles Whitman, 25 years old, was an ex-marine and a trained marksman, was on the 27th floor of the Texas Tower. The civilian shooters were able to retrieve their rifles easily to fire back. However, they were not trained snipers who know that shooting at a high angle one has to aim under the target.
6
The shooting at the UT tower in 1966 is even more complex. People ran to a gun store across the street from the campus and took out rifles to fire back at Charles Whitman. In addition, a civilian with a rifle went to the top of the tower along with the lone police officer to take out the shooter. This does not prove, of course, that being armed is a wonderful thing nor does it prove that in more than a very few cases would the ability to shoot back actually be helpful.
In most cases, guns carried by bystanders would be totally ineffective and counterproductive. In fact, an innocent civilian with a gun would be treated by the police as if he were the shooter upon their arrival on the scene. Additionally, people who have not handled weapons in highly dangerous situations, such as police officers or those who have served in the military in time of war, would not be able to handle a gun properly in time to stop a mass shooting (they might slow one down, which would be useful). Civilians without experience with weapons would likely be totally overwhelmed by a surge of adrenaline and unable to respond properly or carefully.
In most cases, guns carried by bystanders would be totally ineffective and counterproductive. In fact, an innocent civilian with a gun would be treated by the police as if he were the shooter upon their arrival on the scene. Additionally, people who have not handled weapons in highly dangerous situations, such as police officers or those who have served in the military in time of war, would not be able to handle a gun properly in time to stop a mass shooting (they might slow one down, which would be useful). Civilians without experience with weapons would likely be totally overwhelmed by a surge of adrenaline and unable to respond properly or carefully.
1
What is missing in this piece is holding the mother of this recent killing responsible for having any gun in the home when she knew her son was mentally ill. She should be charged and go to jail for 10 years. If we as a society don't want to go that far, then there is no hope for us as a society.The same ame can be said for the mother whose son murdered his own mother before going to Newtown, and killing all those children and teachers. Plus, when you use a weapon in the commission of a crime, you should go to jail for a minimum of 10 years as that is the only thing that will stop the killing in places like Chicago and Washington D.C. Yes, you should close all loopholes in background checks and ban assault weapons.
28
Mary Kay. let us pleeease not blame the mothers again. This murderer was old enough to buy, load, aim, and shoot his own guns. I recommend the recent, insightful book "Far From the Tree," about the struggles faced by parents whose children are not as expected. How 'bout we blame the government employees who won't do their jobs, like the sheriffs refusing to enforce gun laws and the politicians refusing to pass them, instead of some of the people must hurt by all of this.
1
Let’s talk solutions instead of horrific anniversaries. This media amplified horror is said to partly motivate crazies to do their public killings of innocents. They know they’ll dominate the news for days.
We have to see these horrors as preventable by laws that themselves create more realistic attitudes. The massacres are not the inevitable price to pay for ‘freedom’ to own guns.
As if the many countries that don’t allow guns for all are ‘less free’, and so unhappy without guns in their pocket when leave home, and would willingly tolerate massacres for this freedom.
When will the Times and other media interview a few of the multiple millions abroad who live very happily with strict gun laws? Ask ‘em why don’t they feel the big hand of govt ruling their lives. How come their conservative parties agitate for US style guns for all? Some real people interviews might enlighten our lawmakers a bit.
Contrast ---In our money dominated democracy, we have to settle for taxation without representation.
Polls show most US gun owners, AND even NRA members favor gun control. Yet why doesn’t the media interview some of them on TV and in the NYT? Instead of the usual pro gun control advocates.
Many NRA members differ from their leadership on gun control. Publicity would spotlight that gap, amplify the anti NRA opinion, and wake up congress.
The media must throw at every candidate the need for strong gun laws. If they disagree, we know the NRA pays them-- end of story.
We have to see these horrors as preventable by laws that themselves create more realistic attitudes. The massacres are not the inevitable price to pay for ‘freedom’ to own guns.
As if the many countries that don’t allow guns for all are ‘less free’, and so unhappy without guns in their pocket when leave home, and would willingly tolerate massacres for this freedom.
When will the Times and other media interview a few of the multiple millions abroad who live very happily with strict gun laws? Ask ‘em why don’t they feel the big hand of govt ruling their lives. How come their conservative parties agitate for US style guns for all? Some real people interviews might enlighten our lawmakers a bit.
Contrast ---In our money dominated democracy, we have to settle for taxation without representation.
Polls show most US gun owners, AND even NRA members favor gun control. Yet why doesn’t the media interview some of them on TV and in the NYT? Instead of the usual pro gun control advocates.
Many NRA members differ from their leadership on gun control. Publicity would spotlight that gap, amplify the anti NRA opinion, and wake up congress.
The media must throw at every candidate the need for strong gun laws. If they disagree, we know the NRA pays them-- end of story.
15
You seem to think licensed adults carrying concealed weapons on college campuses is a bad thing. How many school shootings have been perpetrated by licensed concealed weapons holders? 0 How many school shootings could have been prevented or stopped by a nearby licensed concealed weapons carrier? All of them.
The Everytown crowd loudly proclaims that no mass shooting has ever been stopped by a licensed concealed weapons carrier. That's true. But consider this: The concealed carrier intervened before the shooter was able to injure or kill enough victims to qualify it as a mass shooting.
The Everytown crowd loudly proclaims that no mass shooting has ever been stopped by a licensed concealed weapons carrier. That's true. But consider this: The concealed carrier intervened before the shooter was able to injure or kill enough victims to qualify it as a mass shooting.
1
What happens if you see someone carrying a gun or one in someone's back pack? Do you assume it's a person who is legally licensed and permitted to carry a concealed gun. Or do you think, maybe the person is about to go on a shooting spree? How would you know?
21
Please present one shred of evidence to support your hypothesis.
5
You obviously have'nt read much about the incident. We know of AT LEAST ONE person that was on campus at the time of the shooting, was armed, and wasnt able to do anything to either prevent or stop the shooter. He was an Air Force vet.
If he couldnt do anything, what would some armed teachers and students have been able to accomplish?
If he couldnt do anything, what would some armed teachers and students have been able to accomplish?
5
I teach at UT-Austin. I will not allow NRA bullies to trample my rights to life (not to be murdered) and liberty (from fear of being murder at my office or classroom when I tackle controversial issues). Unless the university secures my right to a gun-free office and a gun-free classroom, I will abstain from holding office hours and classes inside campus buildings. If I inconvenience my students and parents, then they need to tell their representatives to repeal this morally obscene law. Please help us fight this insanity by supporting this petition:
https://www.change.org/p/no-guns-in-our-classrooms-gun-free-ut?recruiter...
Follow our organizing efforts through our Facebook page (GunFree-UT) https://www.facebook.com/groups/469991229827182/
https://www.change.org/p/no-guns-in-our-classrooms-gun-free-ut?recruiter...
Follow our organizing efforts through our Facebook page (GunFree-UT) https://www.facebook.com/groups/469991229827182/
163
More power to you! I hope this is successful.
Have you considered a starting movement to request an amendment to the law that will extend its terms to the state legislature? Those who voted in favor of the campus law should contend it will make them more safe, not less, if they and their staff members and everyone else can carry guns in their offices and in their legislative sessions. They will never agree to such a thing, exposing their hypocrisy, and perhaps helping to get momentum to repeal campus carry. This may seem nutty at first, but it might help. I'm trying to light a candle in the darkness here, despite the irony.
1
We need to boycott all of the states where the law allowing carry of concealed weapons is enacted. Tell the students applying for colleges to avoid those universities/colleges. Tell students who are already at these universities to apply for transfer to schools in other states. Applying economic pressure is the only way that may be effective. If schools are empty in these states, kids will be safer.
30
I have never done this before, but I am planning on becoming a single-issue voter. No state or federal legislator, or executive official of any sort, can get my vote without demonstrating a commitment to enact reasonable regulation of deadly weapons. You know, the "well-regulated" part of the 2nd Amendment.
85
AJ--you probably won't have to become a "single-issue voter" in order to vote only for politicians who favor gun control. The people in favor of extreme proliferation of murder weapons in the US also tend to favor capital punishment, "less government," government enforcement of all pregnancies, slashing social services, and so on.
Antonin Scalia said that part of the second amendment is gibberish and not relevant to the remainder. And he claims to be a strict constructionist of every word in the Constitution.
There are many reasonable laws on the books today. The laws need people with a will to enforce them,which requires a budget, a plan, and politicians who are committed to implementation.
CNN: "Donald Trump said Saturday that had teachers been armed at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, the deadly shooting there this week would not have been as tragic."
Trump is not in any way different from every Republican candidate in his NRA brainwashing. What a great idea-- arm the teachers! I have to think that every potential school shooter is already thinking, "First shoot the teacher."
Bruni, as almost always, nailed it, "This is madness. When it comes to guns, we have lost our bearings in this country, allowing misguided chest-thumping about a constitutional amendment penned in an entirely different epoch, under entirely different circumstances, to trump all prudence and decency."
Trump is not in any way different from every Republican candidate in his NRA brainwashing. What a great idea-- arm the teachers! I have to think that every potential school shooter is already thinking, "First shoot the teacher."
Bruni, as almost always, nailed it, "This is madness. When it comes to guns, we have lost our bearings in this country, allowing misguided chest-thumping about a constitutional amendment penned in an entirely different epoch, under entirely different circumstances, to trump all prudence and decency."
48
"A well regulated militia..." I am not a lawyer, but I don't understand why the opening phrase of the 2nd amendment means so little.
As a PhD candidate going on the job market, I definitely will not be applying to any Texas public colleges or universities.
As a PhD candidate going on the job market, I definitely will not be applying to any Texas public colleges or universities.
66
Mr Bruni omits the oft used argument that armed 'good guys' would stop any mass shooter in their tracks.
Because there is no evidence that this old canard is or ever has been true.
Why doesn’t Frank Bruni, so concerned about guns, directly tackle big money in politics by specifically citing how Citizens United has sealed the deal on legalized corruption? This makes it even harder for democracy to influence our gun laws. Most voters and gun owners want stricter gun laws. But this won’t affect lawmakers.
Princeton U professors Gilens and Page showed stats over decades proving how the wishes of the 1 percent take precedence over the majority in what laws are passed. Nowhere is this more obvious than with gun laws. The Gop even blocked research into gun deaths, lest voter learn facts that might push for strict laws, and thus interfere with payoffs by the NRA to congress.
So I ask the Bruni and the Times---is it verboten to bring up the many groups trying to overturn Citizens United? The implications are vast. We never get coverage of this.
Pres Jimmy Carter recently said the US is an oligarchy, where money determines who is nominated for president, congress and governors, etc. I found hardly any media coverage of his statement and none in the NYT.
This directly relates to our constant gun tragedies, and also to most of the other ills that Mr. Bruni and the op ed columnists write about. But they only go so far in getting to causes and solutions. This is lamentable in our supposedly greatest newspaper.
Meanwhile Bruni should save this article on his computer, and bring it out again when needed. The next massacre isn’t that far away.
Princeton U professors Gilens and Page showed stats over decades proving how the wishes of the 1 percent take precedence over the majority in what laws are passed. Nowhere is this more obvious than with gun laws. The Gop even blocked research into gun deaths, lest voter learn facts that might push for strict laws, and thus interfere with payoffs by the NRA to congress.
So I ask the Bruni and the Times---is it verboten to bring up the many groups trying to overturn Citizens United? The implications are vast. We never get coverage of this.
Pres Jimmy Carter recently said the US is an oligarchy, where money determines who is nominated for president, congress and governors, etc. I found hardly any media coverage of his statement and none in the NYT.
This directly relates to our constant gun tragedies, and also to most of the other ills that Mr. Bruni and the op ed columnists write about. But they only go so far in getting to causes and solutions. This is lamentable in our supposedly greatest newspaper.
Meanwhile Bruni should save this article on his computer, and bring it out again when needed. The next massacre isn’t that far away.
14
Simply disgusting. What else can be said?
5
Wait till the gangs at UT start emerging in the fraternities - guns deaths are just lying in wait. And, again, no Texas legislator will feel responsible, or care. The craven dark angels on this issue, in particular down south and in the west, are alive, thirsty, and thriving. Parents will, obviously, vote with the wallets, and leave the public universities. The risk is too great. How ironic that every dorm is locked, every key is secured, and most public and private colleges bend over backwards to sell their campus as safe for students. The state of Texas wants higher education to be dangerous and out of reach. It's very, very strange and very, very, sick.
31
A clear and present danger about which our lawmakers are doing exactly.....nothing.
14
They should have made it mandatory that all college student carry a gun. That way gun manufacturers and dealers can sell more guns.
4
Parents, identifying their dead six year old children. And no change in the gun laws or climate around guns. We are past madness. There is no way to describe the status quo.
44
Back in saner times (mid-60's) rather than leave my gun(s) in my car where it might be stolen, I would take it in a gun case to class at Eastern Kentucky University. I would leave it in the back of the classroom, ask the professor if that was okay, the professor would respond with a affirmative disinterested nod, and I would take my seat. None of my fellow students would show any interest. Class would proceed. That's how it should be.
4
Why not leave it home? It wont do you much good at the back of the classroom in a case if something goes down. And when the police do show up, they will not know you are one of the good guys.
1
Was Kentucky so dangerous in the 1960s that you needed to carry a gun around? Really?
Just remember, the only gun-free zone is one which is secured and where everyone entering is searched, scanned or x-rayed to ensure they don't have a gun on them. Everything else is a free-fire zone for anyone who doesn't care whether they are breaking the law.
7
This gun madness is infuriating.
The first amendment benefits publishers and broadcasters. Yet the airwaves are regulated nonetheless for the benefit of the public.
In contrast, the gun industry benefits from the second amendment but appears to own the legislators who should, in fact, be regulating their product for the safety of the public. The nation is flooded with weapons both legal and illegal as a result and the despicable acts which flow leave our cash-enchanted legislators mute.
The will of the American people is being thwarted by NRA money and a compliant, idiotic governing class. Shame on all of us.
The first amendment benefits publishers and broadcasters. Yet the airwaves are regulated nonetheless for the benefit of the public.
In contrast, the gun industry benefits from the second amendment but appears to own the legislators who should, in fact, be regulating their product for the safety of the public. The nation is flooded with weapons both legal and illegal as a result and the despicable acts which flow leave our cash-enchanted legislators mute.
The will of the American people is being thwarted by NRA money and a compliant, idiotic governing class. Shame on all of us.
26
'The will of the American people is being thwarted by NRA money and a compliant, idiotic governing class. Shame on all of us.'
It's a shameful circumstance, but for those of us with a shred of logic and moral conscience--not to mention at least an elementary understanding of the intent of our 2nd Amendment-there is no shame. Ranting at lunatics who are either bought and paid for by the NRA or hopelessly ignorant and immoral is a waste of breath. In fact it seems to firm up their 'stance'-- as if it deserves to be called something that implies some basis in thought. The great majority of Americans are for some change, although the fact that roughly half of us still don't want true restrictions in terms of weaponry is testimony to either a lack of intellect or brainwashing by ammosexuals. Please reserve the 'shame' for those who can look at so many deaths and not demand an overhaul of our national conscience.
It's a shameful circumstance, but for those of us with a shred of logic and moral conscience--not to mention at least an elementary understanding of the intent of our 2nd Amendment-there is no shame. Ranting at lunatics who are either bought and paid for by the NRA or hopelessly ignorant and immoral is a waste of breath. In fact it seems to firm up their 'stance'-- as if it deserves to be called something that implies some basis in thought. The great majority of Americans are for some change, although the fact that roughly half of us still don't want true restrictions in terms of weaponry is testimony to either a lack of intellect or brainwashing by ammosexuals. Please reserve the 'shame' for those who can look at so many deaths and not demand an overhaul of our national conscience.
The issue here is really about a conservative fantasy: the one where a small band of loosely organized, self armed "patriots" (or insurgents, or terrorists; call them what you will) have to "take back" the government from the forces of tyranny! And survive the resulting dystopia! You know, like in the movies! What they really mean, of course, is that they may finally get so frustrated that other citizens aren't voting like them that they just may have to ditch the whole democracy thing. Using guns to suppress free speech and law enforcement (Cliven Bundy, anyone?) is as good a first step to that as any. I hope every minority student on the UT campus gets a concealed weapon permit and weapon. We'll see how Texas likes it when it is groups of blacks and Hispanics packing heat, rather than good old white boys.
54
Texas Pro Life:
Anti birth control
Anti gun control
And Texas is not unique...
Anti birth control
Anti gun control
And Texas is not unique...
20
Time for the second amendment to be repealed. All handguns except those of military and law enforcement should be voluntarily handed in for compensation or confiscated. After that, large expansion of mental health services. Diseased culture needs radical solutions.
24
The reality of living in The United States is a willingness to accept a certain amount of violence. While this is not a good thing--it is nonetheless--the reality of American life that a certain number of people will be injured and killed each year by violence.
Car crashes are an accepted part of driving and car crash deaths as well. We accept that the risk in swimming is drowning and each year thousands of Americans drown while swimming.
The United States was founded in violence via wars and insurrections. The Revolutionary War, The Indian Wars, The Spanish American War, The Old West and lawlessness all involved violence and death as does modern life in America.
To those who don't like it--they can move to Canada.
Car crashes are an accepted part of driving and car crash deaths as well. We accept that the risk in swimming is drowning and each year thousands of Americans drown while swimming.
The United States was founded in violence via wars and insurrections. The Revolutionary War, The Indian Wars, The Spanish American War, The Old West and lawlessness all involved violence and death as does modern life in America.
To those who don't like it--they can move to Canada.
4
Or move to Bhutan?
Acceptable risks....reasonable risks
So thats youre answer....stuff happens?
What kind of country is it, that people are at risk of death by going to church, going to work, going to the mall....to school?
This is the USA....we are better then this
So thats youre answer....stuff happens?
What kind of country is it, that people are at risk of death by going to church, going to work, going to the mall....to school?
This is the USA....we are better then this
JJ, I can imagine that this might sound perfectly logical to someone who has never lost a loved one to random violence or to an easily preventable accident.
3
We need to get a handle on this Second Amendment freedom stuff and make it as hard to have a gun as it is to have a car (like you need to show competency and that you won't be too likely kill someone accidentally). Everyone's got a car so such a requirement for guns shouldn't be too burdensome.
The number one donor to the NRA is Beretta. (I own 2 of their excellent guns, the A400 series shotguns are particularly well made). It's all about merchandising - the NRA convention is the best place to see all the new offerings and the less regulation, the better for the gun maker's revenue.
The number one donor to the NRA is Beretta. (I own 2 of their excellent guns, the A400 series shotguns are particularly well made). It's all about merchandising - the NRA convention is the best place to see all the new offerings and the less regulation, the better for the gun maker's revenue.
8
Everyone does not own a car -- not by a long shot.
The right to own a car is not protected by the Constitution of the United States.
Laws about cars and car insurance are STATE and local laws -- not Federal. I don't believe there are any Federal laws about cars, excepting for clean admissions standards or mileage.
Though gunmakers undoubtedly contribute to the NRA, none of them are really major companies. Compared to Facebook or Google, they are tiny boutique manufacturers. Most of the NRAs funds come from their five million members.
I note that YOU have guns, yet you want to restrict others from owning them?
The right to own a car is not protected by the Constitution of the United States.
Laws about cars and car insurance are STATE and local laws -- not Federal. I don't believe there are any Federal laws about cars, excepting for clean admissions standards or mileage.
Though gunmakers undoubtedly contribute to the NRA, none of them are really major companies. Compared to Facebook or Google, they are tiny boutique manufacturers. Most of the NRAs funds come from their five million members.
I note that YOU have guns, yet you want to restrict others from owning them?
If we could bring the Founders here in a time machine, and give them all they needed to look around and get fully informed about our world today and America's gun situation they would be aghast. I bet they would say "What are you doing??? We gave you a way to amend the Constitution!!! Why isnt anyone doing anything about what this has turned into? We understand why we wrote the 2nd Amendment but you dont seem to understand what we meant then and what this means now. DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!"
8
The founding fathers never intended the second amendment to be a suicide pack and yet that is exactly what it has become.
9
University of Texas: an institution of higher arming.
What a distinction!
What a distinction!
14
Currently, almost all legislature buildings - for senators and legislators - have metal detectors to protect the politicians from being shot while legislating.
Any state that allows guns to be openly carried, and/or allows guns to be carried in churches or schools, must take the metal detectors out of their own legislature buildings.
The most hypocritical legislators in our country can be found in our nation's Congress, where no spectators are allowed to enter without going through metal detectors (to prevent people with GUNS from getting near the legislators themselves).
If our legislators believe that guns make us safer on our streets, or in our churches and schools, why do they put metal detectors in the places where THEY work?
Any state that allows guns to be openly carried, and/or allows guns to be carried in churches or schools, must take the metal detectors out of their own legislature buildings.
The most hypocritical legislators in our country can be found in our nation's Congress, where no spectators are allowed to enter without going through metal detectors (to prevent people with GUNS from getting near the legislators themselves).
If our legislators believe that guns make us safer on our streets, or in our churches and schools, why do they put metal detectors in the places where THEY work?
61
You are so right. Lets vote for a law requiring every law maker in the country to carry a concealed weapon. Lets also include every judge in the country. Then we take away all the metal detectors and security precautions that they have erected to keep themselves safe. When one of them is slow on the draw and gets his head blown off we can say "stuff happens".
Maybe then they'll understand how the rest of us feel.
Maybe then they'll understand how the rest of us feel.
1
On the bright side, students will be able to take arms against a C- of troubles.
Other than that, madness.
Other than that, madness.
7
I question whether those in favor of maximally permissive gun laws have had enough interaction with the kind of people I deal with every day. A worrisome number of people become very angry, even abusive, if anyone expresses a contrary opinion on ANY issue that they feel strongly about- even if the threat is only to their emotional comfort. Politicians should know this well- they deal with irrationally angry people all the time.
Any parent should also be familiar with this phenomenon. Bullying and threatening behavior is far different today than it was in the 50's, and "senseless" tragedies are always right around the corner. There are a lot of people, especially youth, who appear to be at their boiling point all the time, and could explode at any minute. It is not acceptable to blame mental illness after murders unless we are prepared to confront its prevalence beforehand. Nor is it acceptable to only pay attention to people who have received a formal psychiatric diagnosis.
If we are going to proceed as we have been with regard to anger and violence in our culture, let's at least admit that this implies that we as a society believe that the trend towards vicious anger and occasional mass murder is something that we will passively accept. Unless there is a mass movement towards creating a strong cultural norm that values emotional maturity and restraint, the epidemic of widespread expression of irrational anger and hatred will only continue to get worse.
Any parent should also be familiar with this phenomenon. Bullying and threatening behavior is far different today than it was in the 50's, and "senseless" tragedies are always right around the corner. There are a lot of people, especially youth, who appear to be at their boiling point all the time, and could explode at any minute. It is not acceptable to blame mental illness after murders unless we are prepared to confront its prevalence beforehand. Nor is it acceptable to only pay attention to people who have received a formal psychiatric diagnosis.
If we are going to proceed as we have been with regard to anger and violence in our culture, let's at least admit that this implies that we as a society believe that the trend towards vicious anger and occasional mass murder is something that we will passively accept. Unless there is a mass movement towards creating a strong cultural norm that values emotional maturity and restraint, the epidemic of widespread expression of irrational anger and hatred will only continue to get worse.
24
“Universities are uniquely liberal institutions and they’re targets for conservatives,” Neuberger noted, adding that campus carry may well have been their way of “attacking the bedrock of liberal values that the university represents.”
It strikes me that this is the heart of the matter. Indoctrinate people younger and younger so that it becomes a part of society. Terrorist organizations (Hamas, eg) use this technique. The method works if you have patience to allow time to cement the indoctrination. My children are nearing college age. The checklist includes gun policies. How crazy is that?
It strikes me that this is the heart of the matter. Indoctrinate people younger and younger so that it becomes a part of society. Terrorist organizations (Hamas, eg) use this technique. The method works if you have patience to allow time to cement the indoctrination. My children are nearing college age. The checklist includes gun policies. How crazy is that?
7
I no longer read news articles or columns about the gun massacre du jour.
Americans have decided we do not want gun control and we continue to vote yahoos into office to protect the gun culture. So the blood is on all of our hands and there is nothing more to be said or done.
Americans have decided we do not want gun control and we continue to vote yahoos into office to protect the gun culture. So the blood is on all of our hands and there is nothing more to be said or done.
7
Thank you Mr. Bruni.
Funny how everyone should be armed except in government buildings.
Nobody is allowed to be armed in gun shows either.
When the Republicans hold their conventions why do they disallow weapons?
Why does the military with everyone trained in weaponry require all guns to be checked on base?
We tried an armed populace in the Wild West. Didn't work out well. We wound up with the LE. checking in everyone's weapons.
We have a "well regulated militia" already, its called the national guard.
We don't need armed civilians.
Funny how everyone should be armed except in government buildings.
Nobody is allowed to be armed in gun shows either.
When the Republicans hold their conventions why do they disallow weapons?
Why does the military with everyone trained in weaponry require all guns to be checked on base?
We tried an armed populace in the Wild West. Didn't work out well. We wound up with the LE. checking in everyone's weapons.
We have a "well regulated militia" already, its called the national guard.
We don't need armed civilians.
45
Just imagine the gunman enters the classroom and five students stand up blasting away. Only in Merica.
9
Yeah, because they are sitting there with a gun in their hand, not a pen or pencil, cocked and ready, so they can be the "good guy with a gun"
They'd be sprayed with fire before it even cleared the holster.
Even trained law enforcement were only able to draw, fire, and hit, a target, about 30% of the time under such circumstances. You think 18-20 year olds can do better?
It's this kind of simplistic and childish attitudes that prevent a rational discussion of the problem.
It was once suggested that we put metal spikes on the dashboards of our cars....people would drive safer then, and we'd prevent needless deaths.
Yeah, maybe....but is that REALLY a good idea?
They'd be sprayed with fire before it even cleared the holster.
Even trained law enforcement were only able to draw, fire, and hit, a target, about 30% of the time under such circumstances. You think 18-20 year olds can do better?
It's this kind of simplistic and childish attitudes that prevent a rational discussion of the problem.
It was once suggested that we put metal spikes on the dashboards of our cars....people would drive safer then, and we'd prevent needless deaths.
Yeah, maybe....but is that REALLY a good idea?
All that baloney about only bad guys have guns so we need to encourage good guys to have guns only makes sense if the good guys prevented all this gun slaughter.
Not a shred of evidence to prove that is the case as a matter of fact the good guys with guns just slaughter other good guys with guns and themselves.
Too many defective men with limited mental resources and a public too busy shopping and watching TV and politicos in thrall to the NRA insane asylum is the problem!
Not a shred of evidence to prove that is the case as a matter of fact the good guys with guns just slaughter other good guys with guns and themselves.
Too many defective men with limited mental resources and a public too busy shopping and watching TV and politicos in thrall to the NRA insane asylum is the problem!
9
A few years ago I knew of a nice young man who died at a college fraternity because of one night of binge drinking when he turned 21 years old.
Many college students are still finding there way in life and are still maturing. College life is full of debate and making choices that many of us regret later in life. Not so much as doing anything illegal as much as something ill conceived.
Recent studies show that the mind is still maturing in your early twenties. The idea that a 21 year old or someone younger may be carrying a gun in class or at a frat party is absolutely frightening.
All it takes is one night or one minute of immaturity, irresponsibility, or anger to destroy a life, the student's life and the lives of all affected by both victim and perpetrator forever.
I don't care what political party you are, but politicians should know better. They, we, are all adults and have a duty to our children. It is so sad to see that so many of us have abandoned our sacred duty to protect our children.
Many college students are still finding there way in life and are still maturing. College life is full of debate and making choices that many of us regret later in life. Not so much as doing anything illegal as much as something ill conceived.
Recent studies show that the mind is still maturing in your early twenties. The idea that a 21 year old or someone younger may be carrying a gun in class or at a frat party is absolutely frightening.
All it takes is one night or one minute of immaturity, irresponsibility, or anger to destroy a life, the student's life and the lives of all affected by both victim and perpetrator forever.
I don't care what political party you are, but politicians should know better. They, we, are all adults and have a duty to our children. It is so sad to see that so many of us have abandoned our sacred duty to protect our children.
12
Horrific, "campus carry"! As long as the NRA and gun-lobbyists and gun-addicts, buyers, sellers, dealers wield the wretched, obsolete and contemptible Second Amendment as their bloody umbrella is as long as we will continue to have mass shootings by demented murderers. The insanity about guns and "stuff happens" (as JEB! Bush stated in response to President Obama's grievous and angry address to us after the Oregon community college massacre) is just another example of the fall of Pax Americana.
20
My sister is an academic advisor of many years at a large university in Philadelphia. If a similar law was passed in PA, she would quit the day it was enacted. She said you have no idea the large number of today's students who struggle to manage basic academic stress. Add to that drinking, emotional immaturity, sexual relationship issues...... This is insane!
25
It's NRA or the highway,
NO legislator bucks their say,
Gun sellers need profit
Primary by Tophet,
From that point of view dare not stray.
NO legislator bucks their say,
Gun sellers need profit
Primary by Tophet,
From that point of view dare not stray.
8
What is wrong with these boneheaded politicians? Seriously, if there is a problem with drinking on campus, you don't pass a law allowing people to sell alcohol in the hallways between classes. How many times must one be smacked in the face with a cold, hard truth before it kicks in that we have a problem in this country with too many guns in too many hands? It is difficult to understand the blatant stupidity on display unless there exists underlying motivations for acting in an obviously asinine way, such as the thought that these pols believe their actions will get them re-elected to some office in the future. Although politicians are elected to represent the interests of their constituency, it is actions such as the concealed carry law that reminds us what their REAL motivation behind running for office is. They need funding, and lots of it, to run a campaign,so they must appease certain interest groups. Sometimes that means the safety of their constituency has to take a back seat to their ambitions.
15
Ironically, many people feel that keeping the drinking age at 21 -- essentially banning alcohol for sale to adults 18-21 -- leads directly to binge drinking, as such acts are rebellious and "fun", and such young people do not learn to drink responsibly.
Is it possible that the main motivation to pass insane laws like this is to rile up liberals? In other words, trolling on the level of legislation?
3
As a staff member at the University of Texas, a former faculty member and a current occasional lecturer here, I can only say that the campus carry policy is indeed horrifying and despicable. But much to my dismay, there are many local students who seem to think it an appropriate policy, as evidenced by the frightening reader comments submitted whenever the student newspaper publishes an article about it. We cannot have a democracy if right-wing vigilantism, fear, and paranoia control public policy. If LBJ were alive, this would have been stopped before it started.
26
Yep, Texas... in a time warp where virtually everyone has a gun and will use it whenever and whereever they please....where women are tried as second class citizens...where reproductive rights is a phrase but not a reality...and where Jim Crow 2.0 is alive and well at the voter booth...
Hope the legislature next votes to secede from the Union...it will save the rest of the country the embarrassment.
Hope the legislature next votes to secede from the Union...it will save the rest of the country the embarrassment.
42
Carry concealed weapons have been legal in Colorado universities for a few years, following multiple court battles.
Recreational marijuana is also legal in Colorado. You can smell the pot walking through college campuses.
Recreational marijuana is also legal in Colorado. You can smell the pot walking through college campuses.
1
Weaver501-- You coulf smell the pot as you walked across campus when I was in college... circa 1972. It might not have been legal, but it was common, although booze was easier to get. Concealed weapons were not common by any means on campus. College kids back then spent their money on concerts, records, a little booze, a little pot. I knew of no one on campus who had a gun. Most of us were too busy trying NOT to have to carry a gun back then... In Vietnam.
Legal concealed carry here since 2003, except CU-Boulder which resisted until 2012. There haven't been any incidents or issues.
To be fair, you could smell pot smoke on campus before it was legalized.
To be fair, you could smell pot smoke on campus before it was legalized.
Only in America among civilized nations does this gun madness take hold. Our elections are directed by money. The 1st and 2nd amendment are used as excuses for abuse of democracy. Both parties say they hate big money but have no choice. Most citizens hate guns for all but they have no say.
Article -- Obama rebukes Bush on 'stuff happens'.
Quotes gop candidates rejecting any gun control after latest horrific blood bath massacre.
Article...."The Democratic candidates offered a sharp contrast...Clinton, who has called for a renewed effort to pass universal background checks ... “What is wrong with us that we can’t stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers they represent?”
Sen Bernie Sanders ,...said that “we’ve got to do something,” although he added: “I don’t know that anybody knows what the magic solution is.”
Dear Bernie Sanders...do SOMETHING?... all of a sudden you don't have a solution, after all your other great, practical solutions for a myriad of problems ailing the nation? Too bad.
We know what the solution is..it's not magic at all. Dozens of other democracies have solved this... their citizens aren't dying in hundreds of public massacres per year. Even their conservative parties don’t lobby for guns for all,everywhere. Their public funding of elections works against paid off lawmakers by gun makers.
Too bad,Bernie---we see this is where your ‘Democratic Socialism’ ends. I’m disappointed in my favorite.
Article -- Obama rebukes Bush on 'stuff happens'.
Quotes gop candidates rejecting any gun control after latest horrific blood bath massacre.
Article...."The Democratic candidates offered a sharp contrast...Clinton, who has called for a renewed effort to pass universal background checks ... “What is wrong with us that we can’t stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers they represent?”
Sen Bernie Sanders ,...said that “we’ve got to do something,” although he added: “I don’t know that anybody knows what the magic solution is.”
Dear Bernie Sanders...do SOMETHING?... all of a sudden you don't have a solution, after all your other great, practical solutions for a myriad of problems ailing the nation? Too bad.
We know what the solution is..it's not magic at all. Dozens of other democracies have solved this... their citizens aren't dying in hundreds of public massacres per year. Even their conservative parties don’t lobby for guns for all,everywhere. Their public funding of elections works against paid off lawmakers by gun makers.
Too bad,Bernie---we see this is where your ‘Democratic Socialism’ ends. I’m disappointed in my favorite.
11
Like the rest of the pack running to be President, Sanders is afraid of a backlash from gunowners and their lobbies if he were ever to take a strong stand against the Second Amendment and the NRA.Can't say that I blame him. There r a lot of gun owners in VERMONT and throughout the US.HRC and BIDEN r equally reticent to cast aspersion on gun owners. When it comes to this issue, like SS the third rail of American politics, no politician running for public office has to be told twice to bite his tongue. Bruni is always ready to dramatize a problem, but like other liberals, has not solutions.
There are not "hundreds of public massacres a year".
They are tragic, but actually pretty rare. Violence of all kinds is way down in the last couple of decades. Shooting deaths are way down. Crime is way down.
The media is blowing this all wildly out of proportion, to "gin up the base" in an election cycle.
They are tragic, but actually pretty rare. Violence of all kinds is way down in the last couple of decades. Shooting deaths are way down. Crime is way down.
The media is blowing this all wildly out of proportion, to "gin up the base" in an election cycle.
For anyone who thought grade inflation in our colleges has been a growing problem, what are the chances of honest grades being handed out to students who may be carrying loaded guns at all times?
27
About me and a close friend at college: We're at a party. Gun is found in the apartment. Someone says it's not loaded. Buddy pulls the trigger. Bullet flies out of gun, through ceiling. Everyone is shocked. No one is injured. Party goes on. It was at a university in Texas. Gun owner was one of the "responsible" types. Lots of military people on this campus.
Put guns on everyone, in every apartment. More people find guns, fire them, intentionally or accidentally. Some fire in retaliation, perceiving a threat. Do we really want our children to live like this? Always wondering where the nearest gun is?
Put guns on everyone, in every apartment. More people find guns, fire them, intentionally or accidentally. Some fire in retaliation, perceiving a threat. Do we really want our children to live like this? Always wondering where the nearest gun is?
28
The people shooting up college campus clearly don't care whether there is a law against carrying guns on campus. I have no idea whether legal concealed carry will make campus safer but I'm pretty sure it won't make them less safe. The author thinks guns are bad and therefore legalizing guns any place is bad. This simplistic anti gun view is the reason the gun owning half of this country is so uncomfortable supporting even modest changes they could probably come around to if the trusted the other side.
3
I absolutely guarantee that there will be horrific massacres in Texas due to this. The University of Texas was one of the first places to have mass killings by gun in this country. Whitman, the killer, was a former Marine who first murdered family members, then 14 others from the tower, and wounded more than 30 others. I grew up in Texas.
Texas has a culture of violence, including lynchings. With open carry, groups of people carried long guns/ semi-assault weapons to restaurants and places in Texas for no other reason than to intimidate others. They terrified families and others who are only too familiar with mass shootings in public places.
Letting students who are young adults dealing with all kind of stress and hormones carry guns is a terrible idea. There have now been several campus mass killings in this country, and the idea is firmly in the heads of demented people.
Republicans are fond of saying all gun violence is due to mental illness. They are the mentally ill people. You don't hand a child a gun and say play with it. You don't create situations, again and again, and say you have to protect yourself and carry guns since you are surrounded by unseen enemies wherever you go. Almost every single mass killing has been young white males with multiple guns.
Paranoid gun nuts, fantasies about violence, and going out of your way to create these situations.
Texas parents and students -- just leave this crazy state. It is sinking into a spiral of nuttiness.
Texas has a culture of violence, including lynchings. With open carry, groups of people carried long guns/ semi-assault weapons to restaurants and places in Texas for no other reason than to intimidate others. They terrified families and others who are only too familiar with mass shootings in public places.
Letting students who are young adults dealing with all kind of stress and hormones carry guns is a terrible idea. There have now been several campus mass killings in this country, and the idea is firmly in the heads of demented people.
Republicans are fond of saying all gun violence is due to mental illness. They are the mentally ill people. You don't hand a child a gun and say play with it. You don't create situations, again and again, and say you have to protect yourself and carry guns since you are surrounded by unseen enemies wherever you go. Almost every single mass killing has been young white males with multiple guns.
Paranoid gun nuts, fantasies about violence, and going out of your way to create these situations.
Texas parents and students -- just leave this crazy state. It is sinking into a spiral of nuttiness.
33
Regarding open or concealed carry in public spaces like parks, universities, courts and legislative chambers:
State and federal courts and legislatures are protected by no gun zones, armed guards, and metal detectors. Yet, as in Texas, lawmakers are willing to promote gun carry in the lecture halls of our finest institutions which engage in debates as sensitive as the ones that take place in any lawmaker’s chamber. Legislatures and courts can’t have it both ways. Although they are particularly vulnerable, they must recognize that their constituents should also be afforded the modicum protection of reasonable gun laws. It’s called “equal protection” and another civilian carrying a gun does not provide that.
My wish list, if it fits in here:
1. Overturn Citizens United and enact serious campaign finance laws;
2. Ban all assault and semi-automatic weapons for public sale and use; create a buy-back program after the law is implemented;
3. Universal background checks and ownership registration for all weapons;
4. All handgun owners must obtain liability insurance up to a certain level of coverage for both negligent and purposeful acts resulting in harm (or death) to others; non-automatic hunting rifles are either exempted from liability insurance or regulated to a reduced mandatory minimum of coverage from that of handguns).
5. Vote against the immoral politicians who elevate their NRA donations over their constituents.
PS - Under and Post Grad in Texas.
State and federal courts and legislatures are protected by no gun zones, armed guards, and metal detectors. Yet, as in Texas, lawmakers are willing to promote gun carry in the lecture halls of our finest institutions which engage in debates as sensitive as the ones that take place in any lawmaker’s chamber. Legislatures and courts can’t have it both ways. Although they are particularly vulnerable, they must recognize that their constituents should also be afforded the modicum protection of reasonable gun laws. It’s called “equal protection” and another civilian carrying a gun does not provide that.
My wish list, if it fits in here:
1. Overturn Citizens United and enact serious campaign finance laws;
2. Ban all assault and semi-automatic weapons for public sale and use; create a buy-back program after the law is implemented;
3. Universal background checks and ownership registration for all weapons;
4. All handgun owners must obtain liability insurance up to a certain level of coverage for both negligent and purposeful acts resulting in harm (or death) to others; non-automatic hunting rifles are either exempted from liability insurance or regulated to a reduced mandatory minimum of coverage from that of handguns).
5. Vote against the immoral politicians who elevate their NRA donations over their constituents.
PS - Under and Post Grad in Texas.
16
In two years, with luck, I will retire after 30 years teaching in a community college. I have loved my job helping to train the next generation of medical personnel.
But fortunately thanks to marriage, I have the right to retire in a small foreign country, very few of whose citizens own guns, where the murder rate is consequently low, and where everyone is covered by universal health care.
Once I leave the U.S., I will attempt to NEVER think of the U.S. ever again, a nation governed by the mentally ill, people like terrorist leader Wayne La Pierre, religious bigot Kim Davis, anti-minority racist Ben Carson, misogynist Carly Fiorina, and xenophobes like Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
I would like to think that if my country were attacked again like on 9-11, I would once again rush to the aid of my countrymen. But I can't defend a president who orders air strikes on a charitable hospital in Afghanistan. An d no, Hillary Clinton "I supported, and still support, Bush on Iraq" is NOT the great hope of anyone.
But fortunately thanks to marriage, I have the right to retire in a small foreign country, very few of whose citizens own guns, where the murder rate is consequently low, and where everyone is covered by universal health care.
Once I leave the U.S., I will attempt to NEVER think of the U.S. ever again, a nation governed by the mentally ill, people like terrorist leader Wayne La Pierre, religious bigot Kim Davis, anti-minority racist Ben Carson, misogynist Carly Fiorina, and xenophobes like Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
I would like to think that if my country were attacked again like on 9-11, I would once again rush to the aid of my countrymen. But I can't defend a president who orders air strikes on a charitable hospital in Afghanistan. An d no, Hillary Clinton "I supported, and still support, Bush on Iraq" is NOT the great hope of anyone.
11
Once again, one never ceases to be amazed by the insanity within the Republican Party. For the umpteenth time after a mass killing such as this, rather than finally provide some constructive comments in dealing with the issue, their first and only comment was to criticize the President for politicizing the event and talking about it too soon after it happened. HUH? For heavens sake when is the right time? In their bizarre minds, I suppose now the President will have to anticipate when the next carnage will occur and and then make a statement about the last one just before the next one happens???
For the life of me, how much more can the American people take? Is it a case now that some have become so desensitized to these events they just do not care anymore? I would say to those that think like that, do so at your peril as it just might happen to one of YOUR loved ones.
For the life of me, how much more can the American people take? Is it a case now that some have become so desensitized to these events they just do not care anymore? I would say to those that think like that, do so at your peril as it just might happen to one of YOUR loved ones.
23
How long before some student on the losing end of a debate brandishes a gun in a UT classroom --- or a student chastised by a professor for being disruptive holds that professor hostage at the end of a gun barrel? Don't hold your breath!
10
Ho hum. Another day, another mass shooting in America.
The NRA and right wing politicians tell us there's nothing we can do to prevent this. So say the leaders of the only country where it happens on a regular basis.
The NRA and right wing politicians tell us there's nothing we can do to prevent this. So say the leaders of the only country where it happens on a regular basis.
7
One assumes that the public can carry all the guns they wish into the Texas legislative body and watch their representatives debate democracy under the watchful eyes of heavily armed citizens.
10
Actually, concealed carry is legal in the Texas capitol
1
My son, who is in high school, is getting come-ons from colleges that include several in Texas. No way, no how! In fact, the gun insanity in much of the nation has reached such a point that he speaks seriously and totally rationally of wanting to leave the country. There has long been a boast among many Americans that goes something like "We're the place people want to come. Nobody leaves America." Well, the gun insanity (not to mention climate denial and other irrationality) that has engulfed our politics may start driving the brightest members of the next generation (not to mention their parents) far, far away.
512
Robert...as a 12 year American expat with a c.v. of both psychologist and career counselor, I strongly encourage high school grads to do at least one year of work or study in another country.
Your sons English will work in many countries including Switzerland or the Netherlands. Please allow and encourage your son to explore other cultures before he decides what he will do with his life.
Your sons English will work in many countries including Switzerland or the Netherlands. Please allow and encourage your son to explore other cultures before he decides what he will do with his life.
7
Same in my house. Add tuiton to the mix as well. My 14 year old begs us to move to Sweden.
At a recent open house for colleges at their HS, unbeknowst to us, my son's first criteria was if the school had a study abroard program.
This isn't something we prompted, he came to these conclusions on his own. I'm proud to have a 14 year old that is far more sensible than an entire legislature.
What Texas fails to understand is they don't live in a vacuum. Others watch their actions and just check them off the list of places to travel, live, etc.
At a recent open house for colleges at their HS, unbeknowst to us, my son's first criteria was if the school had a study abroard program.
This isn't something we prompted, he came to these conclusions on his own. I'm proud to have a 14 year old that is far more sensible than an entire legislature.
What Texas fails to understand is they don't live in a vacuum. Others watch their actions and just check them off the list of places to travel, live, etc.
5
I currently live & work in Accra, Ghana. I can walk all over the place without having to worry about someone putting a bullet in my head. Yes, there are other issues here - but getting blown away by someone with a major grievance and unlimited access to weapons and ammunition isn't one of them.
4
At least one of us in Massachusetts decided long ago the reason one owns a gun(s). It is to kill something. I was drafted into the Korean War. I was 19. I quickly understood my responsibility. Have times changed?
11
I come from an NRA family; everyone is a lifetime member. Nearly everyone owns several guns. My dad was a local NRA official, and was often interviewed on local TV about gun issues.
Not one person in my family has ever used a gun to kill anything -- not even hunting for meat. They were all target shooters, and collectors.
So your statement is 100% wrong.
Not one person in my family has ever used a gun to kill anything -- not even hunting for meat. They were all target shooters, and collectors.
So your statement is 100% wrong.
I cannot imagine being in a classroom teaching wondering if my students are carrying guns. I cannot imagine holding a meeting one-on-one with a student not knowing if that student has a gun. I certainly wouldn't feel safer thinking my student has a gun. Perhaps that student would feel safer, but everyone around them sure wouldn't. Whose safety and peace of mind are we trying to protect? Those who want to carry guns or those who don't?
16
Allowing guns on campus is just another bullet in the GOP war on education.
After serially underfunding public education for most of their existence, doesn't it make perfect Republican sense to scare to death those elitists who bother to teach and/or receive a college education ?
Sam Brownback's tax cuts have ravaged Kansas's public school system.
Bobby Jindal recently proposed cutting almost a third of Louisiana's school budget to accommodate his fiscal mismanagement of that state.
Chris Christie cheerfully vetoed the millionaire's tax in New Jersey that would have produced $800 million and then cut the state education budget a few months later by $800 million while crying 'budget crisis'.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker slashed funding to the state's crown jewel - the University of Wisconsin – while simultaneously proposing $200 million in public bonds to finance a new stadium the Milwaukee Bucks.
The GOP also loves to steal all education funding for 'private' charter schools to line the pockets of shareholders and millionaires; quality education in charter schools is optional, of course.
If you can't kill public education by underfunding it, then finish off the job by sending guns into the classroom so students can learn in a fearful environment of hidden gun psychotics lying in wait for their dormant volcanoes to explode.
The last thing in the world the Party of Guns, Greed and War wants is an educated and safe electorate.
Kill education at all costs: GOP 2015
After serially underfunding public education for most of their existence, doesn't it make perfect Republican sense to scare to death those elitists who bother to teach and/or receive a college education ?
Sam Brownback's tax cuts have ravaged Kansas's public school system.
Bobby Jindal recently proposed cutting almost a third of Louisiana's school budget to accommodate his fiscal mismanagement of that state.
Chris Christie cheerfully vetoed the millionaire's tax in New Jersey that would have produced $800 million and then cut the state education budget a few months later by $800 million while crying 'budget crisis'.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker slashed funding to the state's crown jewel - the University of Wisconsin – while simultaneously proposing $200 million in public bonds to finance a new stadium the Milwaukee Bucks.
The GOP also loves to steal all education funding for 'private' charter schools to line the pockets of shareholders and millionaires; quality education in charter schools is optional, of course.
If you can't kill public education by underfunding it, then finish off the job by sending guns into the classroom so students can learn in a fearful environment of hidden gun psychotics lying in wait for their dormant volcanoes to explode.
The last thing in the world the Party of Guns, Greed and War wants is an educated and safe electorate.
Kill education at all costs: GOP 2015
199
I didn't encourage my son to attend u of wi for chemical engineering due to walker's underfunding. He went elsewhere
2
"The students at Texas’s public universities are getting an education all right — into how perverse and nonsensical government can be."
Government? You turn this madness into an attack on government?
Government? You turn this madness into an attack on government?
2
A few of the reasons people shot people in May, 2015:
https://www.facebook.com/ParentsAgainstGunViolence/photos/pb.41340764539...
https://www.facebook.com/ParentsAgainstGunViolence/photos/pb.41340764539...
8
I am not American. I do know a little bit of American culture, but have not been immersed in it in a way to allow me to say that I know American in-depth.
But.
I have noticed that there are elements of the US culture, especially the parts we see in television, but also the parts I have experienced directly, there is very much a focus on imposing ones will on others and avoid that others are able to impose their will on you.
it is like there is an idea in American culture, an expectation, that it is more likely than not, that other people will try to impose their will on you.
If this is ones expectation of society, it can easily feed the idea that you need to be powerful, you need to have tools to avoid this.
Guns are a very good tool for both feeling being able to avoid that others impose their will on you and for being able to impose your will on others.
In other comparable countries (though not on the gun control issue), supremacy and subjugation (authoritarianism) is not as big an element in the culture. And there is not strong and rational nor irrational desire for access to guns.
Which makes me fear that the issue is that because of the need in American culture to have the feeling of being powerful, it will be neigh impossible to implement gun control laws until American culture moves away from focusing on power and the ability to impose ones will on others and attaining supremacy.
But.
I have noticed that there are elements of the US culture, especially the parts we see in television, but also the parts I have experienced directly, there is very much a focus on imposing ones will on others and avoid that others are able to impose their will on you.
it is like there is an idea in American culture, an expectation, that it is more likely than not, that other people will try to impose their will on you.
If this is ones expectation of society, it can easily feed the idea that you need to be powerful, you need to have tools to avoid this.
Guns are a very good tool for both feeling being able to avoid that others impose their will on you and for being able to impose your will on others.
In other comparable countries (though not on the gun control issue), supremacy and subjugation (authoritarianism) is not as big an element in the culture. And there is not strong and rational nor irrational desire for access to guns.
Which makes me fear that the issue is that because of the need in American culture to have the feeling of being powerful, it will be neigh impossible to implement gun control laws until American culture moves away from focusing on power and the ability to impose ones will on others and attaining supremacy.
27
I remember the Texas A&M killings back in 1969. It was major international news because of its rarity at the time. Now look at the statistics. It's happening almost every day.
Although it's reached critical proportions in the US, it is not only an American phenomena. Look at Sweden a few years back. Yes, guns are a major issue. Look at But up here in Canada a few years ago a young man went on a killing spree with a knife that ended the lives of four young people.The common denominator in these killings is that are almost exclusively committed by males, mostly young. Men who usually end up killing themselves in the end.
We live in a very different time than when I was young. There has been a mounting war on masculinity over the past half century. A war which has effectively destroyed all institutions that once taught boys and young men to become men. Just watch popular culture. We celebrate violence, the beating down, emasculation, denial of justice, degradation, dehumanization and mass incarceration of males. Then we set standards that are ridiculous for them. It is men, especially those in power, influence and authority who have are responsible. They have greatly abandoned young men and boys while resorting to resorting to treatment that would never be tolerated to women. And we're paying the price.
Although it's reached critical proportions in the US, it is not only an American phenomena. Look at Sweden a few years back. Yes, guns are a major issue. Look at But up here in Canada a few years ago a young man went on a killing spree with a knife that ended the lives of four young people.The common denominator in these killings is that are almost exclusively committed by males, mostly young. Men who usually end up killing themselves in the end.
We live in a very different time than when I was young. There has been a mounting war on masculinity over the past half century. A war which has effectively destroyed all institutions that once taught boys and young men to become men. Just watch popular culture. We celebrate violence, the beating down, emasculation, denial of justice, degradation, dehumanization and mass incarceration of males. Then we set standards that are ridiculous for them. It is men, especially those in power, influence and authority who have are responsible. They have greatly abandoned young men and boys while resorting to resorting to treatment that would never be tolerated to women. And we're paying the price.
2
The chancellor for the University of Texas system, a former Navy Seal and Admiral, opposes the gun carry law. As do most students and faculty. Texas legislators: What more information do you need? The law should be repealed.
560
Universities have to cover employees' health insurance. Will health insurers continue to underwrite policies for schools where the faculty members and employees are subjected to unnecessary risk -- i.e. concealed weapons to campus? If the enlightened legislators haven't figured it out yet--insurance underwriters certainly will. Maybe when they threaten to revoke coverage, because of the unsafe conditions under which the University system's employees work -- then the legislators will be forced to wake up.
7
Good luck with that. Unfortunately.
1
Yet another example of how legislators everywhere ignore the wishes of their constituents in favor of the NRA's bloated lies about the need for so called self defense. Witness the US Senate after Sandy Hook: 87-97% of the American public wanted federal legislation to require background checks & the Senate did NOTHING, I guess the NRA paycheck was too big to ignore & (so far) no one in their family has been involved in a mass murder. It's really gone too far when a college administrator is worried about political blowback because he/she wants to restrict on campus carry.
6
This is a stirring piece of journalism, Frank, factual, well-sourced and timely. I wish you had named the sponsors of such bone-headed legislation, to make it complete.
18
A University is among other things a center drawing researchers from all over the world to meet, to do research, and to take part in research conferences.
The faculty of every single department at University of Texas at Austin should be telling both the Administration and the so-called lawmakers that they are informing all who might be planning to visit UTA that deep in the heart of Texas on and after August 1, 2016 they will face yet another uniquely insane American invention - Campus carry.
Potential visitors should then make clear: We cannot visit a Campus carry Campus, we have no such policy in our state or country and must advise you to meet us in a gun-free location outside your state.
I have been suggesting to readers that they read about uniquely American "Fear" by reading the essay of that name at New York Review of Books. No one seems interested but given the fear that now pervades the NYT comment sections and the country, they should be.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen-USA-SE
I live next to the University of Linköping with 20,000 students and given the drunken revelry I hear every Friday and Saturday night the last thing I would want these students to be carrying is a weapon.
The faculty of every single department at University of Texas at Austin should be telling both the Administration and the so-called lawmakers that they are informing all who might be planning to visit UTA that deep in the heart of Texas on and after August 1, 2016 they will face yet another uniquely insane American invention - Campus carry.
Potential visitors should then make clear: We cannot visit a Campus carry Campus, we have no such policy in our state or country and must advise you to meet us in a gun-free location outside your state.
I have been suggesting to readers that they read about uniquely American "Fear" by reading the essay of that name at New York Review of Books. No one seems interested but given the fear that now pervades the NYT comment sections and the country, they should be.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen-USA-SE
I live next to the University of Linköping with 20,000 students and given the drunken revelry I hear every Friday and Saturday night the last thing I would want these students to be carrying is a weapon.
25
The second amendment is not a suicide pact nor is it a permit for mass murder. I am ashamed that the power of the Almighty Dollar is pervasive in our election campaigns and the NRA consequently has such sway over our government officials. Rights, yes - community safety, yes. What happened to unbalance that equation? ..... Oh, yes: The NRA has become even more radical from where they once stood in moderation. Those days are gone and we need the moral courage to stand against them. Worth losing your office to do so! Big brave officeholders who are cowards to do so. Find another job.
9
From a liberal’s point of view, the reality in Texas is MUCH worse than what Frank describes.
Texans don’t regard the physical safety of their college students as unimportant. They reason that if an emotionally disturbed individual seeks to murder students, then at least there might be someone present and armed who could stop him BEFORE it becomes a massacre.
They also reason that this is a better response to gun violence by the deranged than what so many gun control activists want, which is a dramatic narrowing of the availability of guns to Americans generally. They see it as effective self-defense.
Now, this is a response that aligns well with the Texan mystique, and what many there regard as a balanced response to the need to do SOMETHING, but not at the cost of limiting the rights of ALL Americans.
Any solution of mine to gun violence by the deranged wouldn’t include carry-permits for college-age kids on campuses (or in bars, or in airports, etc.), but then I’m not a Texan; and I’m neither a gun rights activist nor a gun control activist – I don’t even own a gun. But you can’t reason with people without understanding who they are and what they believe. Yet the entire thrust of this op-ed calls into question the sanity of decent Americans who need to be convinced that another way could better protect their kids while not unacceptably limit their own rights. You don’t convince people of anything by calling them whackos.
Texans don’t regard the physical safety of their college students as unimportant. They reason that if an emotionally disturbed individual seeks to murder students, then at least there might be someone present and armed who could stop him BEFORE it becomes a massacre.
They also reason that this is a better response to gun violence by the deranged than what so many gun control activists want, which is a dramatic narrowing of the availability of guns to Americans generally. They see it as effective self-defense.
Now, this is a response that aligns well with the Texan mystique, and what many there regard as a balanced response to the need to do SOMETHING, but not at the cost of limiting the rights of ALL Americans.
Any solution of mine to gun violence by the deranged wouldn’t include carry-permits for college-age kids on campuses (or in bars, or in airports, etc.), but then I’m not a Texan; and I’m neither a gun rights activist nor a gun control activist – I don’t even own a gun. But you can’t reason with people without understanding who they are and what they believe. Yet the entire thrust of this op-ed calls into question the sanity of decent Americans who need to be convinced that another way could better protect their kids while not unacceptably limit their own rights. You don’t convince people of anything by calling them whackos.
83
There are undoubtedly many people in Texas who would agree with your description of the attitudes of the residents of this state. But I taught school here for more than 25 years, and I doubt that most teachers would welcome guns in the classroom, even if only teachers had them. An armed teacher will not be a source of comfort or security for his or her students. They may in fact feel intimidated. In a crisis created by an armed intruder, the teacher would be as likely to hit a student or students as the intruder.
A far better approach is the security plan according to which teachers lock their doors as soon as notice of an incursion is given. Hardly perfect, I felt much safer with this approach than with being authorized to carry a gun.
School districts in Texas are not populated by liberal instructors, on the whole (I was in the minority), but I never heard a teacher or staff member express a preference for a weapon.
I don't present my view as an expert on public opinion in Texas, but I think your depiction of Texans as believing that firearms are the best security is an exaggeration.
A far better approach is the security plan according to which teachers lock their doors as soon as notice of an incursion is given. Hardly perfect, I felt much safer with this approach than with being authorized to carry a gun.
School districts in Texas are not populated by liberal instructors, on the whole (I was in the minority), but I never heard a teacher or staff member express a preference for a weapon.
I don't present my view as an expert on public opinion in Texas, but I think your depiction of Texans as believing that firearms are the best security is an exaggeration.
7
You don't convince whackos of anything by calling them reasonable either. This is nothing but a public safety issue that people in the U.S. refuse to deal with because they are already too intimidated by people with guns. The solution is simple: restrict access to handguns and automatic weapons. There is no doubt that this would save lives. Even in the wild west there were towns that forbid people from carrying handguns.
12
As a former Texan, former UT student (back then "the Tower" was still off-limits) with a niece studying there right now, I say you may be correct in where the heads are at of Texan legislators. I also say Mr. Bruni is correct to call them whackos. I hate the thought of my niece having to worry about being shot when she's got enough going on just with her studies.
All evidence says that more guns make us all less safe. Only anecdotal evidence supports the "good guy with a gun stopping the bad guy with a gun" position. Especially because once everyone starts shooting, how do you know who are "the good guys"? Believing in the "more guns is safer" stance, in the face of all evidence to the contrary is "whacko".
Ask the guy in Houston who just got shot in the head by a "good guy" trying to stop a car jacking who was good? And that "good guy"? After shooting the man in the head, he picked up his shell casings and left the scene. For all we know right now, he could have been one of the car jackers.
More guns = more gun deaths. The evidence is irrefutable.
All evidence says that more guns make us all less safe. Only anecdotal evidence supports the "good guy with a gun stopping the bad guy with a gun" position. Especially because once everyone starts shooting, how do you know who are "the good guys"? Believing in the "more guns is safer" stance, in the face of all evidence to the contrary is "whacko".
Ask the guy in Houston who just got shot in the head by a "good guy" trying to stop a car jacking who was good? And that "good guy"? After shooting the man in the head, he picked up his shell casings and left the scene. For all we know right now, he could have been one of the car jackers.
More guns = more gun deaths. The evidence is irrefutable.
17
Having witnesses the butchery and mass, industrial slaughter that was Viet Nam, before going to University, having nitwits armed, on campus, would have certainly offended my sensibilities.
But those were simpler days, before hate radio. Before a guy named Wayne La Pierre was Grand Panjandrum of the NRA*.
Before it was common knowledge that Wayne La Pierre got himself exempted from the Viet Nam draft. For an anxiety disorder. You see 'Lil Wayne was apparently anxious about the possibility of being SHOT.
*a lobby only rivaled in political influence by fifth column perpetual warmongers of AIPAC.
But those were simpler days, before hate radio. Before a guy named Wayne La Pierre was Grand Panjandrum of the NRA*.
Before it was common knowledge that Wayne La Pierre got himself exempted from the Viet Nam draft. For an anxiety disorder. You see 'Lil Wayne was apparently anxious about the possibility of being SHOT.
*a lobby only rivaled in political influence by fifth column perpetual warmongers of AIPAC.
52
If you're inclined to say "it's not the guns, it's mental illness," this should frighten you. Some acute mental illnesses don't arise until young adulthood. So for those people, there may not yet be a diagnosis, and certainly not years of treatment and awareness. Allowing guns on college campuses among young people, whose brains haven't fully matured and who may also be dealing with alcohol issues, depression, and the advent of other mental health conditions is a huge mistake. Whatever are they thinking in Texas?
498
You are assuming they are thinking. I would not assume that.
4
This low IS a mental illness at work.
2
The Mental Health answer is simply a cop out
Are they going to say that along with a background check, you need to have completed a psych eval withing the last 30 days before purchasing a gun?
A few years back, a female US Astronaut was detained, with a trunk full of tools and weapons, enroute to kill and dismember he love rival. She was arrested wearing a diaper at the time.
Do you have any idea the amount of psychological profiling and testing she went through to get to that point in her career?
You're sane until your not. You're sane until you come home one day to find the wife and kids gone, with every stick of furniture, and the bank account drained.
You're sane until that guy cuts you off in traffic for the third time.
Show me the test that can detect that beforehand.
That's why throwing guns into the mix is a BAD idea.
Are they going to say that along with a background check, you need to have completed a psych eval withing the last 30 days before purchasing a gun?
A few years back, a female US Astronaut was detained, with a trunk full of tools and weapons, enroute to kill and dismember he love rival. She was arrested wearing a diaper at the time.
Do you have any idea the amount of psychological profiling and testing she went through to get to that point in her career?
You're sane until your not. You're sane until you come home one day to find the wife and kids gone, with every stick of furniture, and the bank account drained.
You're sane until that guy cuts you off in traffic for the third time.
Show me the test that can detect that beforehand.
That's why throwing guns into the mix is a BAD idea.
9
What is this allure of possessing guns, and how do those who advocate so strongly for them think? When one reads what those who demand their 2nd amendment rights actually think, and how they rationalize their position ... this not uncommon example is chilling.
' You may think a 30 round magazine is too big. Under the real purpose of the second amendment, a 30 round magazine might be too small. – Erick Erickson
To put it bluntly, I need an assault rifle in the event that I might have to declare my independence from a tyrannical government. I’m statistically unlikely to ever shoot an intruder in my home. I’m statistically unlikely to ever be in the position to stop one of these rare mass killings at a school, as these things happen far less often than the media would have you believe. However, whether you are Democrat or Republican, you can easily find countless instances of the government stepping all over your rights, whether it be on social issues (marriage, gay rights, religious rights, etc.) or fiscal issues (taxation, property rights, business regulations, etc.) –
http://www.dailypaul.com/266890/why-do-i-need-an-assault-rifle'
' You may think a 30 round magazine is too big. Under the real purpose of the second amendment, a 30 round magazine might be too small. – Erick Erickson
To put it bluntly, I need an assault rifle in the event that I might have to declare my independence from a tyrannical government. I’m statistically unlikely to ever shoot an intruder in my home. I’m statistically unlikely to ever be in the position to stop one of these rare mass killings at a school, as these things happen far less often than the media would have you believe. However, whether you are Democrat or Republican, you can easily find countless instances of the government stepping all over your rights, whether it be on social issues (marriage, gay rights, religious rights, etc.) or fiscal issues (taxation, property rights, business regulations, etc.) –
http://www.dailypaul.com/266890/why-do-i-need-an-assault-rifle'
21
As the late judge and conservative legalist Robert Bork said of the Second Amendment:
(1989) "(It) guarantees the right of states to form militias, not for individuals to bear arms".
(1991): "The National Rifle Association is always arguing that the Second Amendment determines the right to bear arms. But I think it really is people's right to bear arms in a militia. The NRA thinks that it protects their right to have Teflon-coated bullets. But that's not the original understanding."
(1997): "The Second Amendment was designed to allow states to defend themselves against a possibly tyrannical national government. Now that the federal government has stealth bombers and nuclear weapons, it is hard to imagine what people would need to keep in the garage to serve that purpose."
(1989) "(It) guarantees the right of states to form militias, not for individuals to bear arms".
(1991): "The National Rifle Association is always arguing that the Second Amendment determines the right to bear arms. But I think it really is people's right to bear arms in a militia. The NRA thinks that it protects their right to have Teflon-coated bullets. But that's not the original understanding."
(1997): "The Second Amendment was designed to allow states to defend themselves against a possibly tyrannical national government. Now that the federal government has stealth bombers and nuclear weapons, it is hard to imagine what people would need to keep in the garage to serve that purpose."
10
And you and your assault rifle are going to stop an Abrams tank.....Yeah, sure......
8
An automatic pistol hidden in a pants pocket is most fearsome.
3
Go ahead and make fun of gun owners. How has that worked out for you?No so well. Haven't we learned that the more crazed the anti-gun mentality becomes, the more gun owners dig in.
Stop trying to take away their guns! It's counter productive. Instead appeal to gun owners, who are the most knowledgeable when it comes to acquiring, handling, securing, etc., guns. The solution likely resides with them.
The president's belittling them was not helpful. A more effective leader would have gotten all the key stakeholders -- ex., politicians, regulators, NRA, anti-gun advocates, etc. -- into a room to thrash out a solution.
Stop trying to take away their guns! It's counter productive. Instead appeal to gun owners, who are the most knowledgeable when it comes to acquiring, handling, securing, etc., guns. The solution likely resides with them.
The president's belittling them was not helpful. A more effective leader would have gotten all the key stakeholders -- ex., politicians, regulators, NRA, anti-gun advocates, etc. -- into a room to thrash out a solution.
22
Nobody's making fun of decent gun owners, the majority of whom support universal background checks, no exemptions for gun shows, and decent handling of the mentally ill.
If we're makng fun of anybody, we're making fun of those who willfully ignore reality, who fantasize about politics, and whose hatred of their President has gone so far that the couldn't see Earth with the Hubble.
If we're makng fun of anybody, we're making fun of those who willfully ignore reality, who fantasize about politics, and whose hatred of their President has gone so far that the couldn't see Earth with the Hubble.
35
Dream on. The NRA is out for blood, literally. The sanity left this conversation decades ago.
45
You know, kid, I've been making this argument for all the years I've been posting here and, frankly, I don't think I've made the slightest dent. I suppose that since the alternative is to shut up, I'll keep trying, too.
But exhorting our president to bring the interested parties into a room and use the force of his personality to COMPEL a useful outcome is like asking an armadillo to bake bread: sooner or later we all have to realize that we're talking to the wrong critter.
But exhorting our president to bring the interested parties into a room and use the force of his personality to COMPEL a useful outcome is like asking an armadillo to bake bread: sooner or later we all have to realize that we're talking to the wrong critter.
9
'This is madness. When it comes to guns, we have lost our bearings in this country, allowing misguided chest-thumping about a constitutional amendment penned in an entirely different epoch, under entirely different circumstances, to trump all prudence and decency.'
Beautifully articulated, Mr. Bruni. I read only today, one day after this mass killing in Oregon, that some in Oregon think that this so recent massacre justifies the purchase of even more guns. Reasons that were given ranged from the need for 'defense', with another proclaiming that people with guns were needed to go 'after the lunatics'. And of course, the constant refrain that Obama is intent in seizing all guns in the United States, which is utter nonsense.
How much of this insanity is due to right wing commentators like Limbaugh, Hannity and fearful politicians afraid of an F grade from the NRA? It is no coincidence that many who are fearful are normal everyday working people who may not have time, or the interest, to read the other side, meaning those who advocate sensible gun regulation.
Perhaps it is time to end the phrase 'gun control', substituting 'sensible gun regulation'. We have car insurance, licensing and insurance, but we don't call that 'automobile and truck control'. It truly is time to end the madness.
Beautifully articulated, Mr. Bruni. I read only today, one day after this mass killing in Oregon, that some in Oregon think that this so recent massacre justifies the purchase of even more guns. Reasons that were given ranged from the need for 'defense', with another proclaiming that people with guns were needed to go 'after the lunatics'. And of course, the constant refrain that Obama is intent in seizing all guns in the United States, which is utter nonsense.
How much of this insanity is due to right wing commentators like Limbaugh, Hannity and fearful politicians afraid of an F grade from the NRA? It is no coincidence that many who are fearful are normal everyday working people who may not have time, or the interest, to read the other side, meaning those who advocate sensible gun regulation.
Perhaps it is time to end the phrase 'gun control', substituting 'sensible gun regulation'. We have car insurance, licensing and insurance, but we don't call that 'automobile and truck control'. It truly is time to end the madness.
755
There is sensible gun regulation. But what laws are regulating people who want to kill?
the word of art or phrase that I now hear most often is "gun safety" not gun "control," which is a positive, most desirable aim that even the gun manufacturers can support it. We already have gun control. When the shill for the gun manufacturers, the NRA sued to have machine guns made legally available to "sports" shooters & others who might want to keep a machine gun visible to deter any murderer or attack. In spite of the gun manufacturers arguments, the Supreme Court, in 1991 upheld the ban on citizens having machine guns (Farmer vs. Higgins, 90-600), They have also upheld th ban on
sawed off shotguns & have upheld the ban on "straw gun purchases" among many other rulings that "control" guns. IMO a liberal court will drastically alter the insane ruling made by Roberts court that the 2nd Amendment made guns an individual right to ownership rather than a "well regulated militia." I wish some gun safety group would take the laws permitting "assault rifles" & large clip ammunition guns to the Supremes after Hillary takes office to begin dismantling the easy access to machines made for easy killing & the manufacturers' profits
sawed off shotguns & have upheld the ban on "straw gun purchases" among many other rulings that "control" guns. IMO a liberal court will drastically alter the insane ruling made by Roberts court that the 2nd Amendment made guns an individual right to ownership rather than a "well regulated militia." I wish some gun safety group would take the laws permitting "assault rifles" & large clip ammunition guns to the Supremes after Hillary takes office to begin dismantling the easy access to machines made for easy killing & the manufacturers' profits
4
Perhaps Limbaugh needs a gun to protect his stash of Oxycontin.
8
As a university faculty member for more than 40 years I have had occasion to deal with students provoked to fury by something said in class, students who come to class drunk or drugged, students arriving with stress or anger from something happening somewhere else and yes, on two or three occasions with students carrying firearms. When that has happened it used to be a matter of excusing myself for a moment, calling security, and letting law enforcement address the situation. And while I have had students come to blows in class I have never worried about personal safety. A couple of times students have come to see me in the office angry about a grade but in the end everything worked out. But I wonder whether we have reached a tipping point where faculty will give everyone an A grade to avoid irritating students who think carrying guns is a necessary part of problem-solving and conflict management. It is hard not to chuckle at the irony of admonitions to hace trigger warning about a phrase or photo when there is someone in class mentally caressing the trigger of a Glock in a backpack. And having taught for years in Texas I know students there are just as vulnerable to the pressures and anxieties triggering violence as students anywhere else. It is unfortunate we must live with a world of legislative Walter Mittys who make up for their self-loathing from kissing the feet of plutocrats that they subject us all to unnecessary danger from the weak-minded among us.
1113
I've taught seventh graders who bragged about their Glocks...couldn't help but wonder...
8
All correct except the reference to Walter Mitty, who would be horrified at his name being used for those deranged or cynically conscienceless politicians.
10
I second what you have written. 5 years ago, at the age of 75, I retired from a 51-year teaching career. On a certain day, I was at a public university teaching a 300 level religious studies course. The usual questions about truth and belief came up, when a student who had been participating rose from her seat, packed up her things and at the door turned to us and said "f--- you all!"
Earlier in my career, to lessen tension I might have said, "I didn't know she was from the south." This time I wondered whether she'd return with a gun because she didn't approve of student opinions she didn't share. There was no doubt she felt under assault by normal classroom discussion.
I have the feeling that your "self-loathing," "legislative Walter Mittys" -- like my student -- simply disdain diversity of opinion and treat it like it originates with the devil, an ever-present force challenging their preferred world outlook right in front of their eyes. The gun is their best choice for beating the devil, whose reality is only in their imagination. Their self-loathing is well deserved.
Earlier in my career, to lessen tension I might have said, "I didn't know she was from the south." This time I wondered whether she'd return with a gun because she didn't approve of student opinions she didn't share. There was no doubt she felt under assault by normal classroom discussion.
I have the feeling that your "self-loathing," "legislative Walter Mittys" -- like my student -- simply disdain diversity of opinion and treat it like it originates with the devil, an ever-present force challenging their preferred world outlook right in front of their eyes. The gun is their best choice for beating the devil, whose reality is only in their imagination. Their self-loathing is well deserved.
19
Is ther open carry in the Texas capital when the legislature is in session? Seems like it should be.
390
N B,
No.
No.
3
The state capital is one of the few places where you cannot open carry. Ironic, no?
9
It is in New Hampshire. Nuts. I've had some Legislators flash their guns just to show me how much they disagree with my statements about the right to vote.
7
This column demonstrates how difficult it is to find an intellectual argument for something that seems so emotionally self-evident. The mind rebels at trying to explain why death-dealing hardware in public spaces might be considered worrisome. We end up grasping at ludicrous straws, having to make the case that debate class might not be as free-wheeling if the opposing sides were armed.
The come-back is always that the Constitution grants the right for every yahoo to pack heat. But the Second Amendment says that the right to keep and bear arms will not be infringed because a well-regulated Militia is necessary for the security of a free state. Can we support insanity by excluding conditional clauses? The Huns aren’t marching in the streets of Austin. And if they were, people would probably have time to return home and fetch their weapons.
Those who feel the need to carry weapons to school, to the coffee shop or just walking down the street says something about those people. They see threats everywhere, afraid of what may be lurking in the shadows. The fear is so real and present that they need that gun close at hand. It gives them confidence and security.
This virtually guarantees that that the frightened and the insecure will be walking around with guns. I wonder how they will view those of us who oppose their right, and want to take their guns away. Will we be the threats that they knew would one day appear? Will there even be time for a debate?
The come-back is always that the Constitution grants the right for every yahoo to pack heat. But the Second Amendment says that the right to keep and bear arms will not be infringed because a well-regulated Militia is necessary for the security of a free state. Can we support insanity by excluding conditional clauses? The Huns aren’t marching in the streets of Austin. And if they were, people would probably have time to return home and fetch their weapons.
Those who feel the need to carry weapons to school, to the coffee shop or just walking down the street says something about those people. They see threats everywhere, afraid of what may be lurking in the shadows. The fear is so real and present that they need that gun close at hand. It gives them confidence and security.
This virtually guarantees that that the frightened and the insecure will be walking around with guns. I wonder how they will view those of us who oppose their right, and want to take their guns away. Will we be the threats that they knew would one day appear? Will there even be time for a debate?
556
Calling a gun owner a "yahoo" is hardly an intellectual argument for anything. People like you are the reason the NRA receives so much support.
10
"The mind rebels at trying to explain why death-dealing hardware in public spaces might be considered worrisome."
Yet it is fine if this hardware is carried by the police or other creatures of the government, always one rule for "them" and another for "ordinary people".
Yet it is fine if this hardware is carried by the police or other creatures of the government, always one rule for "them" and another for "ordinary people".
2
This comment illustrates how useless it is to depend on a class of people, legitimate intellectuals though they might be, to look beyond the constraints of their own assumptions, seek to understand those of others and contribute something useful. But you keep insisting that there is no basis for a gun rights activist's positions, and you keep failing to affect our reality in any material way -- just as our president, pathetically powerless, gnashes his teeth that America doesn't see things as he does.
Let me try to make this as simple as I can, even trying to keep to few syllables. Pretend that you're negotiating with silicon-based aliens we found living beneath the surface of Europa, Jupiter's sixth moon; and we've just realized that they possess a death ray that could sterilize Earth across the millions of miles. You MUST realize that you can't possibly have any points of reference in common with them, yet you need to come to a mutual modus vivendi. So ... how do you proceed? By lecturing them that sterilizing death rays are morally wrong?
If so, I don't want YOU anywhere near Europans or guns rights activists, because we'll wind up either sterilized or swimming in guns.
Let me try to make this as simple as I can, even trying to keep to few syllables. Pretend that you're negotiating with silicon-based aliens we found living beneath the surface of Europa, Jupiter's sixth moon; and we've just realized that they possess a death ray that could sterilize Earth across the millions of miles. You MUST realize that you can't possibly have any points of reference in common with them, yet you need to come to a mutual modus vivendi. So ... how do you proceed? By lecturing them that sterilizing death rays are morally wrong?
If so, I don't want YOU anywhere near Europans or guns rights activists, because we'll wind up either sterilized or swimming in guns.
3
We are seeing the effect of the gun lobby on their bought-and-paid-for politicians, since we know that over 90% of Americans support increased back-ground checks, including 92$% of gun owners, 86% of GOP'ers, and 98% of Dems:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/majority-americans-support-background-checks-...
The above numbers are as close as something comes to unanimous support among the electorate on an issue today, but Robert Draper explained the issue for us, and we need to take his analysis to heart:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/majority-americans-support-background-checks-...
The sickening status of not beefing up background checks, re-instituting the ban on assault weapons that was allowed to expire in 2005, and not being able to close the gun-show loophole should indeed be the litmus test Obama calls for in 2016 voting.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/majority-americans-support-background-checks-...
The above numbers are as close as something comes to unanimous support among the electorate on an issue today, but Robert Draper explained the issue for us, and we need to take his analysis to heart:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/majority-americans-support-background-checks-...
The sickening status of not beefing up background checks, re-instituting the ban on assault weapons that was allowed to expire in 2005, and not being able to close the gun-show loophole should indeed be the litmus test Obama calls for in 2016 voting.
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Apologies all 'round - here's the Draper link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/magazine/inside-the-power-of-the-nra.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/magazine/inside-the-power-of-the-nra.html
11
Every major problem in America has the same source: the absolute and complete corruption of US politicians by lobbies and corporations. Every one.
4
The poll stated that 92% favored background checks, not "increased background checks". We already have background checks and they are failing because the data base does not have all the needed information. Here's some good first steps: 1. Fully fund the FBI background system to include systems upgrades (it has never been fully funded so get to your elected representative or Senator and get them to fund it): 2. Make it mandatory that anyone under a psychologist or psychiatrist care and on medication cannot own a gun (already a federal law) and make the doctors legally responsible for informing the authorities (arrest them if they do not and take their licenses away from them); 3. Arrest and jail straw buyers. Hold them to the laws of accessories to the crime, if murder then they should get 25 years minimum not 4 or 6 like the Columbine straw buyers: 4. Hold gun owners and parents equally legally responsible if they allow their under age kids access to their guns. Enforce the gun laws. When was the last time you heard that the Chicago Police were actively searching for the gun runners supplying the thugs there with weapons in the most gun restrictive city in the US and with over 5000 murders this year alone? Laws are only as good as the people responsible for and actually enforcing them.
6
One cannot learn when one's entire attention is riveted by fear. To learn, one's mind must be open to and eager for the thrilling discovery of something that was dimly pereceived and perhaps partly understood, but has just taken on a new life of its own. It is something like the darkness suddenly evaporating and the new light shines endless possibilities in every direction, driving doubt back into the darkness where it lives and has its being. Fear is a paralyzing, numbing demon that devours reason and destroys any solid foundation. The unfettered access to guns, on campus or off, bespeaks of a culture boastfully impressed with itself, an uncivilized society that views the threat of violence, of deadly force, as its sole behavioral determinant. And when an annoyed presidential candidate can dismiss the slaughter of students in a classroom as "stuff happens," then we've left behind the path of wisdom which was once the reason for going into any classroom in the first place. America is gambling its sanity and its future on an anachronism which has survived the Constitution unchanged but has brought with it the seeds of the destruction of our sense of community.
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Change that first sentence to "One cannot learn OR TEACH when one's entire attention is riveted by fear." Frankly, there are topics I just don't bring up in class anymore, and now I think twice before using discipline in the classroom for college students who seriously need to be quiet, listen and put their cell phones away.
6
The people carrying weapons onto campuses should be required to also wear black hats. That way you can easily tell who the bad guys are and you can act accordingly. If we're going to go back to the wild west days all of the old stereotypes should apply.
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In the Wild West days you had to check in your guns with the sheriff when you came into town.
13
Anyone who plans on carrying out a mass shooting is not going to wear a black hat. The point is that we need to make sure that guns are so difficult to obtain that we don't need to worry about it. As in most of the rest of the civilized world.
7
Bad guys certainly are not allowed to legally own firearms because they are the ones that kill people. The problem is being able to know when a person turns bad.
2
I am a Democrat. I do not own a gun and I find the policies of the NRA distasteful, to put it mildly, but the fact remains in all of the mass shootings the killers violated several gun laws that were already on the books.
What keeps being swept under the carpet is how to deal with mental illness in our country. The man who murdered John Lennon, the killers at Columbine, Sandy Hook, the movie theater in Aurora, the recent murders in Oregon, the man who shot former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the man who murdered dozens of students and faculty at Virginia Tech, and the man who tried to assassinate President Reagan and shot James Brady were all mentally ill.
There are people who have been examined by medical professionals and deemed to be a threat to themselves and a threat to others. We cannot allow these people to walk the streets in the hopes that we can medicate their problems away.
Imagine what would might be if these people had received treatment at an inhouse facility? A John Lennon giving his music to the world, a vibrant Congressman Giffords, parents not grieving over the loss of their five year old children at Sandy Hook, the families of those murdered all across the country looking forward to spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with their loved ones.
We can pass all the laws we want but if we keeping making mental illness a taboo and refusing to put people at inhouse centers where they can receive the help they need more innocents will be struck down.
What keeps being swept under the carpet is how to deal with mental illness in our country. The man who murdered John Lennon, the killers at Columbine, Sandy Hook, the movie theater in Aurora, the recent murders in Oregon, the man who shot former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the man who murdered dozens of students and faculty at Virginia Tech, and the man who tried to assassinate President Reagan and shot James Brady were all mentally ill.
There are people who have been examined by medical professionals and deemed to be a threat to themselves and a threat to others. We cannot allow these people to walk the streets in the hopes that we can medicate their problems away.
Imagine what would might be if these people had received treatment at an inhouse facility? A John Lennon giving his music to the world, a vibrant Congressman Giffords, parents not grieving over the loss of their five year old children at Sandy Hook, the families of those murdered all across the country looking forward to spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with their loved ones.
We can pass all the laws we want but if we keeping making mental illness a taboo and refusing to put people at inhouse centers where they can receive the help they need more innocents will be struck down.
71
One of the problems we have is that many of the shooters either are not diagnosed (Charleston, Oregon) or do not do anything to justify locking them up. Even those who have been locked up are eventually released as we do not incarcerate (which is what it would become) someone who is not an imminent danger to self/others based on the fear that he/she 'might' do something. Even the young man in New Town - it was clear in retrospect that he was mentally ill, but unless we greatly broaden the circumstances under which we are willing to lock someone up, it is hard to have those controls. Much of mental health treatment if someone is not a danger to self/others is based upon the patient being willing and able to participate fully in therapy and/or take their medications (which often have unpleasant side effects) as ordered.
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"many of the shooters either are not diagnosed (Charleston, Oregon) or do not do anything to justify locking them up. Even those who have been locked up are eventually released [without effective help.]"
The problem includes failure to diagnose, and failure to do anything effective about it.
There are many other awful things that happen for the same reasons, not just gun crimes.
There are other ways to kill -- the worst school killing in the US for numbers of students killed was a bombing by someone mentally ill, without guns.
There are suicides.
Mentally ill people die in the streets in winter, freezing to death because they don't function well enough to get help.
It is a big problem, bigger than just guns.
It is not enough to notice that our efforts are ineffective. It is not enough to leave it at that, and say we should somehow eliminate 300 million guns instead of doing anything about this.
The problem includes failure to diagnose, and failure to do anything effective about it.
There are many other awful things that happen for the same reasons, not just gun crimes.
There are other ways to kill -- the worst school killing in the US for numbers of students killed was a bombing by someone mentally ill, without guns.
There are suicides.
Mentally ill people die in the streets in winter, freezing to death because they don't function well enough to get help.
It is a big problem, bigger than just guns.
It is not enough to notice that our efforts are ineffective. It is not enough to leave it at that, and say we should somehow eliminate 300 million guns instead of doing anything about this.
21
Mark Thomason:
It is a big problem, bigger than just guns.
****
Yes, and focusing on the wrong problem only makes a solution that much more difficult to find.
Unfortunately, the minute a crazy does something, the usual suspects (ex., guns, religion, political beliefs) are trotted out and the blaming begins.
It is a big problem, bigger than just guns.
****
Yes, and focusing on the wrong problem only makes a solution that much more difficult to find.
Unfortunately, the minute a crazy does something, the usual suspects (ex., guns, religion, political beliefs) are trotted out and the blaming begins.
11
"Possibly that just encouraged the lawmakers. “Universities are uniquely liberal institutions and they’re targets for conservatives,” Neuberger noted, adding that campus carry may well have been their way of “attacking the bedrock of liberal values that the university represents.”"
I wish I could wave a wand and have every single parent who sends a kid to the University of Texas pull their kid out. But what would that solve?
The only message that's going to hit the "lawmakers" (how one can muster up the courage to call them that is a big question) is if some way, some day, they have to suffer for their performance.
That means the US citizen must become incensed enough over the insanity to simply say, I will not vote for any lawmaker unless he or she supports sane gun safety laws. We might not be there yet. But, Lord, am I sure, that we are on our way.
When guns or no guns is one of the decision making criteria parents and their kids are discussing in the upper grades of high school, you know that we've gone off the deep end.
Our leaders, state and national. don't have time to legislate funding for rotten bridges and highways, but they do have time to increase the availability of guns in places where liberals congregate, as if they simply think they can blow their opposition away--quite literally.
I wish I could wave a wand and have every single parent who sends a kid to the University of Texas pull their kid out. But what would that solve?
The only message that's going to hit the "lawmakers" (how one can muster up the courage to call them that is a big question) is if some way, some day, they have to suffer for their performance.
That means the US citizen must become incensed enough over the insanity to simply say, I will not vote for any lawmaker unless he or she supports sane gun safety laws. We might not be there yet. But, Lord, am I sure, that we are on our way.
When guns or no guns is one of the decision making criteria parents and their kids are discussing in the upper grades of high school, you know that we've gone off the deep end.
Our leaders, state and national. don't have time to legislate funding for rotten bridges and highways, but they do have time to increase the availability of guns in places where liberals congregate, as if they simply think they can blow their opposition away--quite literally.
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To be safe they will have to go to religious schools or to school out of state. I think it's pay back for being the most liberal school in Texas. They hope a nut will repeat Whitman's act.
33
Texas idiots in the Republican Party made it part of their party platform to oppose teaching critical thinking in schools. No science, no climate change, no evolution, and no thinking -- only guns are left.
11
As for the legislators, a boycott that did not affect the football team would have a limited effect. A lieutenant governor (presides over the senate) who dismisses the public schools (which would include UT) as tools of the devil is not going to lose sleep over a bunch of atheistic professors and their brainwashed students refusing to attend class.
5
This country teaches stupidity, and it is reaping the whirlwind from it.
No sane country teaches that everyone needs a gun.
No sane country teaches that everyone needs a gun.
683
We gave up sanity a long, long time ago.
4
All the NRA, and the NRA controlled GOP care about, is selling guns. NOTHING ELSE matters to them. And I mean NOTHING.
6
Steve it is not about sanity and never has been, it has always been about greed. The gun industry wields considerable power, people be damned in America because profits matter, people don't.
4
"Campus Carry," the law allowing concealed firearms at public universities in Texas, represents an idea that should have been seen as absurb on its face. But conservative legislators have a different agenda: Pandering to the NRA and the extreme right.
President Obama said this is a political issue. The great majority of Americans, including gun owners, desire reasonable gun regulations. The answer: Vote out those lawmakers who oppose even the most common sense regulations. Do Americans need assault rifles? Large magazine clips? Are background checks a radical idea?
The only items that should be carried on campus are books and ideas. More guns, especially on our campuses, is just a terrible, terrible idea. Shame on the Texas legislature.
President Obama said this is a political issue. The great majority of Americans, including gun owners, desire reasonable gun regulations. The answer: Vote out those lawmakers who oppose even the most common sense regulations. Do Americans need assault rifles? Large magazine clips? Are background checks a radical idea?
The only items that should be carried on campus are books and ideas. More guns, especially on our campuses, is just a terrible, terrible idea. Shame on the Texas legislature.
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Vote for the presidential candidate who has made it part of his platform to stop this madness.
5
You are absolutely correct, however, it will never happen. Money and insanity talk in the good ole United Gun States of America.
1
It will now be easier for a 21-year-old at U of T to purchase a lethal weapon than to rent a car for a weekend trip.
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Or to vote in some cases.
10
or to vote.
13
Its easier to get a gun than it is to register to vote!
7
Absurdity can spiral out of control. The state motto should be "what a mess is texas"
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As a Texan, I recommended your comment about absurdity spiraling out of control. But, Georgia, isn't there something about a pot calling a kettle black?
6
I'd suggest "Texas: Where men are men and cattle are scared." These policies speak to minds (or what passes for minds) degraded by incest or bestiality.
2
Yes, madness reigns. Doing the same failed thing over and over again with the same failed/tragic results.
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