The Price of Political Correctness on Guns in Plattville Wisconsin

Gun Watch ^ | 20 March, 2016 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Link to video

UW Platteville Student David Kalenga-Kasongo, on Monday, 14 March, the week before spring break, pulled a fire alarm and made allegations that he heard noises and saw the barrel of a firearm inside a stall of a bathroom on campus. Under questioning by reporters, he says that the barrel was a "long barrel", like "an AK 47". From uwpexponent.com:

University of Wisconsin-Platteville Chancellor Dennis Shields closed all public campus buildings at 1:30 p.m. on March 14 due to a security threat in the men’s restroom on the first floor of Ullsvik Hall.

UW-Platteville student David Kalenga-Kasongo was using the restroom when he heard a clicking noise that he interpreted as the racking of a gun. He pulled the Ullsvik fire alarm at 12:50 p.m. and called the Platteville city police. Kalenga-Kasongo later said he saw the barrel of a rifle that he thought was an AK-47.

The week before spring break is crowded with midterm exams at the University of Wisconsin at Platteville. From facebook:

Spring break is fast approaching, and that means midterms for students at UW-Platteville. Check out these last minute tips from The Princeton Review to ace those midterm exams.

Watch the video, make up your mind, then read the rest of the article.  I want your unbiased opinion.

I have interviewed a number of people as an investigator.  I have my doubts about the accuracy of the rendition of the incident as related. But I want other opinions about it. Fortunately, the video is now on youtube.

One retired officer that I talked to said that the "gun on campus" has become the new "bomb threat". Bomb threats became so ubiquitous in the 70's that severe penalties were put in place and enforced, for people calling in fraudulent bomb threats. The cost of institutions being forced to shut down for hours at a time is enormous.

But "Gun!" threats are politically correct. Questioning the validity of such threats is verboten; especially on university campuses, where administrators are desperately attempting to preserve their political power to invalidate the Second Amendment as they see fit.

It is embarrassing to read about Americans acting this way. I used to laugh at the British, and sadly reflect on the high level of nanny state there. Now the same level of insanity is being played out on American Campuses. I have been to the University of Platteville. I once considered attending there. It is a small school at a small town in rural America.

They had a fine mining engineering program with an excellent reputation. I can only imagine the embarrassment of the engineering students and faculty at the level of political correctness being exhibited at their school. Kalenga-Kasongo is himself an engineering student. From uwpexponent.com:

The Exponent made repeated attempts to contact Kalenga-Kasongo for comment, but he did not return phone calls, Facebook messages or text messages. A cursory background check reveals that Kalenga-Kasongo, who has a Madison address, is an honors graduate of MATC, a general engineering major at UW-Platteville, and has had at least one brush with the law.

The campus Chancellor, Dennis Shields,  seems a bit skeptical about the whole affair.  But he acts professionally when asked about it. From the uwpexponent.com:

“I think it is very important not to overreact,” Shields said. “The last thing I want to do is see campus turned into an armed camp.”

Shields and Williams were also asked why the buildings were evacuated rather than being put on lockdown.

Shields said that it was because there was no evidence of an active shooter.

Another attendee asked whether pulling the fire alarm was the right thing to do in such a situation.

“I can’t speak for what [the student] did,” Williams said. “He certainly got everybody’s attention.” Williams also said that the response would have been different if it was an active shooter.

Is this the same David Kalenga-Kasongo that is enrolled in Platteville?

Eventually, universities and schools will have to come to grips with the disruptions and down time caused by these sorts of alarms.  I suspect that sanctions will start to be enforced for fraudulent alarms.  The cost to schools, students, and society is too large.  The current rewards for false alarms, such as avoiding exams, getting a few hours off, and feeling the power of making hundreds or thousands of people jump to your command, are seductive; the costs of doing so are non-existent.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

Gun scares as the new bomb threat. It really fits.

[School of Rational Thought]

Kalenga-Kasongo was just alarmed when the guns balls hit him in the face

[Terabitten]

I love in the area. Word among the students is that he had a presentation due that day, for which he was unprepared.

I think the university did a good job overall.

[Terabitten]

ugh.... live, not love.

[tanknetter]

I’ve been through several variations of Active Shooter training.

Pulling a fire alarm is NOT the right thing to do.

Evacuating students could be stampeded right into the path of the active shooter.

The right thing to do is to call 911 and seek escape or cover, as appropriate. Fighting back as a final option if cornered

[marktwain]

This is a repost. Misread a record. I thought I had not posted it before, but, alas, I had.

[Purdue77]

About 40 years ago, a kid in my dorm started shooting his 22 rifle out of his dorm window. He wasn’t shooting at people, just inanimate objects. He got to spend every weekend in jail for the rest of the term. The university didn’t suspend or expel him. And, I don’t remember the university once offering us a counselor to ensure that we weren’t traumatized. How things have changed.

[marktwain]

In many ways, society has changed for the worse.

In a few ways, for the better.

[BenLurkin]

Fire alarms in the toilet stall?

[driftless2]

a kid in my dorm started shooting his 22 rifle out of his dorm window

I have a difficult time getting my mind around the idea that a kid smart enough to go to college would think it perfectly fine to shoot a gun out of the window of his dorm room. What did he say when sentenced? He didn't think there was anything wrong with shooting a gun out of dorm window?

[PUGACHEV]

At our college, the men’s dean used to keep our rifles in his apartment in the dorm. We would go to him and check them out whenever he was available. It was no big deal. This was in the ‘60s, but when I was growing up in the ‘50s pretty much every boy in our rural neighborhood had a .22. We would wander around playing with them in the woods and fields all day long.

[Purdue77]

I think that he violated the rule about drinking and handling guns. Plus, if I remember correctly, he really wasn’t that smart. After that, I didn’t see him again. The school didn’t punish him, but the dorm administrator threw him out.

[alloysteel]

I went to Platteville, got my BS and MA degrees there.

School there sure has changed since then. Never was open carry, but there was a FEW times, when I am sure there were concealed carry, legal or not.

[Purdue77]

We didn’t have problems with students bringing guns into the dorms. I had a number of friends who grew up with guns but never brought them onto the campus. Our biggest problem would be the kids making liquid rocket fuel in their dorm rooms.

[fungoking]

I shot a squirrel out the bedroom window just the other day, he thought the bird food was for him. Alas, he was food for me.

[Zeppo]

made allegations that he heard noises and saw the barrel of a firearm inside a stall of a bathroom on campus. Under questioning by reporters, he says that the barrel was a "long barrel", like "an AK 47".

Maybe the guy just had a "wide stance".

Yeah, that's the ticket...

[driftless2]

I shot a squirrel out the bedroom window just the other day,

The other day I shot an elephant in my paj.....ah, you know the rest.

[BTCM]

Maybe the smoke alarm—beans on the menu?

[rellimpank]

—another one-

-http://www.thonline.com/news/tri-state/article_1a71c38e-8c48-500e-95e2-d75fe571ecd1.html

[rellimpank]

—after we organized the student r and p club at what was then WSCITP, installed a backstop in an unused building , I commonly had a Ruger .22 in the briefcase that we engineering student all carried for books, etc.,—it never managed to escape and go on a shooting rampage—