More Information on UVA Wise Gun/essay expulsion

Shotgun News ^ | May 6, 2008 | Jeff Knox

[Jones_the_King]

So it seems that the school not only lied to the Attorney General about Barber being involuntarily committed, but they also failed to act on a student who wrote a much worse story. I don't know about you all, but I think a story about a person who actually kills someone is a lot more frightening than a story about a person who contemplates killing someone and then decides not to and to kill himself instead. Both stories are fictional and both involve violence(though only one actually contains violence), but it looks like they only decided to act on the person who had controversy with the school. I'm really awestruck by these unreasonable and obviously agenda lead actions of my former school. Its just as Barber put it in another news article: "... a culture of fear has displaced rational thought."

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

But Barber's professor, Christopher Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and some of the class members were uncomfortable with the story.

What's that expression, the acorn does not fall far from the oak tree.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

...the prosecutor laid the blame on the campus police for using the wrong terminology, but went on to say that he intended to find some other mechanism to justify his actions and insure that Barber's permit is not restored.

One question:

Why isn't the the ACLU all over this?

Given the statements of the prosecutor and other evidence, this case is a slam dunk.
I am disgusted beyond words.

[indcons]

If this guy had done something stupid (similar to what was outlined in his paper), the media would be running 24/7 stories about how the authorities missed several clues, blah, blah and the university might well face considerable legal issues.

Lest we forget - there were similar questions about Cho (isn’t that his name) and his essays after the VTech killings.

That being said, I used to teach writing and English at a leading public univ. Departments and senior professors, in general, always asked us to watch out for threats of violence in student papers. If we saw disturbing patterns (and I saw none personally), the department would escalate this to the counseling services and campus police quite promptly.

[Fox_Mulder77]

I feel really bad for him. Really bad!
This is a typical example of government style justice: turn a blind eye and allow criminals to run rampant, while using the heavy hand of the law on the innocent.

[Travis McGee]

[woodbutcher]

If I were he, the first thing I would do is get in touch with the NRA.

Screw the ACLU.

[kbennkc]

The actions of the school and government were completely foreseeable . Not justified , but foreseeable enough to make one question Mr. Barber's motivations . The last time I wondered about a gun owner's failure to exercise common sense I was sharply criticized here as not being supportive of heroes setting up a test case . Well there are plenty of Constitutional issues here , so have fun but remember hard cases often make bad law .

[Copernicus]

A Navy veteran and Virginia Concealed Handgun Permit holder, Barber cooperated with the police and administration through all of the searches and questions even when they took him into custody and transported him to a mental hospital for three days of evaluation

DO NOT TALK TO INVESTIGATORS! EVER! FOR ANY REASON!

http://media.regent.edu/lawPreview/031408_DontTalktoPolice.wmv

Best regards,

[Copernicus]

Part II- Do NOT Talk to Investigators! Ever! For ANY reason! ESPECIALLY if you want to help their investigation!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2014431/posts

Best regards,

[RobinOfKingston]

But Barber's professor, Christopher Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and some of the class members were uncomfortable with the story.

What's that expression, the acorn does not fall far from the oak tree.

Perhaps the acorn can bounce and roll quite a distance, however, after it has fallen.

[Skywalk]

I think DaveLR’s point was that Scalia has never been afraid to expand government power in his decisions, even though he considers himself a strict constructionist (he’s not.)

I’m PRETTY SURE the Founders (or most of the important ones) would have found checkpoints and other things Scalia has seemed to support a gross violation worthy of armed response.

[B4Ranch]

He has regained admission to the university. In January they sent him a letter.

There’s a more cpmplete story about this somewhere on the net. I have read it recently.

[JOAT]

Excellent video, thanks for posting the link.

[Joe Brower]

It's worthy of note that if this fellow was half the psycho they think he is, he would have already gone postal on the whole lot of these cowards who, through their ignorance and arrogance, have caused him so much grief.

[Smokin' Joe]

The irony of this is that he has lost his permit, and been kicked out of school, but after three days of evaluation has been declared SANE.

He has something most do not, the papers to prove he isn't nuts, and they will not reinstate him?

Who is crazy (paranoid) now?

[ExSoldier]

If I were he I'd contact the Rutherford Institute. They live for cases like this. NRA is too busy with the elections.

[Copernicus]

Excellent video, thanks for posting the link.

Glad to be of any help. For people who value "tactical" and "situational" awareness some of us RKBA types can be pretty naive with "societal" and "cultural" awarenes.

We must learn "best practices" when we present a "diverse"point of view over the roar of the Bosheviks.

Best regards,

[green iguana]

More Information

Just not enough... There's no one at FR who is more pro-gun than I (tho' there are many as pro-gun), but it bugs me just as much when the "pro-gun" angle story teller leaves out critical information just as much as it does when the "anti-gun" side does it.

The second writer's story was clearly fiction. Barber's story was fiction, but too close to reality. Even Barber admits that he should not have written it the way he did. In no "pro-gun" writing of this incident have I ever been informed that in Barber's story, the professor that the character was contemplating killing was a creative writing professor identified as "Mr. Christopher."

I'm definitely sympathetic to Mr. Barber, and I think the school overreacted and he should be reinstated. But I also think that creative writing assistant professor Christopher Scalia and his students has cause to be a bit alarmed.

[Wonder Warthog]

One hopes that he, with the NRA’s backing, sues EVERYONE involved in this fiasco. The professor, the school, the police, and the attorney general. He could probably make enough to retire.