Posted on 02/13/2011 4:29:38 AM PST by marktwain
What was once the subject matter of fiction is now ingrained in the minds of many as concrete history. Campus shootings and violence have become a genuine concern in the lives of students, faculty and citizens across our nation today. Only several weeks into the new year, this nightmare has already become brutal reality for various Ohio college campuses.
Over the course of two months, southweastern Ohio's Wright State University has been the target of several armed robberies and assaults. A number of incidents have occurred between campus and its neighboring off-campus housing, while others have taken place on the campus itself. Fortunately, no victims have been seriously injured in these incidents. However, who's to say the next armed robbery or assault will not be deadly?
On January 20, 2011, at 2:30 am, a female was walking outside her dorm when a male approached and asked her where she was going. When the female kept walking, the male appeared to pull an object out of his coat and yelled at the female student to walk toward him. The female student ran and called the campus police.
On January 24, 2011, at 1:15 am, a robbery occurred off-campus at the Province Apartments. The robber displayed a handgun and demanded money from the victim. The very same day, between 7:30 and 7:45pm, three separate robberies occurred off-campus in the area between the walking path from campus parking and Meadow Run Apartments. The robber displayed a handgun and demanded cash.
Most recently, on February 3, 2011, at 7:00 pm a female was walking to an on-campus dumpster when she was approached from behind by a male. The assailant stuck an unknown object in the victim's back and ordered her into a vehicle where she was then sexually assaulted.
Unfortunately, crime and violence are an ongoing battle in today's society and they are taking over our schools and college campuses at an alarming rate. How are students and faculty expected to protect themselves when concealed weapons are not permitted on campuses?
Wright State University senior, Dylan Hall, sums up the feelings and uncertainties of many when asked his opinion of the recent incidents.
"The idea that a student may need to carry a firearm on a college campus for self defense is both repulsive and necessary. However, the right and responsibility of a qualified student to defend their own well- being as well as their peers' from a gunman's fury should not be limited to areas off campus."
Although able to carry a weapon in one's vehicle on campus property, how does this restriction protect students while going between the parking lot and campus? How are students protected when walking to their off- campus residence? As Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman Chad Baus observes, the experienced criminal knows college students are leaving campus unarmed. This chilling fact makes college students a prime target for criminals.
As Hall suggested, "Perhaps the next time a class lecture is interrupted by a declarative gunshot, students should have the right to defend their lives."
Rather than sitting and waiting impotent for help to arrive, students should be granted the right to protect themselves before another school's death and injury totals make headline news.
Stacey Hess, a 28 year-old mother of two, is a senior psychology major at Wright State University.
Here in Utah, students can carry.
We have no problems here; our colleges are safe.
Carrying on college campuses isn’t illegal in every state. In many it’s legal but against policy. Students should carry anyway.
If people don’t want to get in trouble carry a 4” folding knife. Keep it sharp and practice drawing, opening it, and disemboweling the perp as fast as they can.
Putting up a “No Guns Allowed” sign is the same as putting up one that reads “Baited Field.”
Sure thing! Where's the disemboweling range so I can go practice?
Does anybody wanders why attacks always happen in concealed carry forbidden areas?
It was a death sentence for dozens at VA Tech.
It was a death sentence for dozens at VA Tech.
There was a time when scholarly pursuits included logic. The inherent lack of logic in arguments for gun control is obvious- those with no weapons are vulnerable to attack by those who have them. Therefore, by allowing their presence, the vulnerable are rendered less so. A simple enough proposition, and yet, somehow beyond the ability of some to comprehend.
You don’t need a range. Keep the knife razor sharp and teach them to grip firmly and slash horizontally just above the perp’s waist.
The practice comes in by being able to draw, open and slash in one fluid movement in a fraction of a second.
1. Admit students they don't believe can be trusted to act like adults.
2. Admit their own failure to prepare students for adult responsibilities.
If I was a police department, federal law enforcement agency or military recruiter, I would have to question hiring an adult graduate who's academic background and record, by the college's own admission, did not include an endorsement of the person's maturity or responsbility to be entrusted with lethal force.
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