Will Gun Control Prevent Campus Shootings?

Andrew S. Lay Editor In Chief

Gun control has been a touchy issue for many years now. Recently the debate has begun anew in response to the savage murders that took place last Monday at Virginia Tech.

This is a common practice employed by democrats. It is typical for them to take advantage of an emotional situation in order to push their issues onto the Senate floor.

Despite their efforts, the Second Amendment still protects us from government powers that would like to take away our guns. One thing that is important to remember (and one that I think many people forget) is that the first thing Hitler and Stalin did when they came to power was take away all the guns from their people. The reason behind this was obvious-they didn't want people to be able to fight back. I'm not trying to make any comparisons between our nation and these, just trying to raise a point.

One of the main reasons why the Second Amendment was made to the Constitution wasn't just to give people the right to protect themselves, their families and their property, but to allow people to protect themselves against their own government should it turn tyrannical. Keep in mind that it is the right of the American people to dispose of their government should the leaders attempt to infringe upon our rights.

There is an old saying that I am sure many people have heard. It goes, "If you outlaw guns then the only people who will have guns will be outlaws." It may be a simple statement, but it rings true. The vast majority of people who purchase guns legally use their guns properly: For home defense, hunting and for practice at ranges. Anyone can get a gun if they really want. The streets of LA are full of illegal weapons.

How are gun control laws going to affect the criminals? Do people actually think that more gun control laws are going to get these people to put down their weapons? Not a chance in hell. If criminals knew that people had no weapons in their homes would it make them leery of robbing a house? They would be emboldened because they would know that the people inside the house pose no serious threat.

Gun control laws don't affect criminals. That is what's so absurd about gun control laws. They harm the people they were designed to protect. The man who so viciously murdered those people in Virginia obtained his guns illegally. Sure he bought them from a gun store, but according to Virginia State law he shouldn't have been sold the weapons because he had a history of mental illness. He slipped through the cracks.

Currently there are over 20,000 gun laws in America, according to the NRA. Since the gun control laws have been passed, there hasn't been a significant drop in deaths by guns. There is no research or statistics that show that gun control actually works. We need to focus on ways to stop criminals and psychotics like Seung-Hui Cho without trampling on the rights of Americans. It makes no sense to punish the American people for the moral bankruptcy and insanity of a few.

Jarrod Moore Hornet Copy Editor

The recent shootings on the Virginia Tech campus have spawned heated opinions of gun control policy nationwide, adding fuel to the ever-present debates from both ends of the spectrum- those who want to tighten policy, and those who want it loosened.

The Second Amendment of the Constitution delegates to citizens the right to bear arms. There is no denying the right to keep a gun in your home, to protect yourself, your family and your property. But leave it to Libertarians and Libertarian groups like the Gun Owners of America to propagandize?this event and seize it as a twisted opportunity to push a shortsighted, horribly skewed perspective on personal freedoms and violence prevention.

They actually think allowing students to carry guns on campus would prevent shootings at school.

This is one of the most narrow-minded blanket suggestions I have ever heard. Issuing civilian or student permits to carry guns on school grounds would result in devastation this nation has never imagined.

The logic behind G.O.A., its president, Larry Pratt and countless bloggers and supporters, is that if everyone had a gun, nobody would shoot for fear of being shot. Interesting concept, but only in the abstract.

The problem with idealists and self-titled progressive thinkers that support less gun control is that they have all forgotten, or refuse to acknowledge, one key issue: We are animals. Sorry for the shattered glass. Their idea of a "gun-filled utopia" would mean two things-for those who could afford guns, bullets would fly. Those who couldn't afford them would have to stay out of school.

And for those who refuse to own a gun, morality would serve as their demise. Arming civilians, or giving civilians an invitation to arm themselves, takes away the civility. There would be no "civilian."

Advocates for putting guns in everyone's hands cite laws in Oregon and Utah, where faculty can legally possess firearms on campus, as examples. In other words, the fact that hippies and Mormons haven't pulled the trigger (yet) should speak for the rest of the country. Oh, that's right, there hasn't been a shooting to try that theory out just yet (it's because the psychos are scared of faculty!). I guess it's just too bad that mall employees and janitors aren't allowed a concealed weapons permit, because that idea in itself would have prevented February's Salt Lake City shooting, right?

Sure, maybe there would be fewer large-scale shootings, but small-scale shootings would take the place of fistfights. And the large-scale attacks would still happen as they always have, only in different form. Violence evolves with violence-prevention. No weapon permit would ever stop a psychotic with a vendetta, a plan and a lot of free time. The focus here is to work with mental health agencies and tighten gun control laws and restrict firearms to be for personal home protection ("home" is the key word here). After all, it was, indirectly, a weak gun control policy that allowed the rampage at Virginia Tech to occur.

The best statistic I've come up with yet: 100% of shooting deaths are caused by guns. Remarkable, huh? So let's just put them in the hands of anyone who wants one, and let's allow them to be sold on the streets to anyone else who wants one. Good plan.