At this point, I keep trying to remind myself that Cornell is a prestigious academic institution. Somewhere on campus, there must be signs of intelligent life. It seems fairly obvious that such intelligent life is hit-or-miss in the Cornell population at large, a rarity on the Student Assembly, and completely non-existent at the Cornell Daily Sun.
Latest news in the battle of students of Cornell University versus essential liberties:
…At one point S.A. President C. J. Slicklen ’09 had to ask members of the S.A. to “curb [their] side comments.”
After the resolution was presented, Elan Greenberg ’08, a representative at-large and the former president of the S.A., called the resolution “terrifying” and said that he thought it was only a matter of time after the resolution was passed before there would be a “deadly accident.”
Please, dear readers, try to curb your laughter.
I think an anonymous commenter at the Sun had the perfect response to the terror felt by Mr. Greenberg:
It is very revealing that Mr. Greenberg is terrified. There are two types of leaders: those who trust the people they’re leading and those who feel they have to act benevolently on behalf of those they lead. A true man of the people will feel secure with his fellow students armed, but an elitist will be terrified.
As if Greenberg’s position on the S.A. is not discouraging enough, he also happens to be a member of ROTC. Raise your hand if it reassures you that a future military officer doesn’t believe citizens have the right to bear arms!
Other comments on the Sun article demonstrate a depressing lack of knowledge, but I suppose that is nothing new. One commenter decries the notion of allowing 18-20 yr. olds to own handguns. First of all, this resolution is not asking to change any state/national laws beyond restrictions related specifically to campuses. In other words, 18-20 yr. olds cannot possess weapons off campus, so there is no reason to believe they will be permitted to do so on campus. That said, it still pisses me off every time I remember going into a gun store right after my 18th birthday and being shocked senseless that I was still not a full citizen in that I have no protected guarantee of the 2nd amendment… but at least I only have 114 days left of being deprived of my right to bear arms.
Yet another commenter asks one sponsor of the resolution, Ahmed Salem, how he can be comfortable as a blind person with the thought of everyone around him being armed. Uh… call me crazy, but if I was blind and could not see a crazed gunman, I am quite confident I would want my seeing friends to be armed and able to protect me.
Anyway, there was also a letter to the editor published on Friday in response to the Sun editors’ atrocious Thursday editorial, Way Off Target.
By a member of the Cornell Republicans: Sun editorial about concealed carry off base
In yesterday’s editorial “Way Off Target,” The Sun made several naïve assertions about the issue of concealed carry on campus.
It stated that “weapons of intimidation” have no place in the “open society” that is the university, marked by “free inquiry, unhindered debate, and giving full credence” to all opinions. The insinuation seems to be that, if allowed on campus legally, guns would be used to intimidate those with whom we disagreed. This hypothetical is completely and absolutely baseless, and represents a much larger flaw in thinking.
The entire letter is well worth the read. I’ll leave you with this gem that I couldn’t have said better myself:
It would behoove The Sun to enter the real world. Assumptions do not reality make, and safety is not achieved simply by perceiving it.
This is hilarious, what a load of garbage. Why we need guns so that every student who gets in a drunk argument can shoot someone is beyond me.
I agree with the previous comment, I would feel downright terrified too if I knew that at a given party, lecture, class, or sporting event, significant numbers of students were capable of unleashing deadly havoc if, say, Cornell Hockey lost a game and people were upset.
B S and JUNK:
First of all, what appropriate names you have chosen for yourself. And, it is no wonder you agree with each other as you are the same person — same email address, same IP. Aren’t you clever?
Secondly, Cornell hockey may inspire strong emotion, but it’s not exactly European soccer or a jihadis-r-us conference. I sincerely doubt that 1) most of the Lynah Faithful would even want to conceal and carry and 2) those that do would be the sort of people to shoot up the town after the Big Red gets beat by Harvard.
I, for one, think it’s a great idea to encourage college students to carry concealed weapons. College students, being responsible in their actions and certainly not prone to alcohol abuse or high levels of stress, generally make good choices. I don’t see how it could ever be possible for a student carrying a concealed weapon on campus to make a bad decision and discharge his firearm unintentionally. Where does Greenberg get all of these crazy ideas?
“what appropriate names you have chosen for yourself.”
I’m going out on a limb and saying that they are the same person. Nah, It’s not even a guess.
“One commenter decries the notion of allowing 18-21 yr. olds to own handguns.”
So… twenty TWO must be the age at which people become trustworthy with weapons. Someone needs to inform the military. *sigh*
Kevin’s last blog post..Wisdom Tooth Extraction Makes the World Good
Oh, and ‘trash’ is again the same person. Check the sitemeter log.
Kevin’s last blog post..Wisdom Tooth Extraction Makes the World Good
Trash/BS/Junk - thanks for stopping by again.
Regarding your concern that stressed students might not be able to control their handguns, what are you basing this on? College students in Utah and Colorado are allowed to have guns on campus and there hasn’t been even one “unintentionally” firing of a weapon. Citizens all over the country are permitted to conceal and carry, and I’m sure some of their jobs must be stressful, yet they don’t unintentionally fire their guns either. Odd, isn’t it?
Furthermore, as a Cornell student who is frequently stressed myself, I don’t typically kill people using methods other than firearms when I’m feeling especially anxious. Why would a gun change that? To some extent you could say a gun is easier to shoot, but poison is rather easy to put in someone’s food. When I’m driving, it would be quite simple to run over a pedestrian. Heck, I may be a little on the wimpy side but what is stopping me from physically attacking others when I’m stressed?
Oh right, common sense and lack of desire to actually kill someone, go to prison, and die. Giving me a gun is not going to change any of that. It will however, change a situation in which an armed gunman arrives at campus ready to kill. In such a case, I and other like-minded and like-armed students would have a better chance at saving our lives and the lives of others.
BS, Junk, & Trash… this person apparently believes that students should be at the mercy of those killers that can’t seem to read those “Gun Free Zone” signs.
Sam Pierce’s last blog post..Brutal crime and lenient punishment
It is amazing how many gun crimes are committed in gun-free zones. I wonder if it has something to do with the murderers and other harm-invokers feeling superior from knowing that those of us that do our best to abide by the rules will be unarmed (though reluctantly).
Scott’s last blog post..What Happens If McCain Falters?
Tieki, Tieki… you don’t get it. There is but a mere filament of grace between us and a deranged Cornell student who would gun us all down to relieve some stress before exams. Without the omniscient and omnibeneficient police, we would be at the mercy of frat boys who had just done a keg stand.
The fact that a nice young lady might find herself NOT raped, with the aid of her concealed firearm, after encountering said hypothetical inebriated frat boy, is beyond the point. This is the modern version of a sacrificial virgin; the gods, this time, are those of Leftism and not fertility (oddly enough, a perfect juxtaposition).
theobromophile’s last blog post..Single-sex, single-minded insanity
I’m pulling out the big guns here, no pun intended. I have actually saved my own life by pulling a loaded .38 revolver (the loathed and despised, mankilling handgun) on a fellow who chased me into the corner of my own bedroom with an upraised, 12-inch butcher knife. MY butcher knife, no less.
He wasn’t so brave once the gun was pulled: he ran away and I got a restraining order. I tend to think he was more afraid of the gun and my pulling back the hammer than he was a piece of paper.
But the point is, in life-and-death situations, the only role police usually play is to run yellow tape around a victim’s bloody body. Hardly anyone commits a deadly assault in the presence of police officers—imagine that!! And when someone breaks into your home bent on rape and/or murder (and how the hell can you tell at the time?), a person has mere seconds to defend themselves—IF they wake up or can run fast enough. By the grace of God, I could.
Of course, snarky liberals CAN’T imagine that—they can’t process such facts—which is just one reason they are utterly irrelevant, contemptible douche-nozzles.
Lewd&Lascivious’s last blog post..Obama, Bend Over Like the Buttboy You Are