http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/db/archivedarticles.asp?ID=527&AID=36667
ARMS: Deaths trivialized with resort town; concept of community ridiculed
Column by ANDREW WOHLWEND
The issue of gun control has arisen once again. With the Million Mom March taking place this past Mother's Day, the line was drawn for a nationwide debate. Those in favor of gun control finally had something to rally behind. The demonstration that took place in more than 60 cities showed Congress the power of a grass-roots anti-gun movement. But what are the gun supporters rallying behind? The answer is Front Sight, Nevada.
While the Million Mom March protested in favor of trigger locks, a national gun registration and licensing program and mandatory training classes, gun-rights supporters are eagerly anticipating the creation of a city that is more demented than Irvine, and in an entirely different way.
Front Sight, Nevada, is located 48 miles west of Las Vegas and it is being billed as the nation's first "gun-resort city." According to the April 18 issue of USA Today, when this resort is finished it will come complete with 12 shooting ranges, an assault tower, 400 yards of training tunnels, 177 home lots, a convenience store and a private K-12 school. Well, if there wasn't a better place for me to take my family.
You know, some might think that Disneyland would be a better place for a family outing, but Ignatius Piazza, the city's founder, calls Front Sight "a Disneyland or a Pebble Beach for the nation's 80 million gun owners." Sure it's like Disneyland. Maybe if Goofy guarded It's a Small World with an Uzi.
I can't believe that after all that has happened in the past year, people would actually believe a place like Front Sight is an ideal family environment. From Columbine to the Granada Hills Jewish Community Center, how many children have to have a gun pointed at them before stricter laws are enacted? I wouldn't want to imagine what would happen if a shooting broke out at the school in Front Sight. Think about the melee of random gunfire that would ensue after the first shot was fired.
Personally the very thought of the words "gun" and "school" in the same sentence make me sick to my stomach, but I guess other people feel differently. Chris Fisher, who just recently purchased a home in Front Sight and likes to take his 10-year-old son target shooting, said, "It's a sport, no different than a father-son golf tandem."
He's right; it is no different – except for the fact that if you shank your drive someone probably won't die. When was the last time that a missed four-foot put had the same result as an errant gun shot?
Front Sight is cleverly named after the part of the gun barrel that is used for aiming. With this in mind, I really hope that Nevada starts creating towns surrounding Front Sight. I hope it names them after all the children who have died as a result of gun shot wounds in order to constantly remind the people who live in Front Sight of the damage they could potentially cause.
Of course, guns don't kill people. People kill people. At a local Web site titled "Justin's Pro Gun Page" (www.shade.k12.pa.us/students/justin/progun.html), Justin argues this point by saying that, "Guns are tools, just like knives, hammers, screwdrivers, paintbrushes, etc." Yeah, guns are tools. But knives, hammers, screwdrivers and paintbrushes all serve purposes other than killing. What purpose does a gun serve other than taking some form of life?
Justin follows by asking, "If a few thousand people killed with cars, should we start to heavily regulate automobile sales, ownership and operation?" I wonder if Justin remembers a little movement that started in the 1980s called Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The issue of guns is no different than that of cars. MADD forced Congress to look not at the car, but at who was using it. This is what the government has to do with guns. Who shouldn't be using them? Criminals and children. The gun locks and registration and licensing procedures that gun control advocates are in favor of would make sure of that.
Strangely enough, it is the people gun control advocates aren't worried about that do the most protesting. If you really wanted to use your gun for target practice and teach your son how to use it, what would be wrong with registering and licensing your weapon? Chances are, if these are your reasons and you are still against these regulations, you are hiding something.
And don't tell me it is your constitutional right. The Second Amendment was enacted in the day of the musket. If everyone wants to carry a weapon that takes three minutes to reload after every shot, then carry all the weapons you want. I will have plenty of time to run away if someone misses. But don't ask me to just trust that someone who can get their hands on an assault weapon will be trained in how to use it, or be rational enough to know not to use it.
The visionaries of Front Sight are calling it "the safest town in America" because they believe that they won't have any crime if everyone is trained in firearms and almost everyone owns them. How asinine do you really have to be to believe that if everyone owned guns, then there would be no violence?
All I know is that the house in Westwood that I live in was shot at recently. And whether or not I owned a gun would have had no bearing on the fact that two shotgun blasts were fired through our front windows. When I stop and think about that moment, it becomes clear that I would rather have Congress pass a law to keep the guy driving by from not having a gun than to own a gun myself.
If you disagree, then by all means move to Front Sight. Get as far away from me as possible. In fact, they are having a special right now. It's called their Platinum Membership. It includes unlimited use of the shooting ranges, free gun cleaning, a leather holster and a heavy silver card to carry in your coat pocket (so when you all want to relive your Wyatt Earp fantasies, the weighted coat swings back further so you can draw your weapon).
The kicker for me, though, is if you make your payment in full, Front Sight will throw in a free Uzi. And I thought the free T-shirt I got on campus for signing up for my VISA was a deal! Front Sight? "No sight" is more like it.
Feel free to offer comments:
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu
ARMS: Deaths trivialized with resort town; concept of community ridiculed
Column by ANDREW WOHLWEND
The issue of gun control has arisen once again. With the Million Mom March taking place this past Mother's Day, the line was drawn for a nationwide debate. Those in favor of gun control finally had something to rally behind. The demonstration that took place in more than 60 cities showed Congress the power of a grass-roots anti-gun movement. But what are the gun supporters rallying behind? The answer is Front Sight, Nevada.
While the Million Mom March protested in favor of trigger locks, a national gun registration and licensing program and mandatory training classes, gun-rights supporters are eagerly anticipating the creation of a city that is more demented than Irvine, and in an entirely different way.
Front Sight, Nevada, is located 48 miles west of Las Vegas and it is being billed as the nation's first "gun-resort city." According to the April 18 issue of USA Today, when this resort is finished it will come complete with 12 shooting ranges, an assault tower, 400 yards of training tunnels, 177 home lots, a convenience store and a private K-12 school. Well, if there wasn't a better place for me to take my family.
You know, some might think that Disneyland would be a better place for a family outing, but Ignatius Piazza, the city's founder, calls Front Sight "a Disneyland or a Pebble Beach for the nation's 80 million gun owners." Sure it's like Disneyland. Maybe if Goofy guarded It's a Small World with an Uzi.
I can't believe that after all that has happened in the past year, people would actually believe a place like Front Sight is an ideal family environment. From Columbine to the Granada Hills Jewish Community Center, how many children have to have a gun pointed at them before stricter laws are enacted? I wouldn't want to imagine what would happen if a shooting broke out at the school in Front Sight. Think about the melee of random gunfire that would ensue after the first shot was fired.
Personally the very thought of the words "gun" and "school" in the same sentence make me sick to my stomach, but I guess other people feel differently. Chris Fisher, who just recently purchased a home in Front Sight and likes to take his 10-year-old son target shooting, said, "It's a sport, no different than a father-son golf tandem."
He's right; it is no different – except for the fact that if you shank your drive someone probably won't die. When was the last time that a missed four-foot put had the same result as an errant gun shot?
Front Sight is cleverly named after the part of the gun barrel that is used for aiming. With this in mind, I really hope that Nevada starts creating towns surrounding Front Sight. I hope it names them after all the children who have died as a result of gun shot wounds in order to constantly remind the people who live in Front Sight of the damage they could potentially cause.
Of course, guns don't kill people. People kill people. At a local Web site titled "Justin's Pro Gun Page" (www.shade.k12.pa.us/students/justin/progun.html), Justin argues this point by saying that, "Guns are tools, just like knives, hammers, screwdrivers, paintbrushes, etc." Yeah, guns are tools. But knives, hammers, screwdrivers and paintbrushes all serve purposes other than killing. What purpose does a gun serve other than taking some form of life?
Justin follows by asking, "If a few thousand people killed with cars, should we start to heavily regulate automobile sales, ownership and operation?" I wonder if Justin remembers a little movement that started in the 1980s called Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The issue of guns is no different than that of cars. MADD forced Congress to look not at the car, but at who was using it. This is what the government has to do with guns. Who shouldn't be using them? Criminals and children. The gun locks and registration and licensing procedures that gun control advocates are in favor of would make sure of that.
Strangely enough, it is the people gun control advocates aren't worried about that do the most protesting. If you really wanted to use your gun for target practice and teach your son how to use it, what would be wrong with registering and licensing your weapon? Chances are, if these are your reasons and you are still against these regulations, you are hiding something.
And don't tell me it is your constitutional right. The Second Amendment was enacted in the day of the musket. If everyone wants to carry a weapon that takes three minutes to reload after every shot, then carry all the weapons you want. I will have plenty of time to run away if someone misses. But don't ask me to just trust that someone who can get their hands on an assault weapon will be trained in how to use it, or be rational enough to know not to use it.
The visionaries of Front Sight are calling it "the safest town in America" because they believe that they won't have any crime if everyone is trained in firearms and almost everyone owns them. How asinine do you really have to be to believe that if everyone owned guns, then there would be no violence?
All I know is that the house in Westwood that I live in was shot at recently. And whether or not I owned a gun would have had no bearing on the fact that two shotgun blasts were fired through our front windows. When I stop and think about that moment, it becomes clear that I would rather have Congress pass a law to keep the guy driving by from not having a gun than to own a gun myself.
If you disagree, then by all means move to Front Sight. Get as far away from me as possible. In fact, they are having a special right now. It's called their Platinum Membership. It includes unlimited use of the shooting ranges, free gun cleaning, a leather holster and a heavy silver card to carry in your coat pocket (so when you all want to relive your Wyatt Earp fantasies, the weighted coat swings back further so you can draw your weapon).
The kicker for me, though, is if you make your payment in full, Front Sight will throw in a free Uzi. And I thought the free T-shirt I got on campus for signing up for my VISA was a deal! Front Sight? "No sight" is more like it.
Feel free to offer comments:
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu
> Yet another emotionally driven, factually bankrupt slobber-fest from an intellectually stunted gun bigot. <hurl hurl hurl hurl dry heave>