I am utterly shocked, in a good way. First, awhile back I submitted a letter to the editor of my college newspaper. Here's the text:
First I should note that what follows is my opint of view and does not represent the views of the Office of Student Affairs of the Gibson Staff. (*This is my weasel clause, because I work at Gibson Hall and for the OSA and if they thought I was speaking for them I'd be fired posthaste.*)
When asked about the recent intruders on campus who claimed to be armed and assaulted one of my fellow RAs, I replied that the RAs had done all they could be calling the police, since no one on campus is equipped to handle armed people in groups and the police are. That was true, but the problem is that it's the college's own rules that make us so helpless. It's those rules, after all, that say I may not be properly armed to defend my life or the lives of my residents. A bank guard can be armed to protect my money, but our security guards cannot be armed to protect us and we cannot be armed to protect ourselves! Does that make sense?
I am certainly not advocating that armed students should try to apprehend anyone themselves, of course. Calling the police is the correct action, always, but it is not always enough to save yourself. The police are not on scene as the crime happens and it takes time for them to arrive--time in which you could be killed, or worse. Don't believe me? A quick response to a 911 call is around 5 minutes on a good night. Imagine the best-case scenario--you had a chance to call and the police are very close. They'll be here in one minute. Now, count to sixty slowly. That's how long that attacker still has before he's stopped, and he'll spend it on you.
Still don't believe me? Ask a representative of the school whether they are willing to take responsibility for your safety in writing, right now. If they won't, why not allow us to take responsibility for our own?
Of course, that didn't shock me. What shocked me was that last night the head of campus security, Bill, came up to me in the dining room and told me he thought the letter was great and it was about time a student said it! That felt great.
Then, today, the "Samuel Taylor Club" put up a new set of its "debate posters." They put these things all over campus. It's just a large piece of yellow paper with a question across the top and a pen attached to leave comments. The last one was a picture of a fetus in the womb and the question "Is this a life? Pro-choice or Pro-life?"
This new one is a picture of a small baby playing in a living room, bathed in golden light and innocence--with a large stainless-steel semi-auto handgun on the coffee table. The question was "Do we need gun control?"
Time for the second shock--most of the responses were pro-freedom! Also, most of the anti comments were pretty moronic, like "King George is dead, you can all relax now."
So all in all, I feel much better about Monmouth College. I'm going to the meeting of this club tomorrow to see who else shows up to talk about gun control. Maybe we can even form a small group.
Oh, and YES, I did leave TFL and several other URL's I thought would be relevant on three of the posters.
First I should note that what follows is my opint of view and does not represent the views of the Office of Student Affairs of the Gibson Staff. (*This is my weasel clause, because I work at Gibson Hall and for the OSA and if they thought I was speaking for them I'd be fired posthaste.*)
When asked about the recent intruders on campus who claimed to be armed and assaulted one of my fellow RAs, I replied that the RAs had done all they could be calling the police, since no one on campus is equipped to handle armed people in groups and the police are. That was true, but the problem is that it's the college's own rules that make us so helpless. It's those rules, after all, that say I may not be properly armed to defend my life or the lives of my residents. A bank guard can be armed to protect my money, but our security guards cannot be armed to protect us and we cannot be armed to protect ourselves! Does that make sense?
I am certainly not advocating that armed students should try to apprehend anyone themselves, of course. Calling the police is the correct action, always, but it is not always enough to save yourself. The police are not on scene as the crime happens and it takes time for them to arrive--time in which you could be killed, or worse. Don't believe me? A quick response to a 911 call is around 5 minutes on a good night. Imagine the best-case scenario--you had a chance to call and the police are very close. They'll be here in one minute. Now, count to sixty slowly. That's how long that attacker still has before he's stopped, and he'll spend it on you.
Still don't believe me? Ask a representative of the school whether they are willing to take responsibility for your safety in writing, right now. If they won't, why not allow us to take responsibility for our own?
Of course, that didn't shock me. What shocked me was that last night the head of campus security, Bill, came up to me in the dining room and told me he thought the letter was great and it was about time a student said it! That felt great.
Then, today, the "Samuel Taylor Club" put up a new set of its "debate posters." They put these things all over campus. It's just a large piece of yellow paper with a question across the top and a pen attached to leave comments. The last one was a picture of a fetus in the womb and the question "Is this a life? Pro-choice or Pro-life?"
This new one is a picture of a small baby playing in a living room, bathed in golden light and innocence--with a large stainless-steel semi-auto handgun on the coffee table. The question was "Do we need gun control?"
Time for the second shock--most of the responses were pro-freedom! Also, most of the anti comments were pretty moronic, like "King George is dead, you can all relax now."
So all in all, I feel much better about Monmouth College. I'm going to the meeting of this club tomorrow to see who else shows up to talk about gun control. Maybe we can even form a small group.
Oh, and YES, I did leave TFL and several other URL's I thought would be relevant on three of the posters.
It SO sad how everyone thinks it can't happen to them but when it does everyone panics.