Guns on Campus

The author obviously missed the fact that carrying a weapon on campus is illegal unless you are police, or sufficiently important for a school administrator to put his/her career on the line by granting you permission. The problem has already been solved.
 
Yes, because prohibiting someone from moving on with their lives and getting an education is going to ensure they become productive members of society...
 
The problem with those semi-automatic machineguns is that they only fire once per trigger pull. Now if only somebody figured out how to make fully automatic machineguns...

Is there anything on Boston.com not written by an idiot?
 
Here's an example of someone using a gun (fear) to push an agenda opposing open admission policies.

This is propaganda. From the Globe. About guns. [thinking]
 
I can't help but wonder... If this were a middle class LTC holder caught with a gun, would the administrators extend him or her the same sympathy? Or do the hugs,kisses and best wishes only apply to career criminal scum who are "turning their lives around".
 
The first thing I got out of this article was that it seemed like everyone involved handled the situation very calmly. The student went to the professor after class, who then alerted the public safety office and/or police. The police then put him under surveillance and tried staking out the classroom, eventually grabbing him while standing in line elsewhere on campus. No reports of doors broken, shots fired, or dogs killed (in this article at least).

Of course the MassBay president then bitches about it taking the police so long to arrest the guy... I guess she wanted a wake of destruction in their apprehension of the guy.

I like the police chiefs response:
Kevin Ritacco, the police chief at Quinsigamond Community College, contends that disciplinary disclosures might prevent such breaches by helping schools anticipate which students could pose problems. “It’s preventative,’’ Ritacco said. “Not so much for the Police Department but for student services. Maybe they could intervene before something happens. [Police] are trained to intervene after something’s happened.’’

But Ritacco expressed uncertainty how colleges would step in without infringing upon students’ rights.

Also:
Yet Walsh also expressed sympathy for Dookhran, calling him “a kid who was trying to do something better with himself and was still in between two worlds.’’ He indicated the same description applies to many students he has encountered in his nine years at MassBay.
He was just trying to turn his life around! [rofl]
Although in this case there is some plausibility to that statement (he made an effort to get his GED and go to college).
 
Here's an example of someone using a gun (fear) to push an agenda opposing open admission policies.

This is propaganda. From the Globe. About guns. [thinking]

I didn't get a strong anti-gun vibe from the article... The reporter may have wanted to push an anti-gun anti-open-admission agenda, but if so, they did so very poorly.
If anything a few of the quotes in the article canceled out any anti-gun vibe.

A few of the people interviewed by the reporter still seemed to hold the sentiment that they shouldn't let this one guy ruin it for everyone, and that disclosing disciplinary records has not been proven to reduce problems.
“I don’t think a [criminal records check] or even asking students to disclose necessarily makes anyone safer,’’ she said. “I don’t think the research is there to support that.’’
But Ritacco expressed uncertainty how colleges would step in without infringing upon students’ rights.
Any disclosure requirement would alter community colleges’ open access status, a change students interviewed by the Globe say they resist.
“You can’t just let one person ruin it for everyone else, you know what I mean?’’ said Umar Ossama, an 18-year-old MassBay student from Brighton. “Maybe somebody else like [Dookhran] is trying to do the right thing.’’
 
I love this state (sarcastic) - bunch of flaming racists who've just come up with code-words so they don't have to use the traditional epitaphs...

"We don't want "those people" on our campuses... "

"We can't have "open" admissions, we need to make sure that only the "right sort" of people are using our schools..."

"We have to intervene "before something happens"" (aka keep all of "those people" out).
 
Last edited:
This story (which actually isn't new) raises a number of issues. To me, the first, and perhaps most central, is the inability of some folks to distinguish between "guns on campus" and "killers on campus."
 
Some clown on 96.9 this afternoon was talking about this, this afternoon.

He was horrified that community colleges don't require applicants to identify themselves as habitual criminals, past offenders or other undesirables.

It did occur to me to wonder just what he wanted the colleges to DO with the information if given it.

The (perhaps) former gang banger was on the verge of a murder spree according the host. Maybe he was, but more likely he felt he still needed protection fom his past buddies.

I am nosily curious to know if he was truely trying to get out of the gangs and what sort of resources law enforcement / social services offer to help kids that are trying to get out.

He shouldn't have been carrying, I'm guessing he was federally dq'd anyway, never mind school grounds, lack of ccw or non Mass compliant "semiautomatic machine gun".

He did something illegal, he was caught, he'll probably go to jail. Seems like the system functioned as designed. Where's the problem?
 
The author obviously missed the fact that carrying a weapon on campus is illegal unless you are police, or sufficiently important for a school administrator to put his/her career on the line by granting you permission. The problem has already been solved.

Is there actually a statute prohibiting firearms on college campuses?

In CT there is not.
All of the CT state Universities have prohibitions on students carrying weapons. They do not however ban firearms from their grounds.
So in CT, if you are caught with a gun, the most they can do is expel you.
When I attended a state University, I made a value judgement to carry a handgun on me at all times other than when I was drinking.
I was not breaking any laws, merely university rules. Just like if I yelled "N166er" to a group of black students, I'd most likely be expelled, but would be well within the law.

Don
 
Back
Top Bottom