Campus Carry and Professors

[HankB]

Some of you may know that the Texas legislature is now working on a "Campus Carry" bill, which would permit Texans who hold Concealed Handgun Licenses to carry on campus and into class. With a GOP supermajority in the state legislature, prospects for passage are quite good.

Needless to say, some people are rather upset. One such person is a professor in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Texas, who had an editorial published ('High Noon at UT") in the local paper, the Austin American-Statesman.

Her article is also available at the newspaper's website, and has drawn a few comments there - take a look if you're interested.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/syverson-high-noon-at-ut-1341292.html

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

wow!  there is a dept of rhetoric and writing!  i thought you were being sarcastic.  shes in the right dept.

[RaspberrySurprise]

Can we start putting references to the OK Corral and "High Noon" and other such hand wringing into the same category as calling your opponent Hitler?

[MechAg94]

It is hard to imagine that the environment of teaching and learning at the heart of university life can be preserved if concealed weapons are permitted on campus. It is hard to imagine how intimidating and chilling it would be to academic freedom and the open exchange of ideas, how menacing the effect on students and teachers. Would a teacher hesitate to give an aggressive or disturbing student a low grade, even if deserved? Would we begin eyeing each other with suspicion and mistrust?

None of these people have any understanding at all of who carries concealed outside of campus.  All of their arguments have this implicit assumption that it means every 18 year old kid will be packing heat and will be gunning people down over parking spots or in this case, bad grades. 

There has been no intimidation by CHL holders elsewhere.  Why would it suddenly start happening on campus?  These people are just afraid of guns in general.  I hate to even mention that she has probably had students that carried against the law or carried knives.  

[kgbsquirrel]

Can we start putting references to the OK Corral and "High Noon" and other such hand wringing into the same category as calling your opponent Hitler?

Earpwin'd?

[longeyes]

Who knew the faculty lounge and student union eating hall at U of T were that dangerous?  Criminy.

She's one more genius who thinks that the random deranged individual will be deterred from homicidal attack by an official "gun-free zone" policy.  Is it too late to revoke her tenure?

[grampster]

heh.  I threw in my 2 cents and I also see a quote attributed to John Shirley, one of TFL, THR denizens.

[MechAg94]

Who knew the faculty lounge and student union eating hall at U of T were that dangerous?  Criminy.

She's one more genius who thinks that the random deranged individual will be deterred from homicidal attack by an official "gun-free zone" policy.  Is it too late to revoke her tenure?

They also seem to thing there are a whole bunch of those deranged individuals running around legally buying guns via the gun show loophole.

[HankB]

heh.  I threw in my 2 cents and I also see a quote attributed to John Shirley, one of TFL, THR denizens.

Gave your post a "Thumbs Up" at the site. (BTW, you CAN give YOURSELF a "thumbs up" vote, too.     )

[grampster]

Well, do you think she's been drawn and quartered?

[French G.]

Earpwin'd?

Holliday'd

[230RN]

That wasn't writing.  That was logorrhea.

I gotta laugh because (at this point) the last comment was from "Educated," who bemoaned the "fact" that people would not use reason to see her point.

To my mind, this meant that he was ivory-tower-educated, not street-educated.  To me, street smarts are an important component of a well-rounded education.  He was merely an educational "bubble boy."

Terry, 230RN (I don't sign on to those comment sections, so I said nothing.)

[MechAg94]

I gotta laugh because (at this point) the last comment was from "Educated," who bemoaned the "fact" that people would not use reason to see her point.

What he fails to see is that it is his position that is emotional and unreasonable which makes his statement even more laughable.

[AJ Dual]

Well...

If these emotive liberal professors realize they could draw down on the occasional conservative/libertarian student who draws their ire..

All I'm saying is be suspicious if all of a sudden they're all for campus carry. 

[HankB]

Well...

If these emotive liberal professors realize they could draw down on the occasional conservative/libertarian student who draws their ire..

All I'm saying is be suspicious if all of a sudden they're all for campus carry. 

As I mentioned in my comment, I wonder how many of the professor's own colleagues could pass the TXDPS and FBI background checks . . . 

[vaskidmark]

As I mentioned in my comment, I wonder how many of the professor's own colleagues could pass the TXDPS and FBI background checks . . . 

Well, given that persons with certain mental health issues are prohibited persons ....

stay safe.

[grampster]

Bump. 

I'm enjoying sparring with the prof.

[Jamisjockey]

Bump. 

I'm enjoying sparring with the prof.

Hey go drink a landshark and catch some rays.

[HankB]

Well, it turns out that the professor has responded . . .

* Rather than our opinions being merely ill-founded, we are now deluded, and no better than those we seek to protect ourselves from.
* She equated "freedom" with "disarmament" and disparages our ideas of freedom with being "narrow, individualistic, and self-centered," a positively Orwellian outlook.
* She adds in the obligatory comment equating self defense with vigilante violence.
* And finally, she closes with a profound argument I have never - NEVER - seen uttered before: even when packing a gun, we will all still get old, get sick, and die.

So she felt a need to point out that firearms don't stave off old age.  

I pity her students - at least the ones that are studying for a REAL degree, and just are using her class to fill out a humanities or social science requirement. (Again, the first line in my .sig, below, is proven true.)

[Tallpine]

no better than those we seek to protect ourselves from.

That's what's really scary about those people: they think someone who would defend him/herself from murder or rape is the same as the murderer or rapist. 

What I can't figure out is why people who think that way, do not also promote abolishing government and police, since those entities cause more violence   

[TommyGunn]

Well, it turns out that the professor has responded . . .

* Rather than our opinions being merely ill-founded, we are now deluded, and no better than those we seek to protect ourselves from.
* She equated "freedom" with "disarmament" and disparages our ideas of freedom with being "narrow, individualistic, and self-centered," a positively Orwellian outlook.
* She adds in the obligatory comment equating self defense with vigilante violence.
* And finally, she closes with a profound argument I have never - NEVER - seen uttered before: even when packing a gun, we will all still get old, get sick, and die.

So she felt a need to point out that firearms don't stave off old age.  

I pity her students - at least the ones that are studying for a REAL degree, and just are using her class to fill out a humanities or social science requirement. (Again, the first line in my .sig, below, is proven true.)

   Is there any point in debating this degree of nuttiness?  Isn't there some saying about teaching pigs things only annoys the pig or something?   --- forget the exact gist but anyone who responds "we will all still get old, get sick, and die" is truly challanged when trying to come up with points for debate.  
I get that a lot of these academic types are collectivist leftie nutcakes, but how does a "collectivist" outlook mitigate against self defense?  Heck, you could even argue that a collective is still a combination of individuals, then offing an individual is diminishing the collective, and injuring it.  Why isn't that a legitimate concern for these dimwit collectivists?

[Perd Hapley]

* And finally, she closes with a profound argument I have never - NEVER - seen uttered before: even when packing a gun, we will all still get old, get sick, and die.

So she admits that carrying a gun will help a person to die a natural death of old age and disease? Guess the argument's over.

[MicroBalrog]

I get that a lot of these academic types are collectivist leftie nutcakes, but how does a "collectivist" outlook mitigate against self defense?

Let me explain the logic.

I know this logic because I actually attend graduate school.

First, practically everybody is a leftist in these circles. But for every academic who is actually an out-and-out rabid Marxist, there are a dozen that have swallowed the leftist mantra not because they are rabid Marxists - they may be quite decent people who are quietly going on teaching their class on "Daily Life in the 1840's" or "International Relations in Post-Napoleonic Europe and the Vienna Congress". But they accommodate many leftist tropes because that's what the polite and accepted thing in their society is. It's a knee-jerk thing for them. They might be smart people and have a detailed understanding of their own topic, but they really don't care about politics beyond the vague ideas that hover in the faculty room.

Second, the main reason the modern rabid college Marxist is anti-gun most of the time is because they quite often believe in versions of Marxism that revolve around the individual - any individual! - being stupid and unreliable. The average individual is irrational,  stupid, racist, etc. As such he's not to be trusted with a gun. Any benefit from private gun ownership is outweighed by the danger of individuals flipping out.

If you want to imagine a murderer, then you see in your mind's eye some gang-banger shooting a convenience store owner, or a thug shooting a homeowner to take his TV.

In the mind of these people the average murderer is an overweight wife-beating 'tard who kills his wife because it's just another stage in his wife-beating 'tardery, or a college student who flips out and kills everyone in his class. Or a racist.

[TommyGunn]

Let me explain the logic.

I know this logic because I actually attend graduate school.........Second, the main reason the modern rabid college Marxist is anti-gun most of the time is because they quite often believe in versions of Marxism that revolve around the individual - any individual! - being stupid and unreliable. The average individual is irrational,  stupid, racist, etc. As such he's not to be trusted with a gun. Any benefit from private gun ownership is outweighed by the danger of individuals flipping out......

Yup.  
How do they account for Fed/Gov scr#w-ups, such as Ruby Ridge & Waco .... which seem to suggest certain government agencies aren't exactly ..."rocket scientists?"
Or do government agencies get special dispensation?  
Sort a rhetorical question ....

[grampster]

"Hey go drink a landshark and catch some rays."

 

Rum Runner's at Hog's Breath.  Pass the Motrin, please.