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Gun control protects everyone
American society's fixation with firearms increases violence
G uns have infiltrated American
society on every level. It begins in
childhood, when little boys and girls
pick up toy guns and re-enact the forced,
illegal and unethical takeover of America
by white European males. “Cowboys and
Indians” is much more than a harmless
game, because it teaches children that
guns are fun, that they are toys, and that
they are something everyone should have.
Guns are not any of those things.
One of the most recent statistics on guns, quoted in the
Houston Post, states that bringing a gun into a home
increases the chance of the inhabitants suffering a gun-
inflicted wound by over 50 percent. In an April 18 story on
suicide, Newsweek reported that a study of depressed
teenagers showed the single difference between adolescents
who shot themselves for no easily apparent reason and those
who did not was if their parents kept a gun in the house.
The National Rifle Association (NRA), though it has lost the
support of almost all mainstream, moderate supporters,
continues to argue for NO GUN CONTROL. This group wants
all guns available to any one at any time, as well as all types of
ammunition — even “Black Talons,” the so-called cop-killer
bullets. This ammunition is so dangerous that U.S. law
enforcement agencies stopped endorsing the NRA. The vote on
the bill to outlaw these bullets was incredibly close after heavy
lobbying by the NRA, and passed only after extensive
campaigning by Congress members in favor of the ban.
The idea that this minority group of people, no matter
how vocal and fervent, wants to preserve this danger to me,
my family and my friends because of some flawed legal
arguments makes me furious.
The claim that the Second Amendment to the Constitution
guarantees private citizens the right to keep and bear arms is
completely unfounded. The writers of the Constitution did not
intend this right for the private citizen, but for civilians in the
state militia. Dr. Jon Bond, a political scientist at Texas A&M
University, said that past Supreme Court interpretations of the
Second Amendment all agree that it was originally, and meant
to remain, a states’ rights issue. The framers of the
Constitution almost certainly did not include this clause
because they wanted every single man, woman and child to
have a gun at their immediate disposal.
Another overused argument against
gun control is “protection.” This idea
makes absolutely no sense. If someone
comes into your house and points a gun
at you, there aren’t too many things
that you can do. The intruder will
probably not give you a chance to get
your gun and load it. Most intruders do
not knock first and yell, “Hey guys, get
your weaponry ready, I’m coming in to threaten your life.”
Let’s assume the unlikely possibility that you do have
the gun nearby and it is loaded. News flash — if two people
point a gun at each other, one of them is VERY likely to be
injured or killed. The vast majority of intruders just want
money or goods. However, being faced with the barrel of a
gun pointed by some pajama-dressed NRA member will
inspire any scared thief to act in violent self-protection.
Since you are the one who is half asleep and in shock, the
intruder will probably shoot you first. Then all of the guns
in the world won’t do you, or your family, any good.
For the sake of argument, let’s go ahead and assume
that you do shoot someone. Now you’ve won, right? What
happens when your spouse and small children see the
bloody corpse? Do you explain that it is OK to take a
human life to protect an old television and a few dollars?
Or do you dismiss the intruder as subhuman, and therefore,
okay to kill? Who knows, they might have hurt someone in your
family, right? It was self-defense, right? The rationalizations go
on and on until you can finally convince yourself that it was
okay to kill another human being. You were the judge, jury,
plaintiff, and defendant in this person’s life. You played God.
England and other countries provide us with examples of
modem societies where even police do not carry guns. Their
crime rate is breathtakingly lower than ours. Secure in our
“right,” we have gun detectors in everywhere, from our airports
to our elementary schools.
Only one fact rises above everything: Guns KILL.
Period.
You, your family, your friends, and a few criminals.
This is not a game, and no one gets a second chance.
Elizabeth Preston is a junior English major
ELIZABETH
PRESTON
Guest Columnist
Editorials appearing in the Battalion re:
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Battalion staff members, the Texas A<
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Editorial Board
Mark Evans, Editor in chief
William Harrison, Managing editor
Jay Robbins, Opinion Editor
Presidential challenge
Bowen must deal with change, growth
Dr. Ray Bowen officially assumes
the office of President of Texas A&M
University today, succeeding Dr.
William Mobley. Bowen, the 21st
president of the University, takes the
reins from Dr. E. Dean Gage, who has
served as interim president since
Mobley vacated the office.
Gage has done a com
mendable job in leading
Texas A&M through a
very trying year. He
has represented the
University ad
mirably in the face
of such controver
sies as the NCAA
sanctions against
the football pro
gram, multiple in
vestigations of the
Board of Regents and
administration, nation
wide attention focused on
a professor’s claim that he
turned mercury into gold, and other
scandals.
These past nine months have been
the most difficult time for the Univer
sity in recent memory, and Gage con
stantly worked to maintain A&M’s in
tegrity and reputation as a world -
class institution. For this we extend
him our thanks and best wishes for
the future.
Bowen, who earned his bachelor’s
and doctorate degrees in mechanical
engineering from Texas A&M, will not
find the job to be any easier. He faces
the challenge of keeping A&M
unified as it continues to
grow as a diverse, multi
ethnic community.
Mobley, who was pro
moted to chancellor
last September,
wants Bowen to fo
cus on undergrad
uate programs and
research issues to
make A&M an
even stronger uni
versity. Student
Body President^
Brooke Leslie says
Bowen should concen
trate on hiring good in
structors and make teaching
a priority. In addition, he will have
to work to ensure the integrity of the
athletic program and boosters and
deal with changes in leadership and
training in the Corps.
We welcome Dr. Bowen back to
Texas A&M and wish him the best as
he assumes this important position.
Children today forced into
JAY
ROBBINS
Opinion Editor
A nne Rice, the author
famous for her fantasy
horror novels, recently
told Vibe magazine: “We will
not face the fact that kids are
maturing three years earlier
than we did in the past...
[T]hey want into adult life ...
They don’t want to play with
dolls, they don’t have time.
I don’t know Rice’s qualifications for making
those generalizations, other than the fact that she
once was a child and is now a parent. Probably
that’s more than enough to gain a limited
perception of today’s kids.
Regardless of who said it, that quote brought to
mind an interesting question about today’s society.
Does “adulthood” begin earlier in life than it
used to?
Probably not, but that answer might easily
appear to be different.
Todays typical grade-schoolers already know
more about computers than their grandparents ever
will. The risk of AIDS has necessitated detailed sex
education for almost every child old enough to
understand that the stork doesn’t deliver new babies
to the back door. The widespread drug culture
includes 12-year-old pushers
and addicts in the fourth grade.
Catch phrases like “children
having children” and “children
killing children” label this
category of social concern for the
politicians.
We hear on the nightly news
about criminals who should be
in junior high classrooms
rather than jails. A year ago, right here in Bryan, a
15-year-old student stabbed a classmate to death
following an altercation at a track meet. Police
have arrested a different 15-year-old, along with
an adult, in connection with last week’s murder of
two A&M students.
Everyone’s horror, amazement or disgust at
these new aspects of modern childhood centers
around the fact that children are behaving like
adults. But “behaving” is the operative word here.
Children don’t have to “want into adult life” —
they’re automatically thrown in whether or not
they are grown up enough to handle it.
Due to changes in the basic makeup of
American society, children’s level of personal
responsibility has increased drastically over the
course of one generation. They must remember to
adult world, responsibility
“Just say ‘No’” when they’re confronted with drug
deals in school restrooms. When even timid, naive
sexual experiences spread deadly diseases, they
have to maintain the self-discipline to abstain, or
find the guts to buy contraceptives.
Many kids go home from school to lock
themselves in an empty house while both
parents finish the workday. Others babysit
younger siblings while their single parent goes
Children's level of responsibility
has increased drastically. They
don't have to "want into adult life"
— they're automatically thrown in
whether or not they are grown up
enough to handle it.
off to the midnight shift. Instead of attending
seminars on how to better take care of their
children, parents now teach their children to
take care of themselves.
Responsibility for yourself can become quite a
heavy load to bear —just ask any college student.
No wonder so many youths today share the task of
watching out for themselves by forming gangs or
always hanging out in the same place.
With overall economic decline and social
evolution rampant in modem society, even the
most sheltered child might find the difficulties of
life too overwhelming. Social ills affecting children,
like juvenile crime and the epidemic of drug abuse,
breed and thrive in that environment.
When responsibilities are significant, the
ramifications of irresponsibility swell in
magnitude. Adulthood doesn’t begin earlier, but its
trial's and pains are visited on America’s children
in an ever-increasing proportion. Faced daily with
choices based on values and confidence that would
make a 40-year-old cringe, children can’t help but
make mistakes. Sometimes even the most obvious
lines between right and wrong, wise and unwise
disappear in the haze. The murders, rapes, thefts, <
and general hatred we hear about are the result.
A child misbehaving is still a child, without the
advantages of adult maturity and experience to
serve as a guide. It’s too bad that most children
now have to learn the lessons of life by dealing
with adult problems, and making adult mistakes.
MNMBHHNNNHMHMMNMNHHMNNMMHMNMNHNNMNHHMMNMNMnNMHHBMMMi
Jay Robbins is a senior English and political
science major
Prison system needs reform
There is little doubt that we have a serious problem with crime in
America, especially with how we deal with those committing the
crimes. Recent studies by the Federal Department of Corrections
have put the recidival rate, or percent of convicts who will commit
another crime and return to prison, as high as 85 percent in some
cases. Why then, is this system still intact?
The first prisons in America were wretched places. Emphasis was
placed on catching and trying lawbreakers, and each warden ran
things in whatever way he saw fit. Any convict who broke any of the
many rules was punished swiftly.
Beginning in the ’60s, courts began to dictate how every prisoner
must be treated, and every precaution must now be taken to insure
that none of the prisoners’ civil rights are violated. Did you know
that the administration cannot punish a convict simply for refusing
to work, and any inmate can damage a guards career simply by
making allegations?
Reforming a convict under the present system is ridiculous. Even
convicts don’t believe that you can reform someone who doesn’t
want to be reformed. Under the current system, we take prisoners,
lock them up for X number of years, then set them free and expect
them to become productive members of society. I believe that we
have to make prisons a place that people will do anything to avoid
and if sent there, will make sure they never return.
I realize that prisons are only a small part of a larger social prob
lem, but each part must be fixed in order for the whole to get better.
I have identified four areas that I feel could greatly improve our
prison system. We have to set up a new system or alternative for
some non-violent offenders and drug offenders. It makes no sense to
parole violent offenders to make room for someone sentenced for
possession of drugs, or tax fraud. These people should still be pun
ished, but in other ways.
Second, when someone breaks a law, they should have forfeited
all but the most basic rights. I do not condone police brutality but it
has gotten to the point that the prisoners have more rights than the
average law abiding citizen.
This should include a limit to appeals — for instance two appeals
after the initial trial — to be completed in a certain amount of time.
And finally, increase use of the death penalty. In my opinion, if
you commit premeditated murder, you should receive the death
penalty if convicted. If you knew that you would be trading your life
for their life when you pulled the trigger, the death penalty would
be a deterrent. While these things are be no means comprehensive, I
do believe they are a good start.
It is time for law-abiding citizens to fight back against criminals
and the system that coddles them. If enough people start voicing
their opinions, perhaps politicians will begin really making changes
rather than just talking.
Tim Miller
College Station
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