sday • October],
reds
Battalion
Page 11
Tuesday • October 1, 1996
VI
People is
ty of state;
tlie mail,
oon as motori
I was out
tsville’s Cox, a*
;adfly who sui
ns have
I the powerless.
; people on the s®
Wherever 1 wear
h me.”
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ociationfortheA
tiolored
;ople at 36
east.
Louisiana, the
distributed 10(
forms in almosi
s, hoping to del
pro-gambling hi
;sed, but theO
new voters
ive candidates for
national office
* chairman Salt
dell,
many Repuh
II opposed the
ilnited States shoots itself in the foot
Bryan Goodwin
inior English major
ere very much a!
ere going to used
ity to pass mud
she said, li
lat around am
fit.”
y reco
voted againstths
have created
run by the Nation
id American
ipposedtoi le i
mi is o
or of local schi
, not a n
i rales’ teachers'
voted against the
include a
n schools
because it i
1 said
ally declined todt e( j
due to scheduling
ging Gramm to a
quick survey of the evening
news will reveal to anyone
.what most Americans al-
dy know: Violence in the Unit-
States is at an all-time high,
ir local anchorperson won’t
much to say about knife-
fings or deadly fistfights, be-
e guns are the source of our
violence
epidemic.
Guns an
nually claim
an average
of 35,000
lives in the
United
States.
Thanks to
the tireless
work of
groups such
as the Na-
ral Rifle Association to keep guns
available, thousands of U.S.
are dying needless deaths.
Despite the best efforts of those
ofavor stricter gun control leg-
don, guns may still be pur-
gjftsed easily and fairly quickly.
Ihe right to own a gun comes,
Jo most of the tenets of our so-
ty,from English common law.
uaranfees “that the subjects ...
ivhave Arms for their Defence
table to their Condition and al-
ied by law.”
So the right to bear arms in the
ed States descended from
. In the process, it
an exact translation into
rican law.
e Second Amendment has
n interpreted as guaranteeing
yate citizens the right to own
ns. Not so: The Second Amend-
itwas written to keep guns in
ihands of militiamen, so they
Id defend the state from for-
attack, and defend the peo-
ifrom the state, should the
arise. However, the contro-
[jj zens;
.With a fiJLff’Wss
/THAT 1
The Battalion
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the
views of the editorials board members. They do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Bat
talion staff members, the Texas A&M student
body, regents, administration, faculty or staff.
Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters
express the opinions of the authors.
Contact the opinion editor for information on
submitting guest columns.
Editorials Board
Michael Landauer
Editor in Chief
Amy Collier
Executive Editor
Gretchen Perrenot
Executive Editor
Heather Pace
Opinion Editor
gland.
icolb The
lationalsi
proviv
nclude
‘busted did
versy today lies in the balance be
tween self-defense and the om
nipresence of guns.
For the uninitiated, the Second
Amendment reads, “A well regulat
ed militia, being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of
the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.”
Clearly this amendment applies
only to minutemen. Since militias
have evolved into the National
Guard and the Reserves, one might.
assume this antiquated piece of leg
islation has been quietly neglected
for quite some time. This hasn’t
happened, though safety-minded
organizations like the NRA have
. conveniently relieved us of half the
wording. All they ever quote is,
“The right of the people to keep and
bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Let’s pretend for a moment
that really is the law. It could be
BANK
re nonprofit,
the lowest in
ustries.* Tfiat
*e it should
invate pension
Is under man-
SO billion in
million people
IS SENSE.
"advice" to find
at as a member
in unity, your
Jecause when
•etirement, our
spare change.
/ TIAA-CREF
e, call our
1888.
rwiihuilty by reason of
I ON;
ook at the mug shot that accompa
nies this column. Can you tell strictly
Jfrom appearance whether I’m a red-
or a two percenter?
Okay, lucky guess. I don’t have OF Army
ooed across my back.
But a correct prognostication like that
y reinforces the assumption that you
|igroup people by some common fac-
-be it appearance, age or back-
und — and from that grouping predict
erson’s behavior.
Such predictions, if made often enough,
ytum into self-fulfilling prophecies.
How would this happen?
Take teen curfews for instance. The shouts of
t'em off the streets” imply that all young peo-
turninto satan-worshippers after 11 p.m., with
'eral results.
Those determined to get into trouble have such a
istricted schedule they’re now forced to skip
lool to accomplish their daily objectives.
Also, the multitude of good kids get the notion
lyin life that society expects them to misbehave
Jthat they have no capacity for self-regulation.
Paranoia takes root.
But if troublemakers choose to skip school, at
|st they won’t have to wear the school uniforms
thave become all the rage lately. Apparently sim-
edress codes weren’t enough for school adminis-
tors to control the thoughts and stifle the creativi-
today’s youth. Enter the uniform.
Proponents say uniforms will save parents
iney because they don’t have to keep up with
thing trends.
These supporters obviously forgot about
inings and weekends — though curfews have
nea long way toward reducing the former.
They also say it will cut down on kids being killed
their shoes (shoe jacked). Although the instances
this happening were disgusting and tragic, they
ire also rare and overemphasized by a fear-mon-
Columnist
Mason Jackson
Senior
marketing major
Selling short
The University should take another
look at on-campus vending policies.
taken one of two ways: Either the
government may not have a say in
telling citizens what arms to keep,
or citizens may have only some
arms, as the government sees fit.
Under the first rationale, you
could install your very own nuclear
missile silo in your background,
and tell the government where to
go when they get nervous. That
clearly is not legal, though a nuke
is the mother of all arms. So it must
be the second possibility: The gov
ernment decides what weapons
are acceptable for our ownership.
They could legalize nothing more
threatening than Swiss Army
Knives. This would be great for our
personal safety — if it had been
done in the first place.
America’s dilemma is that
guns are already here. Do we
outlaw handguns, saving the
lives of children whose parents
MA&SVUBS
we e&sw tmm&f
www.
appearance
gering media.
The issue at hand is that some people
think the way a person dresses goes a
long way toward determining their be
havior, as exhibited last week when the
undergraduate business lemmings got
dressed up in suits to convince recruiters
they were dependable and driven.
But just because a kid wears his pants
with a sag, in the style of the original
gangster-plumbers, does that mean he is
more likely to get into trouble?
No. But many people think so. They
look over their shoulders. And the per
son who’s being looked at now has a chip on their
already paranoid shoulder.
In a good attempt to make matters worse, Gov
ernor Bush (Jeb’s brother) has proposed that we
institute “random” frisks.
If police with nothing better to do see someone
they deem suspicious, they can detain him or her,
find out who he or she is and run a check to see if
that person has had any run-ins with the law. If so,
the detainee can then be frisked to “make sure as
to how they ain’t up to no trouble.”
Ignoring the fact that this sounds like a police
state, it is troublesome to think about those who
are detained, but have no record. What made them
look suspicious? Was it color? Maybe. Was it hair
length? Yes, for me.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been ap
proached by narcs doing a bad impression of Sean
Penn from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and I don’t
think it was because of my charming personality.
So if you fall into a suspicious grouping, watch
out — society is convinced you’re going to screw up
and that they’ll be there to catch you. Obviously
you’ve got to prove them wrong.
There are two options. Either don’t misbehave,
or don’t get caught.
Unfortunately, in a paranoid society, “Big Brother
is watching” isn’t a deterrent, it’s a challenge.
would no longer have guns with
which their kids could shoot
themselves and their friends? Or
do we pass more concealed
handgun legislation, keeping
law-abiding citizens empowered
against the criminal element?
The answer is that if we want to
curb and hopefully end this epi
demic, we must attack it on both
fronts.
Legislation can only do so much
in preventing people from obtain
ing guns. Criminals often get their
weapons from the black market. If
we outlaw handguns, we must
crack down on the dealers with far
greater determination than we
show in fighting the war on drugs.
Until we do come at the prob
lem in an all-or-nothing manner,
arming oneself will remain the
choice of millions of Americans.
And the vicious circle continues.
Students are being sold out. Re
cent policy changes seem to have
an adverse effect on every campus
organization with the curious ex
ception of the Barnes and Noble’s
MSC Bookstore.
Recent changes to the conces
sions policy restricts the kind of re
lationships student organizations
can have with independent ven
dors. Today the University Conces
sions Committee will hear final ap
peals in objection to the revisions.
Before the changes, student or
ganizations made healthy profits
by joining forces with vendors. The
alliances served as fund-raising ef
forts for the organizations and pro
vided the MSC Bookstore with
some much-needed competition.
But the committee’s decision
ends these benefits, squelching stu
dents’ fund-raising efforts and pur
chasing freedom with one blow.
University officials say the
changes are justified. Dennis
Busch, a member of the commit
tee, said, “In a fair market sense,
[the competition from vendors]
was not right.”
Not exactly. A fair market means
the free, ungoverned competition
of vendors. The committee’s deci
sion does not defend the fair mar
ket; it crushes it. It preserves Barnes
and Noble’s monopoly and exploits
students’ already strained wallets.
The MSC Bookstore’s prices are
legendarily stratospheric. For
years, .outside vendors and student
organizations offered comparable
products at a convenient location
for a much better value. Now, stu
dents will have to buy the hyperin-
flated products from Barnes and
Noble or shop off campus.
The ruling also says that only
students may be present at vend
ing tables. In the past, representa
tives of the vending company have
been allowed at the tables to serve
as mentors for students. Now, stu
dents trying to learn about sales
manship will lose the mentors’
valuable instruction.
The Battalion Editorials Board
challenges the committee or Dr.
Southerland, who accepted the
committee’s recomendations, to
defend this policy change in a let
ter to Mail Call. If there is some
thing in these changes that will
benefit students — anything at all
— it should be included. But as
the revisions stand, it seems that
A&M is looking out more for the
profits of Barnes and Noble than
the interests of students.
Tragedy shouldn’t end tradition
L ast Wednesday I did something no
college student should have to do — I
I attended the funeral of my friend
and fellow Aggie.
Greg White died Sept. 22 as a result of a
truck accident while returning from Bon
fire cut site, a place he loved.
Some have suggested Bonfire be can
celed because of the tragedy that occurred.
Not only is this a bad idea, it is a dishonor
to those involved in the accident.
Greg was a quiet young man, but when
I got to know him, I realized he was the
type of person who placed others above
his own interests.
Moreover, Greg was one of the most gung-ho Bon
fire advocates I encountered in my dorm. He was al
ways helping in any way he could to build Bonfire.
And he would never want us to cancel the tra
dition he loved.
What the Bonfire accident should teach us is
that life is not always fair. Sometimes terrible
things happen to those who least deserve it.
However, life must go on. Retreating into
our shells and wallowing in our sorrow will
only make things worse.
Bonfire must and will go on.
A special characteristic of Texas A&M Uni
versity is the sense of unity and family that all
Aggies feel toward each other. This feeling is
fostered through traditions such as Silver
Taps, Muster and Bonfire.
To cancel the tradition of Bonfire because of
this accident would not help us recover from the
tragedy. It would only hurt us.
We must all come together and support each other
as we build the hell outta Bonfire this year.
By doing so, we will strengthen not only the tradition
but the ties that bind all Aggies together.
Columnist
Jon Apgar
Sophomore
journalism major
Only an idiot would think that Bonfire
cut is without danger. Both the long drive to
and from cut site and the fact that a large
number of people are chopping trees in
close proximity to each other makes it an
accident waiting to happen.
We all recognize these dangers and do
our best to be as safe as possible. But our
best is sometimes not enough to prevent
the unthinkable from occurring.
Although accidents of any sort are nei
ther expected nor welcome, they should not
destroy our spirit and motivation.
If any activity that resulted in a
tragedy were discontinued, there would be no air
planes, automobiles, swimming pools, football
games or yell practice.
Greg’s death should teach every one of us to enjoy
the present, work hard at those things we wish to ac
complish, and live life to the
fullest, as an individual and
as an Aggie.
This year’s Bonfire will
be a testament to our
strength and courage.
More importantly, it will be
built in memory of Greg
and the others injured in
the accident.
Bonfire will show that
none of the victims is for
gotten. On the night Bon
fire burns, we should all
feel proud at the task we
Although acci
dents of any
kind are neither
expected nor
welcome, they
should not de
stroy our spirit
and motivation.
have managed to accomplish
through our pain and sorrow.
And I am certain that when Bonfire burns this
year, Greg will be watching, and he will be proud
of us as well.
Mail
Fitzgerald ignores
the real problems
Regarding Erin Fitzgerald’s
Sept. 30 column, "Bad bicyclists
should-hit the road:’’
I am neither a moron, a nuisance
nor a hazard on this campus.
I wish your column had dis
cussed the dangers of using the bike
lanes on campus that, despite the
no parking signs, are constantly
blocked by vehicles, forcing me to
ride on the sidewalk for safety rea
sons. Pedestrians must also take re
sponsibility for stepping off of the
curb in front of a bicyclist where
there is no crosswalk in sight. Deal
with the real issue — designate bike
paths that are maintained for bicy
clists only—and the rest of the
problems will disappear.
Gregory Salata
Ph.D. Candidate
College expands
ignorance
Regarding Thomas Meriwether’s
Sept. 24 Mail Call, “Homosexuals
don’t deserve equality:’’
I was dismayed to see another
Aggie fighting diligently to make
A&M the most homogeneous cam
pus in the nation. Every time people
express an opinion that contrasts
the popular majority, they are fed
the highly-revered cliche, “Highway
6 runs both ways.” Since Meri
wether just joined us at this fine
University, maybe he doesn’t realize
that some of the best lessons he will
learn will be outside the classroom.
Tonya Lee
Class of ’98
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