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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1998)
The Battalion Opinion Wednesday January 21, 1998 'S TUDENT LIFE Holiday interim proves a source of trauma, not a vacation ie period be- r H is worse than actually having classes. Isn’t the information highway. make these bums realize that their lives wrapped a total of five gifts. mMween the last (gfew final of the fall frr letter and the Da\ t class of the ■ ing semester |re, »ultl be called Ion neihing other n tne “winter ak. There really o break to it for |j t ' : ststudents.This outrfpd should be led the “Wintei- Lgo umaWeeks.” I remember as a child counting the rs until Christmas break from the very t day of school. However, I can honest- ay things have changed drastically ce 1 have gotten older. I, Sun , you have more days off from hir ; iooI. but sometimes having no classes Mickey Saloma columnist e a is worse than actually having classes. Isn’t there supposed to be some sort of break during these days of no school? The best day of the “break” is the very first day you are home. You sleep until you can’t sleep anymore. Your parents are glad to see you home, and you are actually glad to be home. After this one day of true bliss, the trauma begins. The victims of these Winter Trauma Weeks are many. They can be categorized into three types: the workers, the students and the bums. First, many decide to join or rejoin the work force. This alternative is, at first, a good idea as people begin to make a list of all the gifts they have to buy during the holiday season. However, the fun ends when one comes home from work and does not even have the energy to see friends with whom their only contact in the previous three months has been via the information highway. Then, the braver people decide to tack le an even more depressing duty by taking a class in what is known as a mini-mester. If many people like myself can’t learn a single thing from most classes lasting six teen weeks, what makes people think that we can learn anything in three weeks? Yet, the poorest of souls are those who neither work nor decide to go to school: the bums. These are the people who spent these weeks living vicariously between re runs of “Saved by the Bell” and intense power naps. Each day, these people put up with constant abuse from the entire world. Their parents think they are lazy and try to encourage them to use their free time to do a little home improvement. Their friends think they have it easy because they sleep until noon. But worst of all, television shows such as “Jerry Springer” make these bums realize that their lives are absolutely boring and lack real drama. Yet, rarely can anyone’s life compete with those who are in love with transsexu al aliens that come from dysfunctional families of devil worshippers. In addition to the rigors that each of these three types of people endure in the path that they ultimately chose for themselves, they have to deal with the fact that this “season of giving” is not like it used to be. What happened to the days when you unwrapped so many presents that you lost count? Once you hit a certain age, these days are gone forever. It is said that it is better to give than to receive, but people who say this are liars. I cannot think of anything better than div ing in head-first into a mountain of pre sents that I did not have to pay for. Maybe I am just too old for Christmas. I un wrapped a total of five gifts. I do not mean to sound like an ingrate to my girlfriend and members of my family who found a place in their heart to buy me something, but I want my Christmases to be like they used to be. I want neatly wrapped presents that are more personal than a three-pack of multi-colored boxer briefs. I am not saying that my Winter Trauma Weeks were all bad and I am definitely not happy to continue on my road to academ ic uncertainty at this fine university for another semester. I am just saying that there was no break during these past few weeks. I am going to spend most of this first week of class resting in the environ ment that is most conducive to my sleep. Yes, I am referring to sleeping in class. Wake me up if I snore too loud. Mickey Saloma is a senior journalism major. ONE STAR LOWDOWN CGi iFoott; I nerLi Potential for violent encounters escalates with legalizing handguns , |Sf» r lhis being [Texas, one e c 5u|d not be 1 aMa.-prised that .3 state so [g7) idily passed >ill to carry ard ncealed he c: Wee: ndguns in 36. The Joe Schumacher columnist mght )cess behind chair : P assin 8 of j “right to cany” law is that it uld enable the law-abiding citi- is to protect themselves from i-toting criminals. However, this Sl rhas not only put handguns in i U(t hands of law-abiding citizens, pi ‘. civmmals as well. M sC There is no question that crime i ids to be dealt with. However, i enforcement should be left in hands of the police, not every- ' citizens. People should have right to defend their homes family, but carrying a hand- to the workplace, a movie or rch is absurd, g pu *\n armed populous casually )lling around town is very bad a. People constantly have to d with stress, whether its dri- 1 in traffic to difficulties in a ’ rk place. However, a handgun n V avi ij|: onies a catalyst for disaster very day life. People are iiiiuif ne to volatile emotions at es, and getting angry is only a’ itural reaction to stress. Usu- ,, after a few minutes a person 975 ns down. Mow imagine that the time to ik over an action is not there, ead of the driver beeping the n at someone who cuts them he reaches under the seat and 1 produces a .44 magnum. Secondly, the issue of self-de- /^jjse arises. The idea is that people ying handguns will be able to tect themselves from attackers, iere’s a scenario: A man with a I ti cealed handgun is walking home late one night. He is then ap proached by a mugger, who has his gun already drawn, and tells him to hand over his wallet. Does the vic tim go for his wallet, or does he go for his gun? If he goes for his gun, somebody will die. Hopefully it would be the criminal. The chance of him living is greater if he gives up his cash and reports it to the crime to the proper authorities. Here’s another example: the bru tal crime of rape. Victims of this crime are told to fight back and re sist. However, if the victim is carry ing a handgun and is over-powered, a dangerous weapon has just been placed in the hands a brutal criminal, and the life of the victim is in even more jeopardy. ted Addi tionally would-be victims have been fighting off these at tacks without the help of handguns, so handguns would \ add a potentially dangerous variable ' V to an already life- threatening situation. Or yet another situation: a dis gruntled man walks into a restau rant with several assault weapons under his arm. Maybe he did not like the cuisine, but for some rea son he just starts shooting people. The patrons, knowing the risks of eating at restaurants in Texas, are armed to the teeth, and a shoot-out ensues. Were any lives saved? It is possible, but then there is the risk of others being caught in the cross fire. Neither alternative represents a pleasant outcome. The most compelling evidence that this law is backfiring is the fact that a significant amount of crime has been committed by people with a license to carry a handgun since the law took effect in 1996. In 1996, 115 felonies and 319 misdemeanors were committed. In 1997, the amount of felonies rose to 229 and the amount of mis demeanors rose to 571. Some of the crimes included kidnappings, felony drug offenses, robbery, retali ation, sexual assault, domestic vio lence, engaging in organized crime, aggravated assault and four counts of impersonating a police officer. “What we need to focus on is the premise that only law-abiding people apply for these licenses. That’s a myth,” said Susan Clicks, of the Vi olence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., in a Houston Chronicle article. The author of the “right to carry” law, Jerry Patterson, R-Houston, says that, “More than 99 percent of concealed handgun license holders are behaving responsibly just like we thought they would.” Well, most of the population is law-abiding. Only a percentage are criminals, now we have a small percentage of a small percentage legally carrying dangerous weapons. “The plain fact is that most Tex ans have more than enough sense than to run around with a gun stuffed in their pants,” says Clicks, “But those who do carry concealed handguns get into trouble more of ten than other Texans.” Chances are the law will not be repealed. However, appropriate measures should be taken to make the guidelines of obtaining a con cealed handgun permit more strin gent, including psychological test ing,disqualifying those with old criminal records and expanding the list of disqualifying crimes. Joe Schumacher is a junior journalism major. 0. |ov«' lititM Feb^ taught m NV\N PUPPY TO SIT!.. M' Ap rl1 bets' :O i0 lr224' FINALLY, A Second TERN\ ACCOMPLISH whkt ] WTlfcX ‘Right to carry’ laws ensure citizen rights of self-protection Len Callaway columnist L ast Tuesday the state released new data about the impact of Texas’ “right to carry” con cealed handgun law. As with any statistical re port, the applicable num bers may be interpreted or construed in a number of ways depending on the view taken by the interpreter. There are no actual fig ures available to shed light on how many lives have been saved or how many crimes have been stopped by Texans licensed to carry a concealed handgun. The new data released does report figures about lives taken and crimes committed by li cense holders; however, that is all that it does. Regardless of how one might choose to inter pret the study, Texans should be appreciative for the right to carry a concealed handgun for their personal defense. In a society where the value of human life seems to continually decline and criminals do not seem overly concerned about the possible penal ties of their crimes, the Texas Legislature has at tempted to give criminals another possible ramifi cation to consider before committing a crime. Since the law went into effect on January 1, 1996, 163,096 Texans have become licensed to carry a con cealed hand gun. As state Sen ator Jerry Pat terson, Class of ’69, notes, the arrest figures do not match the conviction figures and the total number of arrests represent less than one percent of the total number ofTexans licensed to carry a handgun. The data also show that many of those arrested have had their licenses permanently revoked or at least suspended. So, it would appear that state law makers are taking care before allowing one accused of a crime to regain the right to carry a concealed weapon. However, as the Houston Chronicle re ported, an anti-gun activist organization called Texans Against Gun Violence, which is merely a focal branch of a left- wing national organization called the Vio lence Policy Center in Washington, called the data “shocking” and urged lawmakers to reex amine licensing procedures in the 1999 legisla tive session. TAGV flatly said the figures indicated that concealed handgun license holders are commit ting crime at twice the rate of the general public. “TAGV once again tries to create hysteria,” Patterson said in a press conference answering the charges made by the organization. A simple analysis of the correct numbers al lows one to see that most of the Texans applying for and being issued concealed handgun licenses are males over the age of 21. The total number of males over the age of 21 who have obtained concealed handgun licenses totals 114,890. There were only 399 arrests last year of men in this category which reveals the “shocking” number to be that four-tenths of one percent of males licensed to carry a hand gun are committing crimes. The total male population of the state aged 21 and over is 6,250,000. Statewide, there were 609,726 arrests made last year in this category, revealing that the general population is really 20 times more likely to commit crime than those with concealed handgun licenses. If people were to allow themselves to follow the rhetoric of the ultra left, it would appear that it must be the legislature’s fault that 399 of the people that went through the licensing process turned out to be charged with a crime.One must remember that there is no data available as to ac quittal rates or grand jury no-bills. It appears as if though notion of personal re sponsibility for one’s actions has become an anti quated attitude that has no place in modern society. Instead of pointing to criminals and demand ing answers and responsibility, TAGV prefers to portray concealed handgun license holders as reckless yahoos with itchy trigger fingers. In society today, it often seems that some how it is inappropriate for those accused of breaking the law to be the ones to take respon sibility for their actions; some set of circum stances or some mystical force that the govern ment must be responsible for prompts criminals to rape, plunder and pillage. While, at die same time, citizens who prefer the right not to become a victim are slandered because of a predetermined disagreement with firearms. Do most peo ple recognize that it is wrong and against the law to sneak up on an other while using an ATM, then kid nap, rob and rape them? Of course, but some still do not place blame on the person : that committed jgigg the crime. People point the finger at all sorts of scenarios such as family, environment, so- jg A cioeconomic sta tus and an end less list of other excuses used to keep people from accepting the re sponsibility for their crimes. Instead of pointing the finger, people ought to be doing is giving the finger to criminals by forc ing them to take responsibility for their actions. If that responsibility happens to be a Texan countering with his or her own offensive then good for the Texan. That was the point of the “right to carry” law, to give criminals something to think about before they attempt to take advantage of someone else, and to give citizens the ability to even the odds a bit if ever faced with a dangerous situation. To anti-gun polidcal action committees, a state giving its citizens the right to carry a gun for person al defense is like adding insult to injury—it is sim ply that they are worrying about the wrong injury. Len Callaway is a junior journalism major.
