Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Another Newspaper Slams College Gun Plan

The idea of arming Oklahoma college students to fight off campus shootings is a terrifically bad idea.

We're not the only ones who think so. As we noted in an earlier post, a Tulsa World editorial criticized a current legislative proposal that would allow qualified students to bring concealed weapons onto campus.

Here's another editorial voice on the college gun proposal, this time from our friends at the Muskogee Phoenix. We don't know this paper or its politics, but we suspect that these folks aren't exactly rabid, atheist, anti-gun communists. (That kind of talk is reserved for Hillary Clinton and her supporters.)

Here's a portion of the Phoenix editorial:

Americans are shocked and alarmed at each college shooting, but allowing armed students to attend classes is not an appropriate response.

* * *

Being able to carry a gun, no doubt, gives a citizen some peace of mind.

However, any law enforcement officer or most anyone in the military will say target practice differs considerably from shooting at someone shooting back at the same time.

The most recent college shooting at Northern Illinois University sickens every responsible citizen. No one wants to hear about that being repeated, whether it’s on a college campus or at a high school, mall, restaurant, post office or place of business.

But arming the citizenry will not resolve the problem of violence.

We shouldn’t wait for armed citizens to kill the violent after they choose to pick up a gun.We should be attempting to stop violent people before they reach their breaking point.

We won’t be effective 100 percent of the time, but our record of late is deplorable and unacceptable.

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