professors talk about gun use, abuse and regulation
professors talk about gun use, abuse and regulation
FYI (copy below):
http://www.chicoer.com/articles/2003/02/16/news/news6.txt
Panel of professors talks about gun use, abuse and regulation
By ROGER H. AYLWORTH – Staff Writer
In a forum that was far less contentious than even the
participants apparently anticipated, a trio of Chico State
University professors discussed “the right to bear arms in
the era of school shootings.”
The forum, which was sponsored Thursday night on campus by
the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics, kicked off
with Andrew Flescher, director of CAPE, and a professor of
religion, casting the discussion against the backdrop of the
Dec. 13 incident where an eighth-grade honors student at
Chico Junior High School brought a gun she had stolen from
her mother’s safe to class.
Flescher said that “thanks to some savvy handling,” the
incident ended with nobody getting hurt.
However, that was about the last time school shootings made
it to the discussion table because Rick Ruddell, a
criminologist teaching in the political science department,
said the concern about school shootings is a “misplaced
priority.”
Ruddell said, popular opinion aside, statistics show the
number of murders in schools has remained stable over the
years. He said the average annual homicide rate in schools
stayed at about 31 between 1992 and 1999.
The professor added that any murder is one too many, but 31
deaths compared to 52.6 million students in schools means a
child is 70 times more likely to be killed away from school
than in school.
He also said overall, gun-related murders nationwide have
dropped about 20 percent between 1992 and 1996.
Ruddell claimed statistics show that murder is actually an
urban phenomena.
More than half of all the murders that occur nationwide take
place in 63 cities that together account for only 16 percent
of the U.S. population, according to Ruddell.
He also said there are myths about gun regulation that
simply are not true.
There is an oft-repeated claim that teddy bears have more
regulation than firearms, but Ruddell said to make that
true, one would have to ignore 20,000 laws related to guns.
Beyond that, the professor claimed that any discussion of
the banning of handguns as a tool to halt crime must deal
with the fact that there are roughly 240 million guns
already in the hands of Americans.
Troy Jollimore, a professor in the philosophy department,
said he was put on the discussion panel to be the one in
favor of gun control, and while he can defend the idea of
gun regulation, he is unwilling to advocate the banning of
all firearms.
He said all too often, gun-ban advocates take the position
that “there is something morally wrong about owning guns or
shooting guns.”
He said these same people claim guns appeal to the base side
of human nature.
Jollimore said there are a number of things he enjoys that
others might claim appeal to the base side of human nature,
and said this approach to the issue of gun control is a bad
argument.
He also said gun opponents who take the position that the
Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which codifies
the right to keep and bear arms, is out of date.
He claimed a recent poll of Americans found 50 percent felt
the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech, assembly,
freedom of religion and of the press, goes too far.
Jollimore said any effort by anyone to weaken some aspect of
the Constitution weakens all aspects of the Constitution and
threatens all our freedoms.
He said gun control advocates should lobby for regulation,
and he said he thinks by going for some regulations, there
would be less conflict than there is when an outright ban is
proposed.
Peter Gross, a journalism professor and the third member of
the three-person panel, said the central issue was one of
freedom.
He claimed the idea of gun control is largely spurred on by
an elite group of individuals who want to limit the freedom
of gun owners for the “greater good.”
He charged that most Americans who want to give away some
other person’s freedom for a greater good, “have no idea
what freedom is.”
“I don’t really care whether there is a Second Amendment
because I think in a free society, I ought to have the right
to have a gun,” said Gross.
He said the idea that “millions, tens of millions of gun
owners should be disarmed because some people, mostly
criminals, will hurt someone, or people will commit suicide
with them” is an unreasonable loss of freedom for a vast
majority because of the acts of a minority.
Gross described the process of letting an elite group chip
away at the freedoms of the majority as a “slippery slope,
and, by the way, we are on it.”