Saturday, March 22, 2008

OU faculty members oppose guns-on-campus bill

"University of Oklahoma faculty spoke out this week against a state bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.

The OU Faculty Senate passed a resolution against the bill early this week, despite being off for spring break.

The resolution was e-mailed to the 50 members of the senate Monday, and by Tuesday the members approved it by 27 out of 30 votes, said Steve Bradford, chair of the Faculty Senate.

The bill that would allow concealed weapons on college campuses around the state was approved 65-36 by the Oklahoma House March 13. It will now be considered by the state Senate.

The bill authorizes active-duty military personnel, honorably discharged veterans and others with firearms training to carry a concealed weapon on college and university campuses.

The bill is supported by the National Rifle Association and received bipartisan support in the House. The Council of Presidents, made up of the presidents of the state's 25 public colleges and universities, unanimously passed a resolution earlier this month opposing the bill.

OU President David Boren also released a statement, lambasting legislators who support the bill. He said the state should stick to the laws that have worked well in the past and allow colleges to continue to improve campus safety.

"If it would help for me to get down on my knees to plead with the legislature for the safety of our students, I would do so," he said.

The Faculty Senate resolution also cites safety as the reason for opposition to the bill.

"We believe that allowing guns on our campus would endanger the safety of our students, faculty and staff," the resolution reads. "Furthermore, we, the faculty, cannot imagine being able to conduct class in a classroom where one or more of our students might be armed. We cannot imagine students being able to concentrate on a class, knowing that some of their fellow students might be armed."

This is all about two things. Power. And fear.

Not wanting to give up the power, the feeling of being in total control. And the fear, the irrational fear of guns.

Put the two together, in any campus across America, and you arrive at the same conclusion. Faculty against student protection. ADAMANT against protecting their supposed charges.

The House says its a go, the Senate will most likely follow suit. But the teachers, the teachers know best.

Add another thing to the mix, the absolute hubris, the arrogant all consuming conceit of believing that they are smarter than anyone else. They could care less about the safety of the young men and women they herd to murder holes the country over.

They are liberals, they know it all, and we are simply too dumb to even have a say in the matter. The dark comedy of it all is the irrefutable fact that guns SAVE lives, a fact that they could discover for themselves if they gave a moment of their time to searching for the truth rather than huddling in the cluster fuck of the same old echo chamber.

Bet you never knew they were mind readers, too. Mentalists capable of capturing the private thoughts of students who would be unable to concentrate with guns in the room.

Good Lord, what absolute assholes.

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