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Letters to the Editor: ‘Fabricated’ gunman story impacts university |
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Thursday, 06 March 2008 |
The events of Monday afternoon have led me finally to expound in writing on a subject that has bothered me for some time. As crises such as the campus-shooter scare continue to happen nationwide, many lobbyists in America are gaining momentum for anti-gun legislation and movements.
There are those who would be happy to see the public trade and production of handguns ceased wholesale, and the ownership of pistols denied to all except military and law enforcement personnel.
Such a decision would be extreme self-victimization. Outlawing pistols will not necessarily ensure campus safety or reduce the number of real tragedies both on and off educational grounds. As evidence of the inefficacy of tight gun control, I point out that civilian handguns are already illegal by federal regulations on all educational premises. This law has failed to protect students in other
educational environments in the recent past, and did not prevent the possibility of an armed person on
campus Monday. Although we know now positively that there was no ‘armed gunman’ on our campus
this time, our laws did nothing to prevent that possibility. To expect such is akin to expecting a terrorist
to be concerned that a car bomb is double-parked.
There is a strong case to suggest that handgun possession prevents as many or more tragedies as it
causes. A web search for ‘gun control and crime rates’ will provide numerous bits of information, the
veracity of which readers are of course free to question, that suggest a correlation between increased
gun control laws and increased crime rates in cities and towns that have tried tightening laws. I am not
suggesting that all burglars should be murdered by their intended victims, but I would point out that
many possibly tragic situations are defused by the presence of the would-be victim’s firearm, with no
shots fired.
It concerns me greatly that a classroom full of 30 or more unarmed individuals, as we have seen from
tragic events at other high schools and colleges, is essentially a large collections of ‘sitting ducks’ that
have no means of defense from such a tragedy. No law will prevent a criminal from obtaining an illegal
weapon, or committing illegal acts with it. There is no ‘gun control’ law that could positively prevent a
tragedy in an Appalachian State University classroom, should a criminal decide to perpetrate an attack
here. With that in mind, I can’t honestly say I feel safe in classrooms full of unarmed, defenseless
people. I can understand the impracticality and impossibility of allowing students old enough to get a
concealed-carry permit to arm themselves on campus; to do so would invite dangerous and needless
accidents stemming from improper and irresponsible use of these weapons. However, I would feel
much safer in classrooms if instructors, having obtained a legal concealed carry permit through official channels, were permitted to voluntarily arm themselves while on campus and in the classroom. Such a defensive measure would, in my opinion, make more headway in reducing the possibility and the reality of these tragic events than any gun control tightening that may come from this event. An ‘armed gunman’ would be less likely to burst into a classroom and start shooting individuals if he suspected that some of those individuals were armed and prepared to defend themselves.
Michael S. Salley
sophomore computer science major
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After the announcement that Monday’s incident was nothing but a hoax, I became interested to hear people’s reactions. Unfortunately, they were, as I feared: spiteful, hateful, vengeance-seeking tirades.
Of comments posted on the Watauga Democrat online, nearly all users responded with this type of outrage.
Given the nature of the hoax, however, I must question this reaction. Is it healthy for us members of
Appalachian State, perhaps more importantly, of humanity, to respond with such anger and hate? Are these not the very same emotions that cause real tragedies to occur, such as the more recent horrors
at Virginia Tech and N. Illinois?
Instead of directing hate towards Mr. Haney, perhaps we should be giving thanks to the fact that it was
a hoax, and that there is not an armed burglar still roaming the streets, or worse an actual
campus-shooter. Furthermore, we could be celebrating the fact that our emergency-response team did
such a wonderful job, hoax or not, and we can feel safer knowing that they are clearly on the ball.
What Mr. Haney did was reprehensible, yes, and he should face the consequences of his actions,
although I’m not sure kicking him out of college for an act of stupidity (as some have suggested) is the
most logical solution. All I am saying is that contributing more hate and anger into a world already
bursting with it, is not very conducive to ridding the world of such emotions, and their destructive
consequences.
Kevin Gamble
senior religious studies major
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At 4:15 students received their first e-mail about the gunman. The e-mail did NOT say campus was on lockdown, nor did the AppalNET homepage indicate so. The homepage DID say the campus was on STANDBY? What the hell is standby?
I called ASU Police at 4:47 to clarify the situation, as my girlfriend had a test at 5:00 p.m. A woman at
the police station told me that “as far as we know, classes are still meeting. Just be on your best
judgment and avoid the Hill St. parking lot.”
Based on this policewoman’s advice, I drove my girlfriend to class at Sanford Hall. When she arrives,
she finds out the campus IS in fact in lockdown, and there will be no test.
Therefore, on the advice of the ASU police, I drove myself and my girlfriend from a safe place well
away from campus into a danger zone which, apparently unbeknownst to the police, was well under
lockdown.
P.S. They began blocking off Locust St at 5:15, almost two hours after the incident and 30 minutes
after I drove on the street and dropped someone off there.
People needs to know this story. ASU Police and Chancellor Peacock should be held accountable for
their obvious lapse in judgment!
Russell Snyder
senior marketing major
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In the recent campus lockdown there were a few things that aggravated me, and a few things that made me glad that I was an Appalachian student. First, the good things. When news got out that there was a gunman on campus, the atmosphere was extremely positive. At first, I thought that it was a rumor that there was a gunman, or something scary was going on, but as things transpired, and became increasingly real, the students around me made jokes, talked about how they wished they could be out there to hunt down and beat up the guy and there were even jokes made about how Armanti could probably take the gunman out. The bad part was the lack of communication. If people
weren’t connected to the Internet, or already part of the alert system, they had no clue what was
happening. People should not be written up for needing to use the restroom in their own dorm. If their
dorm is locked down, their room shouldn’t be locked as well. The lock-down seemed almost completely
pointless. If a gunman is informed that the police are looking for him, he’s going to get rid of the
clothes he was seen in and tone it down.
Hana A. Halvorsen
freshman music education major
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