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President Bush’s Visit to Africa
President Bush will make a historic trip to Africa this week (Feb. 15-21) to review the progress of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) and other administration-sponsored development programs in the region. What he will observe is increased investment in health care and education, made possible by MDRI debt cancellation.
Expanded debt cancellation is an essential element of any real, long-term development progress in Africa. The Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation, currently under consideration by both houses of Congress, would expand debt cancellation beyond the 23 countries that have benefited from the MDRI, and would help put an end to the kind of irresponsible lending that caused crippling debt burdens in the past.
If there is one thing I learned during my time as an International Studies student at University of Idaho, it is that there is still a long way to go to eradicate extreme poverty. The most important things I’ve learned while volunteering with Jubilee USA Network in Washington, DC: that debt cancellation works to help combat poverty, and that individual advocacy makes a difference. I urge you take this rare opportunity, while the media and country are focused on Africa and its debt, to learn the facts on debt and advocate for passage of the Jubilee Act.
Danielle Pals
UI alum, advocacy fellow
Jubilee USA Network
Another safe campus?
This morning I woke up to the news reporters on the radio telling me about the latest in the ever-growing list of school shootings — this one having occurred at Northern Illinois University. As a current student and future educator, I am deeply disturbed every time I hear a report like this. It seems ironic that this tragedy coincides with the coincides with the concealed carry-on campus bill being debated by the Idaho Senate. NIU was just another “safe, gun-free campus,” no different than UI, until one crazy person decided to take it upon himself to change that.
Would the outcome have been any different if there had been even one responsible gun owner with their weapon on hand in that classroom? We can never knoW.
Concealed carry permits are not just handed out to anyone with an interest. The process one must go through in order to obtain one is there to insure that only the most responsible, well-trained gun owners are issued permits. It is much more difficult for the “good guys” to get concealed carry permits than it is for the “bad guys” to get their hands on firearms.
Keeping UI a gun-free campus, like so many other college campuses across the nation, leaves an open invitation for crazies like the NIU and Virginia Tech shooters to waltz right in and open fire on students who are basically just sitting ducks.
God forbid this kind of tragedy ever befalls our great university. If there is even a chance that a responsible student with a concealed carry permit could step up and possibly avert (or at least reduce) the deaths of themselves and fellow students in such a situation, then I believe this is a bill worth supporting.
Jane Demme
senior, secondary education
We’re not ‘kids’
In response to “Students speak out about guns” (Feb. 15), the fact that UI law Professor James MacDonald refers to students as “kids” insults the mature and respectable students of this university, patronizing us as careless citizens with an inability to make intelligent decisions.
Granted, kids and firearms don’t mix, but a gun in the possession of a sensible and intelligent person posses little risk to themselves and the people around them. Furthermore, it seems to me that MacDonald — and many students — think student gun owners are neither sane nor responsible enough to know better than to mix firearms and alcohol.
Accidents may happen, but recent events prove that if some students were carrying concealed weapons on their campus then lives may have been saved. It is clear that the university and state laws must come to a compromise, but with this compromise comes sacrifice.
Will we sacrifice the lives wasted by a potential madman, or will we take the risk that may lead to a potential accident? It’s decision time … who will you sacrifice?
Zeb Dimmett
senior, civil engineering
Caption correction
The caption on the photo on the front page of Friday's Argonaut reads, "Attendees raise their hands to signify they would feel
uncomfortable surrounded by gunbearers. UI political science major Kristin Caldwell stands at the mic at the new gun legislation debate
Wednesday."
The question Kristin Caldwell actually asked was how many attendees would feel uncomfortable if a gun fell out of a backpack on the floor next to them in class. This is not a minor semantic distinction. There's a big difference between students feeling uncomfortable
knowing they're in the presence of licensed concealed carriers, and students feeling uncomfortable because a firearm falls out of a
backpack next to them.
I am not made uncomfortable in the least by the idea of concealed carry on campus. I am - as a gun owner, frequent shooter, and
advocate of firearm safety and responsible use - likely to be concerned about a gun falling out of a backpack. Such an event would
indicate the bearer of the firearm was not carrying his or her weapon safely. Firearms should always be handled in a manner consistent with the four rules of gun safety:
1) Treat every gun as if it loaded.
2) Never point a gun at something you do not intend to destroy. (For those who insist that this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.)
3) Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until your sights are on the target.
4) Identify your target, and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.
Most gun owners are fanatics about gun safety. We police our own very well - safety rules are enforced during trips to the shooting range with friends, while handling firearms in our homes, etc. I do not know a single person who carries a firearm who has experienced their gun falling out of a backpack or holster. I have never seen a firearm simply plop out on the floor next to me in a movie theater, shopping mall, or restaurant.
Back to the photo on the front page of the Argonaut. When Kristin Caldwell asked her question, I didn't raise my hand. I felt the
question was loaded, and that the visual image of attendees raising their hands would be misconstrued and possibly misreported as those attendees being uncomfortable with gun carry in general - rather than the actual topic at hand, which was unsafe carry practices.
Unfortunately, the Argonaut completely validated my concerns by mis-captioning the photo.
Laurel Griffeath
junior, general studies
Facts, not opinions
“The question that must be asked is this: Are you so
afraid of violence from your own classmates, students and teachers that you
need to hide a handgun on your person?”
I’m not telling anyone their answer should be yes to
the above. But before you come to a decision maybe take a minute to
actually look at facts instead of opinions about school shootings in the United
States and the numbers behind concealed carry laws. That’s
something that “Gun Education” didn’t attempt to do, actually
educate people about concealed carry and its effect on violent crime.
School shootings aren’t as rare as many people
believe. In fact, with a quick search you can find that since 2005 there
have been at least 15 fatal school shootings in the United States. These
shootings have seen over 156 people shot, 67 die and at least three incidents
involved hostages or rape. Note that these are only shootings that have
involved fatalities, there are others, luckily no one died. The numbers
are similar since the late 1990s.
There have been multiple shootings that have been stopped
with legally armed citizens at Appalachian State College of Law and at schools
in Mississippi and Pennsylvania. Within minutes of gunshots legally
armed citizens were able to subdue gunmen and prevent further violence until
police arrived. The average police response time is around 10 minutes,
enough time for a gunman to shoot over 100 rounds.
The Wild West, redcoats and jihadist remarks are nothing
short of ridiculous. No one is asking to allow people to settle
differences with a shootout. Not too many of us are worried about the
redcoats coming either. Gun accidents are incredibly rare. In fact, if
what you really want is to avoid accidental death avoid these things, that
account for 84% of all accidental deaths: motor
vehicles (39 percent), poisoning (18 percent), falls (16 percent), suffocation (5 percent), drowning
(2.9 percent), fires (2.8 percent), medical mistakes (2.2 percent). Gun accidents are at
roughly 0.6 percent. Meaning you should be much more worried getting into a car
or going to the doctor than being around a firearm.
I had personally never thought about a mass shooting here in
Idaho. The thought never really had crossed my mind. I’d be
willing to bet the 33 Virginia Tech students who were killed April 16 of last
year probably hadn’t given school shootings a thought before going to class
that morning. Now many students on that campus are strongly advocating
concealed carry on campus. They saw firsthand that a gun in the wrong
hands can only be battled by a gun in the right hands. It’s not
fear that makes me want to shoot first if someone walked into my classroom and
started blazing away. The only way to protect yourself when someone is
shooting at you, is to shoot back and the only way shoot back is to have a gun
in close proximity. That’s not fear, its common sense.
“Keeping guns off campus is only one way to prevent
violence and lessen fear.”
This would be true if taking guns out of people’s
hands actually prevented crime. The problem is that actual data tells us
it does the opposite. The states that have the strictest gun control and
concealed carry laws have some of the highest violent crime and gun crime rates
in the country while states issuing concealed weapons permits almost
unanimously showed a decline in violent and gun crime rates.
In some states people who have concealed carry permits can
carry on college campuses and have been doing so for 5 years.
Universities in Utah and Colorado have allowed concealed carry for years
without issue. There wasn’t any shootout, no outraged students, no
Wyatt Earp being played out. I watch the news and I’ve seen nothing
about it. There is a relatively simple explanation for the LACK of
violence due to concealed carry on those campuses. Concealed carry permit
holders aren’t criminals. It’s that simple. They are
safety trained, careful, law abiding citizens who simply believe in the right
to protect themselves. Florida issues more concealed weapons permits than
any other state at 1.2 million permits, yet it has only revoked 157 (which is
much less than 1%) due to criminal acts. People who follow the law and
get a concealed weapons permit are people who don’t break the law.
They are people who simply realize that in the ten minutes it takes for police
to respond, a person breaking the law can kill.
“The question that must be asked is this: Are you so
afraid of violence from your own classmates, students and teachers that you
need to hide a handgun on your person?”
We agree on one thing, this is the question we need to
ask. Are the 67 killed students in the last 3 years reason enough for
people to carry a concealed weapon to protect themselves? Maybe
it’s not for you. But for a lot of us it is. The right to
protect yourself is sacred. Many people understand that already.
The students at Virginia Tech realized it after April 16. I pray that it
won’t take another killing spree for people to realize that restrictions
on concealed carry only provide criminals a safe haven where they know people
won’t shoot back. By restricting concealed carry we are providing a
forum for sick individuals to take the lives of others. And that in itself is
criminal.
Ian
Chestnut
graduate student, forest products
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