Letters to the editor
Posted on September 24, 2007

Gun control the best alternative

Though Daily Nebraskan’s columnist Dave Halverson will most likely never read this, I feel compelled to respond to his article on gun laws. Halverson cites the case of Kennesaw, Ga., a city with two relevant points of interest. First, it has a mandatory gun law, and second there have been few gun-related crimes in the city since the gun law was enacted.

Halverson suggests that the situation in Kennesaw provides us with a useful model by which we should endeavor to shape our country. It should not be surprising that Kennesaw has a low crime rate, as it is a small city in a rural part of the country. If Richmond or Baltimore enacted a mandatory gun law and experienced a similar drop in violent crime that would be interesting. 

Halverson also suggests that a mandatory firearm education class that teaches the dangers of guns would be sufficient to prevent gun-related crimes, but this is absurd. Halverson compares such a class to our mandatory car education classes, or “3,000 pound horsepower-propelled sledgehammer” education classes, as he puts it.  Educating the public about the dangers of guns would be great, but it certainly wouldn’t end violent crime. That wouldn’t happen any sooner than driver’s ed ending car accidents. 

The solution to ending gun-related crime is not to give every citizen a gun, but to take guns away from every citizen. Gun proponents argue that guns should remain legal so that law-abiding citizens can protect themselves. But guns end many more lives than they save.

 

Duncan Bell
senior, political science

What about the overcrowding?

Every time The Breeze is distributed, I pick up a copy and turn straight to the opinion section. Nine times out of 10, I become infuriated with articles that make unfounded assumptions about Apple products or right-wing Republican rants about how the Democrats are trying to desecrate yet another great Republican leader.

This past Thursday, I was livid upon reading the House Editorial, “High Hopes for Warsaw.” This article is about the greatness of the new parking deck and how forward thinking JMU was by installing a digital counter indicating the number of remaining parking spaces.

The author failed to mention that JMU has yet to address the issue of how increased enrollment will affect class registration. I have already had difficulties enrolling in the courses for my major because there aren’t enough sections offered. I had friends who camped out to get leases for apartments for the current school year, and while this isn’t the responsibility of JMU it is something that the administration should consider since they will be able to house fewer upperclassmen.

The author states, “Sadly the efforts of expansion have obscured our view of the mountains from the Quad, but it is a compromise that is necessary for the overall good of the university.”  I, for one, would much rather take the bus and have a view of the mountains then hassle with school traffic and watch JMU forfeit its beauty for my personal convenience.

Kimberly Zangardi
junior, international affairs

Vietnam not like now

Anna Young, in Thursday’s article bemoaning the apathy of JMU students toward Operation Iraqi Freedom, wistfully reminisces about the “astounding” student activism during the Vietnam War. Her confusion as to why students across the nation are not hoisting the white flag and demanding a retreat from Iraq like during the 1960s and 70s has a simple explanation: the draft.

Perhaps she is unaware that during the conflict in Southeast Asia the military filled many of its vacant slots with draftees. Needless to say, millions of young Americans at the time feared being sent to war against their will and thus sought sanctuary on university campuses across the nation.

However, once the draft expired in 1973, student protest fell precipitously. The reason? The war no longer directly impacted them. Thus, because today’s military is filled entirely by volunteers, students have no immediate reason to oppose the current conflict.

The apathy of JMU students is not such a bad thing another reason. The world is full of too many Michael Moores and Ann Coulters who are always jumping on their chair to shout at us. I think JMU students realize the hollowness of their arguments and content themselves with achieving their own personal ends. This leaves the professionals in our military and other branches of government free to carry on their duties without interference of outsiders, however sincere their motives.

Michael Yarborough
senior, history and philosophy

Northern Virginia home to activism

I read Anna Young’s article in The Breeze last Thursday and I have to agree. Although I’m a freshman and have only been on campus a few weeks, I have seen little to no enthusiasm for activism, whether to end the war or otherwise. I’ve joined JMU Progressives but the group seems slow to make any change at all.

Coming from northern Virginia, I have witnessed many events held by George Mason in attempts to end the war. Mason has a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, whose main goal is ending the war. Last spring I attended a Teach-In on the war in Iraq that GMU’s SDS held on campus.

Speakers included GMU professors, some who opposed the war and gave their reasoning, and some who were active in the anti-war movement of the 1960s and offered comparisons and advice. Other speakers gave information on what the war is costing, why we are supposedly there, and the results.

The entire forum was open-ended, and the audience was asked to ask questions and have discussions. As far as I can tell, nothing like that seems possible at JMU, both due to lack of enthusiasm and abundance of backlash.

Laurie Benade
freshman, undeclared

JMU shows no support

Have you noticed JMU seriously lacks any patriotism for our own country? We are some of the brightest students yet how easily we forget the war that we are still in, and those brave men and women serving in it. As a military girlfriend I know I don’t stand alone in feeling this way.

There are so many people on this campus who are friends with, related to, or at least know someone in the U.S. military so I’m puzzled to why our school completely lacked patriotism on Sept. 11. Our troops are still overseas and we are showing them no support. This has just been something on my mind lately and it really irritates me that we take so much for granted, including our freedom.

If you haven’t heard of it yet there is a movement for “Red Fridays.” People are asked to wear red every Friday and show our troops support until this war ends and our soldiers come home.

Sarah Miller
freshman, technical and scientific communication

Apple article correction not up to par

I am glad to see that Sarah followed up with a “column correction” to her opinion on Apple, though it appears that instead of providing corrections to her inaccurate article she made excuses for it.

Talking to an Apple Technician or relying on the JMU research database appears to have been far less effective than using Apple’s Web site which would have had policies, prices, product announcements, press releases, etc, so in my opinion (and I am entitled to one too) Sarah did randomly pick numbers.

As a longtime Mac user I am still disappointed in this article as well as the limited correction provided.

More importantly, I am disappointed that a senior at JMU would appear to be far less prepared than she should be if she plans to pursue a career in the field of journalism; however, I wish her all the best.

Robert Jennings