Gun Raffle

I received this email today, which I am going to post here:

Hello, Quoting the president of the RSO the Orange and Blue observer, "If more women carried firearms, there would be fewer cases of rape."On Thursday, April 14, the Orange and Blue Observer will be raffling off 3 semi-automatic handguns to display their constitutional right to bear arms as well as their contention with the Illinois laws prohibiting citizens from carrying concealed weapons. Shocking though it may seem, their actions are completely legal, and the only recourse we as students have is to protest their actions, acknowledging them to be extreme distortions of the concepts of safety and self-defense. Two weeks ago, when the OBO raffled off an AK-47, we were able to rally together students within 2 hours to protest. ..Please help us increase our numbers and strengthen the protest against deadly weapons --without safety training-- on our campus.

Quoting both the Daily Illini and the Orange and Blue Observer, here's the other side of the story:"If more women carried firearms, there would be fewer cases of rape"'"God made man and woman," Observer Editor Leo Buchignani said. "Smith and Wesson made them equal. For the first time in history, handguns neutralize the male strength advantage over women. I don't understand why all feminists don't arm themselves." The Observer held the "Defense of the 2nd Amendment" to protest Illinois' gun laws, some of the strictest in the nation. These laws cause hundreds of preventable rapes, murders and robberies. Gun laws hurt vulnerable groups like inner city communities, minorities and women the most because they are most in danger from predators. The Observer feels gun law is a moral issue and protests the immoral Illinois gun law regime." (End of Email)

First, I would like to applaud the students who are protesting for getting that together so quickly. I am happy to know that people are mobilizing against this. Maybe I am just naive, but I can't believe this is occurring on a college campus. Is it necessary for any college student to have an AK-47? I am also shocked that this group is using feminism as its basis for why people should be able to carry concealed weapons. The answer to violence against women IS NOT to give everyone guns without training or permits. How about the obvious other answer: work to restructure society in a way that violence against women is reported and the perpetrators are prosecuted. If violence against women wasn't tolerated (or in some ways sanctioned) by society, maybe it would occur less. The Observer believes that carrying guns is a moral issue, and that Illinois has an immoral gun law. WHOSE MORALS? Who defines moral rights? We do live in a violent society, however, I do not believe the answer to this is more violence. I know the gun debate will probably never end, this is just another chapter. I am actually too flustered right now to get together the sociological argument against this (if someone wants to help with this, please comment). I just want to be on the record stating that this is the most disturbing thing that I've encountered on this campus since I arrived two years ago....

PS - I know I'll get nasty comments on this post, so bring them on.

Go Illini!

With 36 hours to go, I need to give a shout out to the team: GO ILLINI!! (And woohoo to my old student cheerleader who has been on TV 8 million times!)