Florida wants to step back into the days of the ‘wild west’
MIAMI.- Here’s an imaginary scene to ponder… at a college campus near you. Student Al has been having a bad few weeks. Making matters worse is the fact that his girlfriend left him for another young man. He is depressed and his calculus class is nothing to cheer about either. He’s having a hard time. One last factor, he’s not crazy about his teacher. “I don’t understand how he explains things,” Al tells his friends.
Days after his girlfriend has left him, Al flunks the calculus pop quiz teacher Bob gives to the class. Afterwards the meeting with teacher Bob was a disaster. Al offered excuses and Bob would have none of it. “You need to study harder,” Al was told. “Or just drop the class…”
Al has always wanted to be an engineer. Dropping calculus is out of the question. He decides to study harder, and attempt to put the thoughts of his ex-girlfriend to the side. There’s a major test coming up.
On test day Al feels prepared. After the test he knows he didn’t do well. Two days later, when he gets back his test, his premonition is verified: It’s a D, not much better than the earlier pop quiz. Frustration overtakes him. He stomps into teacher Bob’s office and confronts him; a shouting match ensues and Al shoots the teacher.
Other than the shooting, the teacher Bob and student Al situation seems normal on most any college campus around the country. But I offer this example because it seems to me that Florida politicians, mostly republicans in Tallahassee enamored of guns, or with the contributions the NRA offers at election time, or both, are getting closer to increasing the probabilities of such a warped scenario taking place.
Earlier this week a bill (SB 176) that would allow guns on college campuses in Florida passed the Senate Justice Committee by a 3-2 vote – the panel’s three Republicans in favor and the two Democrats opposed. Currently it is illegal to carry a weapon, even a licensed concealed weapon, on college campuses in Florida. And although college students oppose SB 176, as well as college presidents, university faculty members and even campus police chiefs, Republican legislators in Florida seem to have blinders on when it comes to guns.
The gun bill seems on a fast track. The sponsor of an identical House measure (HB 4005), Republican state Rep. Greg Steube of Sarasota, said the gun law was a matter of constitutional rights.
Whose rights?
I have a young daughter. In the not too distant future I would hope she attends college. Probabilities tell me that her college of choice will be a Florida school. I’ve always told her of the wonderful time I had while attending the University of Florida in Gainesville. The campus, students and teachers, the walks on the grounds, the Plaza of the Americas, studying at the library…
Never did I have to worry about another student attacking me with a gun. The grounds at the university where almost sacred, a place one could go and debate issues and events, even argue. But guns being carried… by students!?
Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin allow concealed weapons on college campuses. Will Florida be next?
The reason(s) for the gun craze may be understandable – to some. We’ve heard of rapes, shooting sprees and a host of other crazy stuff that is way to common in our society. The thing is, though, our solution seems to me as taking a step back into the ‘Wild West’ where you walked into places, gun holster on your hip, and he who drew fastest got to keep the pretty girl.
As reported by the Tampa Tribune, Marjorie Sanfilippo, an associate dean and psychology professor at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, told the Senate panel, “This bill is dangerous…
“Proponents will tell you allowing concealed carry on campus will protect female students from sexual assault. I would point out the obvious: You’ll be arming the assailants too.”
Returning to the initial scene of this column. I understand that I’ve exaggerated. But why even create the possibility of something like this truly occurring? And just because a student was carrying a weapon…
1972 presidential nominee George McGovern once said: “It is simply untrue that all our institutions are evil … that all politicians are mere opportunists, that all aspects of university life are corrupt. Having discovered an illness, it’s not terribly useful to prescribe death as a cure.”
The introduction of guns to institutions of higher learning as a solution seems to me as prescribing possible death as a cure to some of our societal maladies.
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