Editor,
The photograph on the front page of the Feb. 15 issue of the Daily Lobo is telling of why American schools are continuously under assault from unstable or otherwise violent individuals.
Looking past the gurney with a bloodied victim and the ambulance, readers see several photographers snapping photos that have become today's headlines in local, national and international editions.
It is interesting to me that we as a society continue to publicize these events and then ask why it continues to happen. Inevitably, America's gun culture will be blamed in the press just as it has been in the aftermath of Virginia Tech and countless other tragedies.
Yet, no one in the media will mention the possibility that these events are a result of the attention brought to the perpetrators. I submit that what is needed is not further gun control on our campuses, rather less. We have on this campus untold numbers of concealed handgun licensees, who are disarmed by New Mexico state law and University policy.
Imagine a situation where a sociopath enters Woodward Hall during a full lecture armed with several weapons. The result would, without question, be tragic. However, a single concealed handgun licensee could end the shooting spree before serious casualties are inflicted. Such a scenario has already played out at the Appalachian School of Law when two concerned students subdued a gunman with their own weapons.
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It must be made clear that I do not in any way wish to discount the loss of life in this most recent shooting or any school shooting. Rather, my intent is to bring awareness to the issue of student safety.
It must be said that while a gun-free campus may make some feel safer, this tragedy is a grim reminder that feeling safe is not the same as being safe. In the aftermath of university shootings, we must remember that one does not discard the values of Western society by picking up a weapon. Rather, it is the disregard for civilized society, which causes one to take up a weapon against his or her neighbor.
I encourage faculty and students to remember that firearms are tools, which at the most basic level are designed to move a metal projectile in a relatively straight line at a high rate of speed through the use of chemical energy stored in a propellant, nothing more.
It is the action of the user which results in justice or injustice. I further hope that University officials and students will work to allow concealed handgun licensees to exercise their rights in an effort to keep the student body more secure.
Chris Perry
UNM student
