Opinions
Editorials
A few alternatives to gun control
New regulations on privacy
John Ashcroft wields some pretty serious power and
influence, and the American public should keep an eye
on him.
The U. S. attorney general is overzealously pushing
Congress to pass a bill in which he frees himself up to
bend rules in many ways. He intends to use electronic
surveillance and other methods to great advantage, but
needs Congress to pass the bill to get started.
"You can't fight terrorism with words," said Ashcroft.
"You need tools."
The government will have more clearance to wiretap
phones, track Internet communications and prosecute
anyone who knowingly harbors a suspected terrorist.
Currently, our laws allow the deportation of aliens who
engage in terrorist activity Fair enough. The bill would
allow detention of immigrants who support organiza
tions that now or previously participated in a "broad
definition of terrorism."
Worse yet, another part of the bill permits the United
States government to indefinitely detain immigrants
whom the attorney general certifies as threats, without
any proof required. Not only that, but no court outside
the federal district court in Washington, D.C., "shall have
jurisdiction to review, by habeas corpus petition or
otherwise, any action taken, administrative proceeding
brought, or determination made to detain an alien,
according to the bill.
Ashcroft should be given every reasonable helping
hand in seeking out the terrorists, but let's try to keep the
long-term consequences in mind.
On the bright side, most of the expanded wiretap provi
sions in the bill would expire in December 2003. It is
unclear how long the other provisions will be in effect.
Still, any time the Constitution and Bill of Rights are
tweaked in this way, it must be done with the greatest of
care. Ashcroft may not be exercising that care.
If we embrace these requests for greater freedom to
survey Americans, we may also be falling into a pitfall
that the attackers may not have even forseen: the re
moval of privacy rights by our own attorney general.
A new mascot for UNCA
UNCA needs a change. The original mascot, the Bull
dogs, is old and needs a facelift. The University needs a
mascot which reflects symbols or defining marks often
seen around campus.
■ In light of all the construction abundant on every corner
of the UNCA campus, the University should consider
changing their mascot to one that best reflects all the
construction.
UNCA should change its mascot from the Bulldogs,
which are often afraid of large crowds and ultimately die
since they are inbred animals, to the UNCA Dump
Trucks.
What other symbol of UNCA is more obvious than the
omnipresent, slow-moving, smelly symbol of
contruction? Athletic teams could be escorted in hard
hats out onto the field before games, or construction
workers could become cheerleaders at athletic events.
Since dump trucks are all over campus and seem to be
the first thing one sees when driving into the main road,
what entity better symbolizes UNCA?
If the UNCA Dump Trucks doesn't fly with students,
UNCA could become the Squirrels. Those small, rabid
creatures which are more ever-abundant than dump
trucks would be a perfect mascot.
Students can't go anywhere on campus without a
squirrel darting out from the shadows of the trees or
running out underneath your vehicle. It's almost as
though they are begging UNCA to let them be the mas
cot.
It's not like it would be hard to find one to capture; just
look in any garbage can. Just be sure not to throw any
thing too heavy in there; you may kill one of UNCA's
potential new mascots.
If no one can agree which mascot would better repre
sent UNCA, the University could always incorporate the
two: we could replace the silver Bulldog in front of
Justice Gym with a silver squirrel perched inside a dump
truck. Then, visitors to UNCA would get a true sense of
what our campus is like.
Stajf Member of the Week
Congratulations to Ed Fickle of the News Department.
Ed is The Blue Banner’s Staff Member of the Week.
Sean Clancy
Columnist
Everything has been serious lately,
so I should probably write about
something funny, something harm
less and uncontroversial.
I know. How about gun control?
There’s a subject that has been
beaten to death, but still begs for
more.
Let’s start by reminding everyone
that guns are designed to kill things,
for the most part people. This
doesn’t sound that bad, because
God knows there is no shortage of
them this year. Unfortunately, I do
not look forward to being shot.
Here in America, we have the free
dom to own guns, so we can enjoy
the right to hunt, target shoot and
protect our families. That is really
sweet.
We also have a problem with over-
populated prisons, drive-by
shootings, robberies, road rage,
angry couples, angry kids, stupid
people, rednecks and anyone who
is drunk and has access to a gun.
According to the National Center
for Injury Prevention and Control,
taxpayers foot the bill for about 80
percent of firearm related medical
treatments, or about $16 billion.
In 1994, firearms were the second
leading cause of death for people
aged 10 to 24 years old.
I’m kind of biased since I don’t
hunt and think it’s kind of stupid.
“I’m keeping the deer from
overpopulating.” Right. Good
thinking. Mother Nature has been
doing a real crappy job at that sort
of thing since the dawn of time;
good thing you came around.
I love the outdoors, and out on the
trail, one thing really puts the icing
on the cake for me. It’s that creepy
feeling you get when you realize
there is a hunter hiding 15 feet
away from you with a gun. What a
rush.
It’s almost like being real prey for
just a second. I don’t know if I d
even want to be out there without
the fear that some optically-im
paired mountain man with a flask
full of moonshine might shoot me.
Enough about hunting, how about
at home? First of all, when making
informed choices about gun con
trol, you must first remember that
real life is almost just like the mov
ies.
For instance, if someone ever
breaks into my house, I will wake
up just in time to reach under my
pillow, grab my trusty side arm,
and shoot the eVil mastermind be
fore he can kill my family and take
over the world.
It’s just like that, except if your
gun was under the pillow, your kid
probably went crazy because you re
his parent and shot you with your
own gun.
If it was responsibly locked away
in a safe place, it probably would
not do you that much good.
However, you’re quick and you
rush towards the terrible criminal
and blow him away, except he s
some 16-year-old kid with nothing
but a bad attitude.
Maybe he’s a 16-year-old with a
gun of his own, and as you rush in
to save the day and your family, he
sees your gun and kills you dead in
your home. Seeing as you had a gun
too, there wasn’t much of a
choice.
Now you’re dead, and this where
the movies and real life are just a
little different.
In our free country, I could theo
retically get a bunch of angry com
plaints about this article, even
though in reality, you are all too
apathetic to care that much.
I could then go to a department
store and buy a shotgun or a rifle. I
would start coming after you.
That’s what freedom is all about.
Don’t you think if it were hard to
get a gun, people wouldn t bother
so much with trying?
If the street price of guns was
drastically increased, people would
be more inclined to use other weap
ons like mace or knives, especially if
the likelihood of their victims hav
ing a gun was reduced.
This may not sound very pleasant,
but I’d rather take my chances with
some common criminal wielding a
knife or a bat than one carrying a
gun.
Would a 13-year-old be more
likely to kill or injure 30 or so
students with a gun or a pocket
knife?
Wouldn’t you rather see postal
workers going out in a blaze of brass
knuckles instead of a hail of gun
fire?
The less guns there are floating
around, the less people are going to
be shot by them.
It seems strange that a country
that punishes murder with death
would be m favor of its citizens
toting firearms around.
Wait a second. No, it doesn t.
''Don't you think if it were hard
to get a gun, people wouldn't
bother with trying? ”
Letters to the Editor
Response to
McCorkle’s
column
Dear Editor:
Let me be the first to say that I am
deeply concerned that my student
fees seem to be underwriting stu
dents to publicize their obvious
contempt for me and my kind.
We’re called realists.
To have Dearborn McCorkle ex
press a rather myopic opinion con
cerning world policy is worrisome.
To hear more anti-governmental
paralogia, a laX-Files, is annoying.
To be called an ignorant sheep is
just downright unnecessary.
To answer her question, yes
Dearborn, I have gone over the
Congressional Record several times.
I’m also one of the 12 viewers of
either/both C-Span channels, ifyou
can buy that. I’ve spent a good
chunk of my life studying political
science and history.
The common assumption among
apologists is that America brought
this on itself through indifference
towards the Middle East in the
pursuit of our own economic interests.
Terrorists are just what the big
army calls the litde army. This ig
nores some very telling realities.
1) Whatever political/religious
agenda Arabian terrorists have has
been decimated, perhaps irrepara
bly. By giving America j ust cause to
increase our control of that area,
while at the same time weakening
theirown organization and destroy
ing any credibility they might have
had. It was a poorly considered
political action.
2) Those who cite Pearl Harbor
are perhaps unaware of how closely
related the event is.
Those who say that the attack is a
result and was caused by American
foreign economic policy need look
no further than our cessation of our
oil pipeline to Japan to see the
immediate cause for the attack on
our military base then. It was not a
random assault, but a direct re
sponse to Japanese military
adventurism.
3) Those who say that it was com
ing to us are apparently excusing
the terrorist attacks on the grounds
that we did something to incite
them. By this same logic, cutting
me off in traffic entitles me to fol-
lowyou home and run you down in
your own driveway.
There is a very clear distinction
between political protest, even vio
lent political protest, and outright
lunatic assaults.
Political protest of our policies
regarding oil would take the form
of boarding tankers and dumping
oil overboard, levying unreasonable
tariffs and taxes against American
imports or exports, or banning our
presence entirely.
Those in oil-producing Arab na
tions are caught in the classic sales
man/waiter’s curse: they hate the
customer but love the customer’s
money. If there is truly something
inherently wrong with our pres
ence, it is their right and obligation
simply to not sell to us.
4) Those who say that cutting off
medical and food supplies to Ara
bian nations has brought this upon
us and demonstrates our hypocrisy
are overlooking the very real hy
pocrisy supporting the very oppres
sive regimes that those sanctions
are designed to upset. One does not
feed the dog that bites young chil
dren.
Any citizen who is not in open
revolt of a policy they consider
wrong is acting in compliance with
it. This is why we admire men like
Nelson Mandela; those who would
rather live their lives in prison rather
than in support of a despicable po
litical body. Any Afghani who is
not in opposition to the Taliban is
supporting it in their silence,
’^ile this is a lengthy diatribe, I
hope it has been a worthwhile one.
A liberal campus has no excuse for
a lack of information in the cre
ation of our opinions on subjects;
the very reason for liberal educa
tion is to expand upon the purview
of information available.
To have a columnist being paid by
students to show contempt for stu
dents seems a rather unworthy
proposition.
Always approach a difficult issue
from a position of informed
strength. Dearborn, not utopian
well-wishing.
Keith Dramn
Junior, History and
Political Science
HHUE H SAFE FHLL BREHK!
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