Best way to stop gun violence on college campuses?

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
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W.T.F. :confused:

After the Virginia Tech murders a year ago, Yale University banned the use of stage weapons in a student theatrical production ? infuriating actors and educators who believed audience members could distinguish drama from real life. After a few days of ridicule, Yale backed down.

A year later, after another gun tragedy, college officials are still trying to figure out how to make their campuses safe ? and theater still is a target. A student production of Assassins, the award-winning musical, was to have premiered Thursday night at Arkansas Tech University, but the administration banned it ? and permitted a final dress rehearsal Wednesday night (so the cast could experience the play on which students have worked long hours) only on the condition that wooden stage guns were cut in half prior to the event and not used. Assassins is a musical in which the characters are the historic figures who have tried to kill a U.S. president.

Robert C. Brown, Arkansas Tech?s president, issued a statement explaining the decision as follows: ?All of us have a healthy respect for the freedom of artistic expression that college theater represents, and all of us agree that out of respect for the families of those victims of the tragedies at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech, and from an abundance of caution, it is best at this time not to undertake a campus production that contains the portrayal of graphically violent scenes.?

While faculty members involved in the program declined to comment on their views, others said privately (citing fear of offending administrators) that they viewed the decision as an overreaction and one that sent the wrong message about theater, the role of art, and free expression. The local newspaper reported that the administration was so concerned about the production that reporters were barred from the dress rehearsal. Adding to the anger of many on the campus is that the film American Gangster, featuring plenty of blood and violence ? and none from singing historical figures ? was screened on campus this week. Why, many want to know, is musical theater being singled out?

Further frustrating faculty members, there have been reports of gun shots ? and a recent shooting injury ? at parties organized by Arkansas Tech students, but the students organizing those parties were reportedly football players, not thespians. Some questioned why what they see as a false concern (fake guns in drama) was getting attention, as opposed to what they view as more serious problems. Others said that they viewed an order to stop a play as a violation of academic freedom.

One professor who asked not to be identified said ?there seems to be a real double standard ? this just feels wrong.?

Susie Nicholson, a spokeswoman for the university, said that the play could yet be rescheduled, so it was not really being called off. But others on campus noted that student productions, relying on the time of students who have a range of commitments, can?t just be pushed back a few months. Asked who made the decision to call off the play this week, she said ?the administration,? but then added that the decision had been made ?in conjunction? with some faculty members.

Nicholson said that the decision did not limit artistic expression, noting that the president?s statement included his support for artistic freedom. She said she did not know if any of the officials who made the decision had ever seen a production of Assassins, but said that they were concerned about the gunshots that are part of the play and might be heard outside the auditorium.

Ardith Morris, a professor of theater who was directing the production, said she could not comment on her feelings about the decision, and could only answer questions of fact. She said that a total of 60 students had been involved in the production ? counting actors, the orchestra and technical crew. When the decision was made to call off the production, she said that she asked if the president wanted to brief the students, but that offer was declined in favor of her doing so. She said the news brought ?tears and outrage? from students.

Morris has taught and directed student productions for 26 years at Arkansas Tech. Asked if she had ever called off a show previously, she said, her voice breaking, ?never ? including the show that opened the week my husband passed away.? Even facing a personal loss, she said, ?theater people? wouldn?t call off a production. ?It?s just not what we do. Theater is who we are ? it?s how we view the world and realize ourselves as people.?

Kurt Daw, dean of fine and performing arts at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a past president of the Association for Theater in Higher Education, said he was disappointed to hear about a college refusing to let a play go on as scheduled. Daw said that he would understand Northern Illinois University not wanting such a show right now, but that beyond the immediate vicinity, administrators should recognize ?the theater?s capacity to heal and to make us think.? He noted that while Assassins is about assassins, it is by no means a pro-violence play but a work that ?calls on us to think about the violence in our culture and what the sources are for it.?

Theater productions appear ?more prone to censorship? on campuses than are books or professors? writing, Daw said. He thinks this is because ?what?s powerful about theater is its immediacy.? But to Daw, that?s no reason to keep theater away from students ? even in difficult times. ?I think academic freedom absolutely covers artistic events the same way it covers writing,? he said. Some theater may frighten those who watch it, he said, but that reaction may be entirely the point. ?I?m in favor of trusting audiences.?

Better ban TVs and movies while you're at it.
 

ScottyB

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2002
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This reminds me of a theater class I was taking. We were discussing things that scared us in the past, and a student told us how he recently made a new friend and that friend showed him a gun he owned and then asked the student if he would like to hold it. He then told us how holding the gun was one of the most terrifying and traumatic experiences he ever had. Then the teacher agreed and said that guns are very terrifying and dangerous objects. And then the rest of the class started sheep nodding and exclaiming how terrifying guns are. I bit my tongue and rolled my eyes having grown up in the country where we shoot guns for fun. The rest of the class consisted of upper class rich bastards from the affluent suburbs of Detroit.
 

Anubis

No Lifer
Aug 31, 2001
78,716
417
126
tbqhwy.com
sadly there is NOTHING that can be done, people who are set on getting a gun and fucking shit up will do it no matter what is done to try and prevent it from happening
 

irishScott

Lifer
Oct 10, 2006
21,568
3
0
NO MORE HALO FOR YOU!!!

Edit: Honestly, the best solution I can think of is allowing guns on campus. After a few drunk people shot each other, people would take it a lot more seriously. It's not a good solution, but it's the best IMO.

If one of the 30 some odd victims at VT had a gun, that number might have been halved at least.
 

Fullmetal Chocobo

Moderator<br>Distributed Computing
Moderator
May 13, 2003
13,704
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People are trying to figure out ways to prevent campus shootings. They have no clue how to do it, because it is nearly impossible. To prevent shootings, they would have to turn college campuses into military bases. But to do so removes all the freedoms people have.

It's a fucker clucked scenario, and they are trying to deal with it as best they can. Granted, it doesn't make all that much sense what they did...
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,599
19
81
This is a good move. The last time I watched Little Shop of Horrors, I blended the DNA of a Venus Fly Trap with that of a Redwood and a deranged chimp. I got an huge intelligent plant that ate several people before the Department of Agriculture finally had it killed. In the interest of national security, they decided not to risk prosecuting, lest the details might be released to the public.

I'm currently working on building a space station capable of destroying a planet. Codename is Mimas, and it's orbiting a location which I shall not name, hiding in plain sight. Earth will never see it coming.
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,586
4
81
Originally posted by: Jeff7
This is a good move. The last time I watched Little Shop of Horrors, I blended the DNA of a Venus Fly Trap with that of a Redwood and a deranged chimp. I got an huge intelligent plant that ate several people before the Department of Agriculture finally had it killed. In the interest of national security, they decided not to risk prosecuting, lest the details might be released to the public.

I'm currently working on building a space station capable of destroying a planet. Codename is Mimas, and it's orbiting a location which I shall not name, hiding in plain sight. Earth will never see it coming.

that explains it. i *always* wondered why they never made a sequel to that movie until now...
 

K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
45,897
32,700
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Originally posted by: ScottyB
This reminds me of a theater class I was taking. We were discussing things that scared us in the past, and a student told us how he recently made a new friend and that friend showed him a gun he owned and then asked the student if he would like to hold it. He then told us how holding the gun was one of the most terrifying and traumatic experiences he ever had. Then the teacher agreed and said that guns are very terrifying and dangerous objects. And then the rest of the class started sheep nodding and exclaiming how terrifying guns are. I bit my tongue and rolled my eyes having grown up in the country where we shoot guns for fun. The rest of the class consisted of upper class rich bastards from the affluent suburbs of Detroit.

I've seen this before.

One of my friends used to be really strongly ant-gun and basically ascribed them with an almost supernatural aura of evil. Over the course of a conversation I found out that he had never actually held one or shot one. I managed to convince him to take a trip with me out to the range I belonged to for little shooting.

After explaining all about shooting safety I let him pop off a few rounds of 9mm. After about an hour he had gone through 5 boxes of ammo. :D

After hearing me explain gun safety then him doing some shooting he came to realize that guns really are little more than tools. Tools deserving a lot of respect but tools none the less.
 

Kelvrick

Lifer
Feb 14, 2001
18,438
5
81
Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Ahh speaking of guns.
I got a new one yesterday to piss of the politicians. :p
I'll post up some pics soon.

What do you think i'm using my "economic stimulus" rebate for?
 
May 31, 2001
15,326
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When I was in high school, during one of the plays a character was supposed to get shot and killed. We used a starter pistol that fired blanks, and every night we could hear members of the audience exclaiming when it went off. There was no real advance warning unless you knew the play scene by scene. The gunman walked onto the stage, pulled out the revolver, and fired twice.

Now they would have to put a disclaimer in the programme, assuming that the principal even allowed the used of a starter pistol now.
 

MegaVovaN

Diamond Member
May 20, 2005
4,131
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Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
When I was in high school, during one of the plays a character was supposed to get shot and killed. We used a starter pistol that fired blanks, and every night we could hear members of the audience exclaiming when it went off. There was no real advance warning unless you knew the play scene by scene. The gunman walked onto the stage, pulled out the revolver, and fired twice.

Now they would have to put a disclaimer in the programme, assuming that the principal even allowed the used of a starter pistol now.

Some joker could swap the gun for similar looking regular gun and blanks for ammo.
 
May 31, 2001
15,326
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Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven
When I was in high school, during one of the plays a character was supposed to get shot and killed. We used a starter pistol that fired blanks, and every night we could hear members of the audience exclaiming when it went off. There was no real advance warning unless you knew the play scene by scene. The gunman walked onto the stage, pulled out the revolver, and fired twice.

Now they would have to put a disclaimer in the programme, assuming that the principal even allowed the used of a starter pistol now.

Some joker could swap the gun for similar looking regular gun and blanks for ammo.

Not in this situation. Our teacher was the owner of the gun, and she kept it on her, only handing it to the shooter as he was walking out on stage. Took it back from him when he walked off.
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,089
12
76
fobot.com
guns don't kill people, people kill people

so the obvious solution is to ban people from the college campuses
 

MagnusTheBrewer

IN MEMORIAM
Jun 19, 2004
24,135
1,594
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Monitors at school that constantly stream CNN were disabled during the 9/11 attacks. Its alright to view violence as long as it occurs in other countries I guess.
 

OdiN

Banned
Mar 1, 2000
16,431
3
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Originally posted by: ScottyB
This reminds me of a theater class I was taking. We were discussing things that scared us in the past, and a student told us how he recently made a new friend and that friend showed him a gun he owned and then asked the student if he would like to hold it. He then told us how holding the gun was one of the most terrifying and traumatic experiences he ever had. Then the teacher agreed and said that guns are very terrifying and dangerous objects. And then the rest of the class started sheep nodding and exclaiming how terrifying guns are. I bit my tongue and rolled my eyes having grown up in the country where we shoot guns for fun. The rest of the class consisted of upper class rich bastards from the affluent suburbs of Detroit.

:laugh:
 

Kyteland

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 2002
5,747
1
81
They should ban all fingers on campus as well. People can make their fingers into the shape of a gun, which is just an accident waiting to happen. Everyone should have to wear mittens so we can be safe.
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,089
12
76
fobot.com
Originally posted by: Kyteland
They should ban all fingers on campus as well. People can make their fingers into the shape of a gun, which is just an accident waiting to happen. Everyone should have to wear mittens so we can be safe.

or at least paint the end of all fingers bright orange , so that it is easy to tell that the false finger gun isn't a real finger gun
 
May 31, 2001
15,326
1
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Originally posted by: Kyteland
They should ban all fingers on campus as well. People can make their fingers into the shape of a gun, which is just an accident waiting to happen. Everyone should have to wear mittens so we can be safe.

You must have missed the news story a few months ago where an elementary school student was suspended for making a finger gun and shooting people with it during recess.
 

Zenmervolt

Elite member
Oct 22, 2000
24,512
21
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Originally posted by: ScottyB
This reminds me of a theater class I was taking. We were discussing things that scared us in the past, and a student told us how he recently made a new friend and that friend showed him a gun he owned and then asked the student if he would like to hold it. He then told us how holding the gun was one of the most terrifying and traumatic experiences he ever had. Then the teacher agreed and said that guns are very terrifying and dangerous objects. And then the rest of the class started sheep nodding and exclaiming how terrifying guns are. I bit my tongue and rolled my eyes having grown up in the country where we shoot guns for fun. The rest of the class consisted of upper class rich bastards from the affluent suburbs of Detroit.

Reminds me of my sister's reaction to seeing photos of my first gun. "I don't see any gun locks. As a nurse I find it necessary that guns be locked at all times."

To my eternal credit I did not reply with, "First of all, 'as a nurse', just how much shooting experience do you have? I was unaware that being a nurse required comprehensive firearms training. Second of all, as the person between the two of us who has actually shot a gun, I find it incredibly difficult to practice at the range while the gun is locked, so your 'at all times' comment may be a bit over the top. Finally, my firearms live in a safe; if someone breaks in and manages to get into the safe to get the guns, a gun lock isn't going to do jack shit because if they can get into the safe, the lock's not going to be any problem at all."

She's only been in LA for 8 months and look what it's done to her.

ZV