4 - Friday, February 15, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4 - ridy, Fbrury 1, 213 Te Mchign Dily mihigadaiyco 1[ e michinan l Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MELANIE KRUVELIS and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR NOTABLE QUOTABLE Knowing the extent of how things went, I may have second guessed myself. I didn't expect a big commotion to happen!. - An Engineering junior told the Daily after he sparked panic by dressing in fatigues, a black jacket, a gas mask and an empty ammunition pack. ANDREW WEINER EDITOR IN CHIEF Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. FROM THE DAILY Legislative misfire Michigan Republicans want concealed weapons in schools Gun control has become a legislative focus in past months since the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. President Barack Obamahas started pushing through the most exten- sive changes in gun control in recent decades. He has asked Congress to approve an assault rifle ban as well as background checks on all gun buyers. However, it seems that Michigan's Republicans have decided to move in a different direction to stop mass shootings and increase school safety. Legislators are proposing a bill that would allow teach- ers, administrators and other school employees to carry concealed hand guns on school property. Michigan's schools and legislature- should focus on other measures of increasing school safety instead of simply handing minimally trained school officials weapons. Reactionary k This bill aims to prevent school shootings, which have become a tragic fixture of our nation. Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger, a supporter of this bill, said "I don't think it's a coincidence that such monsters that are carry- ing these out are going to gun-free zones to do their massacre," according to an article in the Petoskey News. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a similar bill at the end of the 2012 leg- islature, directly after Sandy Hook, citing the fact that schools, day cares and churches have a legal right to ban firearms if they see fit. The new billwould allow teachers and other school officials to carry concealed handguns, but legislators have added a clause that would let schools maintain a firearms ban if they wish. School safety expands beyond the trag- edies such as Sandy Hook, Columbine High School and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. While these are the stories that make the news, they're extremely hard to prevent with any type of legislation. Mass shootings are the exception, but student-on- student or student-on-teacher violence is the bigger problem in many schools. There are many other measures that could be enacted to increase safety in schools, none of which involve supplying teachers with firearms. Securing exits by requiring visitors to sign in and submit to a pat down is one way of pre- venting unwanted people or weapons on cam- pus. But, we must remember that no policy, however strict, can prevent every act of evil. Schools are supposed to encourage learning and the betterment of one's self. Students are unable to learn ina stressful or unsafe environ- ment. The idea that any teacher could be con- cealing a gun doesn't make for an comfortable place to learn. It's not the job of administrator or teacher to protect students from an unlike- ly violent attack using a firearm. Their focus should be on education in the classroom, not all the possible threats outside of it. The best way to decrease violence in schools is to increase the student body's investment. After-school programs, sports and school spirit have all been shown to decrease violence. Investing in coun- selors and spurring teacher engagement can prevent violence, but is more closely tied to the main goal of any educational institution. Gun control needs to be addressed, and legislation to reduce mass shootings should be on the floors of Congress. However, there are other and more effective measures than what this particular bill proposes. Snyder's veto of a similar bill last year shows that he, too, thinks there needs to be a change in how we prevent violence. We shouldn't be teach- ing students to fight violence with violence, especially in schools. teacher once told me that our government only acts in response to a terrible event and that the true goal of the U.S. government isn't necessarily to be proactive, but effectively reactive. Perhaps thish mantra is true for what Ameri- PATRICK ca was supposed MAILLET to be - for what our forefathers truly envisioned as a more perfect union. But unfortunately, in the dawn of the limitless campaign fun- draising age, where bipartisanship is a surefire way to be unelectable, our government no longer runs on reactive logic, but instead on out- of-touch political idealism perfectly structured in order for politicians to remain in power. Seventy-two days ago, 26 inno- cent people were slaughtered in Newtown as a result of government negligence and a lack of logic. I must admit, when I first heard about the shooting in Newtown, Conn. I said to the friend who had told me of event, "How many were killed this time?" The moment the words came out of my mouth, I felt a sickness within my body. How have we come to the point as a society where we simply expect these types of ruthless acts of aggression to be a normal event and that there's noth- ing that can be done to prevent them? Immediately following the mas- sacre, like many other gun-control advocates, I was pleased to see the possibility of actual legislation being passed that would help pre- vent future gun violence. Now, I am unfortunately being brought back to reality. President Barack Obama's origi- nal response to the Newtown shooting was a plan based upon four core elements: require background checks for gun owners, institute an assault weapons ban, limit the size of ammunition magazines, and conduct further research on mental health disorders and their relation- ship with gun violence. Simply put, these responses are logical: They make sense, and they're the essence of how a reac- tive government should function. After all, if you possess an instru- ment capable of causing mass death, shouldn't the government make sure you're capable of han- dling such a responsibility? Why do "sportsmen" need a weapon power- ful enough to rapidly shoot at a rate of fire necessary only in combat? How could a hunter possibly need a 100-round magazine for anything involving legal activities? And why wouldn't we look into the mental sicknesses that have caused count- less mentally ill people to kill scores of innocent civilians? For as simple as these ques- tions may seem, they apparently are all too unconstitutional to even bring up with regards to gun con- trol. Luckily, it appears that two of the four core elements will pass through Congress: background checks and mental health research. But even these weren't passed uncontested by the National Rifle Association. Wayne LaPierre, CEO and executive vice president of the NRA, argued that background checks hurt small gun sellers Regardless, these two elements of gun control seem likely to pass. Unfortunately, an assault weap- ons ban and a limit on magazine size seem increasingly unlikely as both Democrats and Republicans begin to balk at the concept of lim- iting gun ownership and thereby be labeled an anti-gun legislator. Obama reiterated his support for gun reform in his State of the Union Tuesday night, yet even then he refused to mention assault weap- ons by name and instead referred to "weapons of war." This has a lot to do with many Congressional Demo- crats revealing they would not sup- port the president in fighting for an assault weapons ban. Weapons like the AR-15, used by James Holmes in Aurora; commonly referred to by sportsmen as a "spray and pray" assault rifle, will almost certainly gic remain legal within the foreseeable future. Although I was disappointed by Obama's lack of acknowledgement toward an assault weapons ban, he at least honed in on the importance of gun control and made it a vital piece of his speech. Conversely, in the Republican response to Obama's speech, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio dedicated a whopping 11 seconds togun control and, in fact, didn't even mention the word "gun." 1774 people have been killed in the last 63 days as a result of gun violence. Instead, Rubio stated, "We must effectively deal with the rise of vio- lence in our country, but unconsti- tutionally undermining the second amendment rights of law-abiding Americans is not the way to do it." Wow, I'm sure that's just what the parents of Newtown, Aurora and countless other gun victims want to hear from their elected officials. In the past 72 days, approximate- ly 1,774 people have been killed in the United States as a result of gun violence. These people are the true victims of Newtown, because instead of learning from our mis- takes and reacting accordingly, our government has remained stagnant and has allowed continuous inno- cent bloodshed. How many more massacres will it take for us to final- ly wake up and realize that maybe a society with 300 million privately owned firearms is not sustainable? We have to startusing logic when forming our gun policy. If not, and if we do not react accordingly to the deaths of 26 innocent children and teachers in Newtown, then they will have died in vain and we will have no one to blame but ourselves. - Patrick Maillet can be reached at maillet@umich.edu. 0 0 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, Eli Cahan, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Jasmine McNenny, Harsha Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman, Sarah Skaluba, Michael Spaeth, Luchen Wang, Derek Wolfe MISHARA DAVIS I My semester ln Detroit I first encountered the Semester in Detroit program during Assistant Prof. Stephen Ward's freshman seminar on Malcolm X. Even after taking classes focused on Detroit, I believed I could expand my knowledge of the city. As a Detroiter, Cass Technical High School alum, member of Detroit NAACP and precinct del- egate, I seized the opportunity to experience Detroit through the lens of an SID student. So far, the program has exceeded my expectations. When I first began the program this semes- ter, I thought I knew everything about the city. Was Iwrong? Duringtours in southwest, north- west and downtown Detroit, I discovered ele- ments of the city I never knew existed. I saw black churches on the east side that survived the threat of demolition during redevelopment in the 1950s. I saw modern senior citizen liv- ing complexes near Cass Corridor. I saw the industriallandscapes of Ford automotive plants throughout the city and in Hamtramck. And I continue to see new things each week - in my courses and at my internship. In my SID seminars on urban planning, Detroit history and internship reflection, I feel as if I am on a journey. I move from the turn of the 20th century to the climax of the automotive industry - where race and class played such a large role in American life - to Detroit's future. My reflection seminar helps me conceptualize current events in the city and offers insight on how the Detroit Future City framework will focus on the economy and may work to sustain the city for the next 50 years. To process it all, I engage with com- munity members at monthly Detroit Speaker Series events, where panelists and the public discuss the city. At my community-based internship, I encounter reoccurring themes from Detroit's history, such as urban redevelopment. I have the honor to work alongside attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan - a non-profit legal reform organization that strives to protect and expand the rights guar- anteed to us by the Constitution. I review prospective cases and help determine if a complaint violates the client's Constitutional rights. This legal perspective, coupled with courses on the history of Detroit, enrich my experience in the program. I could tell you all about my time in SID, but the best way to gain a full experience of Semester in Detroit is to apply. The applica- tion deadline for spring is March 1. Learn more at semesterindetroit.com. Mishara Davis is an LSA sophomore. MAURA LEVINE N Gu Next to a daycare is one of the best places to live. Sure, being woken up in the morning by the sounds of shrieking children isn't the best alarm clock, but it's worth it for the 5:30 p.m. pick-up when I get to see parents reunite with their children. On the day of the Sandy Hook Ele- mentary School shooting I watched more than one family grab their children a little tighter and carry them out of this Ann Arbor daycare: The whole parking lot seemed tense as parents surelythought about how lucky they were to hold their pre- cious ones safe from harm. After the horrors of Sandy Hook, we all must now look at the avail- able options to protect children in school. The Michigan Protection Act, recently suggested by State Sen. Mike Green (R-Huron), would give schools the autonomyto choose whether teachers and administra- tors could carry concealed weap- ons on school property. All school grounds are currently deemed "gun-free zones," making them highly susceptible to gun violence, such as the shootings we've seen at Columbine High School, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Sandy Hook, Elemen- tary School and others. If attack- ers know there's no way for people to defend themselves on school grounds, it makes the attack seem more attractive. While the act goes too far in allowing teachers to carry weap- ons, it brings up a valid idea about keeping schools safe. Instead of allowing every teacher or adminis- trator to carry a concealed weapon, public schools should train admin- istrators and individuals in public school offices how to use a handgun in self-defense. The weapons should be kept locked in a small gun safe under a desk in a central adminis- tration office so that in case of an emergency, trained officials can defend the school. On the day of the Sandy Hook massacre, Dawn Hoch- sprung, the heroic principal, went out into the hallway and "lunged toward the shooter in an attempt to overtake him before being fatally shot," according to a Daily Beast article. If Hochsprung had a gun when she went out into the hallway to try and overtake the shooter, we might be mourning the loss of far fewer people today. Some argue that administrators aren't police officers and there- fore shouldn't have to be trained in shooting a weapon, but that's a naive attitude. Unfortunately, we live in a world where gun violence in schools exists. While it's unfortu- nate that we have to prepare for the worst, isn't it best that we be pre- pared? It's expensive for all public schools to have an on-duty police officer on campus grounds every day, and it's not an effective use of tax dollars in communities with low in-school violence, such as Newton, Conn. The Sandy Hook massacre goes to show that gun attacks can happen anywhere. It would be a good use of our tax dollars to train select administrators on how to use a weapon if necessary. Every school should have a hidden weapon, locked away and only used in - God forbid - emergency circumstances. Sandy Hook Elementary had recently implemented new security measures before the attack. None of them proved to be useful. When an attacker wants to get into the build- ing, he or she will do it. The question is: How will we protect our children once the shooter is inside? Will we continue to keep gun-free zones where self-defense is impossible? Or will we take a proactive stance and train administrators to strike if necessary? I know if anyone in my family had been a victim that day -I would want the best self-defense strategy in place to prevent future families from having to experience the same. Maura Levine is an LSA sophomore. nning for safety 0 0 Weil Can Do It: Ellery Weil argues that the partisanship is present even with legislation that podiurncould potentially save lives. Go to michigandaily.com/blogs/The Podium LETTERS TO THE ED'ITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and Univer- sity affiliation. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.