Calvin students protest new "Force of Arms" policy

Grand Rapids - A new policy at Calvin College is being met with resistance by some students on campus.

[Ryan]

I bet the security guards shoot them...ahhh..sweet sweet irony

[TONY]

A prime example of how stupid Calvin College students really are! Why in the world would you want to protest the use of force when school shootings are so common. I say let the students learn the hard way. School security officers can't fight a gunman with a night stick or can of mace. You need to have armed staff either teachers or gaurds to protect against the threat of such violence. Hey students GOOD LUCK!

[sam]

Because of our wonderful state government schools, churchs and other areas are known as "gun free" and make easy targets for the bad guys. If they would allow legal concealed carry the bad guys would think twice!

[ron mexico]

that is dutch.

[whasever]

they are students they don't get a say on policy...their say is if they don't like the policies go to a different school...GROW UP

[Hurley35]

I'll bet they would be thinking differently if a mass shooting had occurred on Calvin's Campus.

[GR Mich]

I think it is a good idea, especially in these times when school shootings are becoming such a common and unfortunate thing. You need to be able to fight fire with fire and having a security guard go after a gunman with his night stick is like jumping out of a plane without a parachute.
All of these kids complaining about the guards having guns will be the same ones on the news if anything were to ever happen crying and asking why the school never did anything to prevent per say a shooting from happening in the first place.

[TD Jensen]

Puts a whole new meaning on 'detention'.

[COMMONSENSE]

Its a good start, but the state needs to eliminate "gun free" zones so people who carry leagally can do so in places where the crazies want to kill the most people.

[Jamie B]

those protesting a ban must have a pretty short memory of all the school and college shootings we have had in the past years. It is better to be prepared than dead! unfortunatly peace often is kept through firearms.

[Maria]

How incredibly STUPID!!! The Calvin guards are now (finally) equipped to do their job - protect students!

I can't believe how dumb any student is for protesting this.

[Mark]

This is why they are students. They are still learning what is good for them.

They're still stupid to not realize that this is a good idea, but they are young.

[Momma2007]

What happends when the day comes that one of the guards is the one who decides to open fire on campus? What then? I mean, they would be able to legally get onto capus with a weapon. This is a tough situation, on the one hand, I want my child to be protected from someone coming into the building with un-authorized weapons, but on the other hand what happends when someone from with-in cracks? Jeez, this is a hard one. I think the students should atleast get to voice their opinion some. I mean, they are the ones who will be going to school there. I might feel alittle uneasy if my supervisor walked around with a pistol strapped to her hip.

[Whuteva]

COMMONSENSE wrote:

Its a good start, but the state needs to eliminate "gun free" zones so people who carry leagally can do so in places where the crazies want to kill the most people.

Yeah it would be a good idea to let people carry guns into bars and sports arenas. In fact they should have baskets of guns at the door when you walk in so everyone can have one.

[Microcosm]

How many examples do they need to know this is necessary. They can't carry themselves; so this would be the minimum that I would expect...!

[Whuteva]

Momma2007 wrote:

What happends when the day comes that one of the guards is the one who decides to open fire on campus? What then? I mean, they would be able to legally get onto capus with a weapon. This is a tough situation, on the one hand, I want my child to be protected from someone coming into the building with un-authorized weapons, but on the other hand what happends when someone from with-in cracks? Jeez, this is a hard one. I think the students should atleast get to voice their opinion some. I mean, they are the ones who will be going to school there. I might feel alittle uneasy if my supervisor walked around with a pistol strapped to her hip.

If I was a student there and I found out some $9 an hour rent a cop was coming to my school with a loaded gun I would ask questions too. My hat goes off to those Calvin students.

[lanyard]

The article said that there would only be about three officers who will have guns. I don’t think it’s really enough to provide protection for many people beyond those individual officers, but then again, that’s also true with police carrying guns. It’s definitely a step in the right direction. I understand that many people fear “guns”, but if that fear is transferred over to the bearer for no other reason than one’s own personal bias, then that fear is misplaced. People walk around armed in our society every day unnoticed by those who “fear” the armed citizen with little incident. There is a difference between an armed criminal, and an armed law-abiding citizen. If someone cannot understand that one represents a threat to society, while the other does not, then that individuals fear is not because they are both equally threatening; it is because that individual is either ignoring, or ignorant of the fact that law-abiding citizens do not commit crimes and go on murderous rampages. They are also ignoring or ignorant of the fact that laws don’t prevent such crimes. Criminals are law-breakers by definition, and therefore won’t be deterred by a law that restricts them from shooting someone. OTH, the act of carrying or owning a gun does not suddenly (or even slowly) transform a law-abiding citizen into becoming a homicidal maniac.

This is just storying to commemorate the anniversary of the VT shootings. What many people seem to prefer to ignore is that these incidents usually happen in environments where guns are not allowed. When you have a society where only the government and its agents are armed, then you are living in a police state. Sadly, some people seem to prefer this. What’s even sadder is that, people are opposed to even qualified, former police officers carrying a gun, just because of their own fear of guns. Unfortunately, criminals who would carry out such atrocities only see such restrictions as greater opportunity.

There seems to be a common mythology that college campus’s are safe environments in which people don’t need to be concerned with their own safety (this myth often transfers over to life outside campus, leading to the myth of,“it’s the police’s job to protect us”). Fact is, they aren’t any safer than any other segment of society. Sure, there are areas where crime is more concentrated, but that doesn’t make the other areas “safe”. It’s an illusion. Too often we read about some atrocity committed in a community only to hear one of the neighbors say something along the lines of,“This kind of stuff never happens here.”(Think Dr. William Petit Jr.).

If the college’s proposal of,“arming 3 or 4 former police officers in good standing, for campus security”, strikes you as a concern, then you should be more concerned with the reason why they think there is a need to do such. That is that, the idea of a college campus being a “safe haven” from crime is an illusion, and the college is finally facing that fact in an honest way.

[Scott]

Momma2007 wrote:

What happends when the day comes that one of the guards is the one who decides to open fire on campus? What then? I mean, they would be able to legally get onto capus with a weapon. This is a tough situation, on the one hand, I want my child to be protected from someone coming into the building with un-authorized weapons, but on the other hand what happends when someone from with-in cracks?

Do you think a nutcase security guard is going to show restraint in the first place just because he is not allowed to carry an "authorized" weapon? Think about it, a crazy nut is going to get and use a gun anyways.

[Scott]

Whuteva wrote:

<quoted text>
If I was a student there and I found out some $9 an hour rent a cop was coming to my school with a loaded gun I would ask questions too. My hat goes off to those Calvin students.

That kind of disrespect for authority is one of the problems with this country. The students should grow up and remember they are there to protect them.

[Mark]

Momma2007 wrote:

What happends when the day comes that one of the guards is the one who decides to open fire on campus? What then? I mean, they would be able to legally get onto capus with a weapon. This is a tough situation, on the one hand, I want my child to be protected from someone coming into the building with un-authorized weapons, but on the other hand what happends when someone from with-in cracks? Jeez, this is a hard one. I think the students should atleast get to voice their opinion some. I mean, they are the ones who will be going to school there. I might feel alittle uneasy if my supervisor walked around with a pistol strapped to her hip.

What if, what if, what if?

Why don't you consider the facts? How many deranged security guards have gone postal at universities?

How many have had nothing to do with security, but just some whack job?

Common sense tells us that this is a good idea.