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Monday, April 8, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Gun control bill
Brady Bill gives solid protection against danger of selling guns to those who should not buy one
A decade ago a bullet from a would be assassin's gun pierced James Brady's temple. Brady, then press secretary to President Ronald Reagan, survived. The damage done by the .22 caliber bullet confined him to a wheelchair but did not take away any of his energy.
A decade after he was wounded by a bullet from the same gun, Ronald Reagan announced his support for the Brady Bill.
For the past 10 years, Brady and his wife Sarah Brady have fought an uphill battle with Congress to enact gun control legislation. Success, at last, appears to be within reach.
The Brady Bill would impose a waiting period of up to seven days before a handgun would be delivered to a prospective buyer. The waiting period would allow state law enforcement officials to perform background checks on would-be buyers.
Jim Sweeney, legislative aid to Rep. Edward Feighan, primary sponsor of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, said the type of checks performed and the length of the waiting period would be determined by state and local law enforcement agencies.
The goal of the waiting period, Sweeney said, was to prevent those who are prohibited from owning a handgun, primarily convicted felons and the mentally ill, from purchasing them. The waiting period also would act as a "cool down" time for people wanting to purchase a weapon in anger.
The National Rifle Association has vehemently opposed the legislation, claiming that it infringes on the right to keep and bear
arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment
However, the bill would not prohibit the right to own weapons. Rather, it would help ensure that the owners would be responsible with them.
The attempted assassination of President Reagan and James Brady may have been avoided if the Brady Bill had been in effect. The waiting period would have given law enforcement officers the chance to check the background of John Hinkley Jr. Given that opportunity, they would have found that he had a long record of mental illness.
But legislators have knuckled under to the NRA, frightened by screams of unconstitutionality. However, a number of states and cities already impose a waiting period. Lawrence is among them.
An ordinance requiring a 72-hour waiting period was enacted by the Lawrence City Commission after a woman purchased a handgun and immediately killed herself.
Sgt. Kevin Harmon, of the Lawrence Police Department, said a thorough background check of a potential handgun buyer's criminal record could be performed in three days.
If the purpose for owning a handgun is a legitimate one, waiting three days to take possession should be little more than a minor inconvenience, much like waiting to take delivery of a new car.
It is time for our government to take action to ensure that people such as John Hinkley Jr. cannot repeat what he did to James Brady.
Bod Griffin for the editorial board
'Survey says . . .?'
Watkins asks 500 KU students to evaluate clinic
U students once again have a chance to evaluate an aspect of the University. Student Senate and the Student Health Advisory Board are surveying 500 students at random to collect their opinions about Watkins Memorial Health Center.
The survey will determine several things such as whether students are satisfied with the services at Watkins, and if not, what services are lacking. Students will be contacted by telephone, and their comments will be available for study by April 12.
Students should take the opportunity to let this important part of the University know how it is doing. For the 1990-91 school year, more than 17,500 students have used Watkins's services at least once. Many have visited Watkins several times.
By studying survey results, the staff at Watkins will be better able to help these
students and the thousands of others who will visit the health center in the future.
Jim Strobl, director of Watkins, said the staff would take the results seriously and would consider starting new services or programs if the students voiced a need. He said, for example, that if enough students wanted an extra service such as a dental clinic, he would begin looking into the idea right away.
"We will plug the changes in any way we can," he said.
Student Senate and the health advisory board should be commended for taking the time to plan and conduct the surveys. Further, Watkins deserves praise for encouraging students to evaluate its services and for offering to use the results constructively.
Melanie Botts for the editorial board
MOVNEYChicago Tribune
A WAITING PERIOD FOR HANDGUNS:
The Reagan Experience.
Roy's Boys deserve better behavior
In a sardonic response to the Legislature's preoccupation with Oklahoma football, President Emeritus George Cross once remarked that he "... would like to build a university of which the football team could be proud." Last Monday night's behavior of some of the students in a basketball game suggests to reason that we need to develop a student body of which Coach Roy Williams and the basketball team could be proud.
There were many good reasons for being on campus that evening: a celebration of an outstanding basketball team and season, a demonstration of pleasure with our unexpected victory in the AA tournament, solidarity in defeat or for display of an old-fashioned loyalty to one's alma mater.
Unfortunately, a significant number of students and other persons elected to use the conclusion of the tournament as an excuse for barbaric and juvenile behavior resulting in injury to others, destruction of property and a black eye for the University.
Four years ago when Bob Frederick was appointed director of intercollegiate athletics, he inherited a $78 million award to violations of NCAA regulations that
Let's be honest: It was not just good, clean fun or a legitimate release of frustration and disappointment over the outcome of the tournament. It was a travesty to all that Coach Williams and the basketball team represented this year. It was an insult to the values of the University of Michigan, and most majority of KU students. Although the team warrants its frequent title as a class act, these students were clearly in the bush league.
David
Ambler
Guest columnist
Guest columnist
occurred before the arrival of Coach Williams. The performance of many student athletes in the classroom was marginal at best and resulted in frequent ineligibilities. In his short tenure, Frederick has built a program based on high standards of personal and professional conduct and a commitment to the academic values and purposes of the University. Additionally, he has revived the student support programs within the department to enhance the academic success and the personal development of every student athlete. Most importantly, he has selected coaches who believe and reflect those same values.
The fruits of his efforts are already visible: improved performances of student athletes on and off of their playing fields, coaches who bring credit to their sport and the University they represent, and a competent staff that manages the program with integrity and grace. In short, the members of the Department of Intercollege Athletics have provided us with an athletic program "of which the University can be proud." Do they not warrant the same high standards of performances from us, their fans and supporters? Monday night's debacle in front of Wescoe surely was a big disappointment for them, particularly the basketball team. It has tarnished its remarkable performance this year and did nothing to ease its understandable agony following the championship
'Although the team warrants its frequent title as a class act, these students were clearly in the bush league.'
game.
In its usual pous and simplistic fashion, the Kanas has pointed the finger of blame at the administration for underestimating the situation. If having more than 200 staff members from the division of staff affairs, the KU police department, facilities operations and the Lawrence police department working that night is underestimating then we are guilty. If "underestimating the situation" means that I thought most KU students would govern themselves with restraint and a sense of decorum, then I accept their reprobation. In the end, however, each of us must be accountable for our behavior and there are some among us — you know who you are — who we owe Coach Williams and the team an apology and the University community some restitution.
Regardless of where you place the blame, the end results are the same: a dent in the good reputation of the University of Kansas and a blemish on the accolades that 13 young men and their staff mentors so rightly deserve. The foolish, dangerous and disastrous effect of this result in restrictions for the many as we celebrate our institution's achievements in the future.
In the meantime, I call upon all good student citizens and student leaders to help us build "a student body of which we all may be proud." ■ David Ambler is vice chancellor for student affairs.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
The right to bear arms
"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." That is the full text of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. It is the only amendment that wraps qualifiers around a right it mentions. The qualifiers premise the existence of a well-regulated militia and the security of a free state. Lacking those two conditions, the right to keep and bear arms probably or diminishes to a very small size. Where is the so-called well-regulated militia? How secure is this free state given the enormous access to guns that currently plagues
this society?
The framers of the Constitution did not wish us to interpret the document in the 1996 as though we lived in 1787 or 1791. The journals of the convention, which met in secret, were not released until decades after the Constitution was written. Still, we should note that they did set up guidelines about what rights they wished us to have in this republic and what limitations on those rights they thought were proper. Even in 1791 they thought that arms were dangerous enough that the right to keep and bear them should be judged by how secure the state was and how well-regulated those arm bears might be.
Interestingly enough, three of the founders mentioned by Mark Taylor in his column, "Handgun-control advocates should face the Constitution," probably don't quality as founders at all. Lee opposed the Constitution, and Jefferson was in France when it was written. Iredell was not in Philadelphia either; and he opposed including a bill of rights
in the Constitution.
For these reasons, and also because of the thousands of innocent men, women and children who killed each year by hardhands, I think they are just a problem. John oby against regulating firearms have made the founders sick
Phillip Paludar
Phillip Paludan Professor of American Constitutional History
Students sadden striker
I would venture to assume that the issues regarding the Food Barn strike concern very few students, but the callous attitude displayed by some students toward the might of troops compelled me to speak up.
During the early days of the strike, many students exited the local Food Barn store with applications in their hands and waved them at the striking demonstrators. "Get your jobs!" Consequently, the majority of the "replacement" workers at
Food Barn was composed of KU students. One of them proudly told me his mother was happy that he was paying for part of his rent with his new job. He also said that the attempts by the management to cut Food Barn employees' wages and health benefits did not concern him, since in two or three years, he would out "getting a real job."
Maybe his employment is not a "real" one, but to me and to my fellow strikers, we depend on these unreal jobs to pay for the necessities of our lives. But the luxury of asking our parents for money whenever the need arises.
To students who expressed their support for our cause by boycoting the Food Barn store, the strikers and I convey our deep appreciation. As to these 'replacement workers' and others we have agreed to meet that they enroll in courses that will introduce the fundamentals of humanity and humility to them.
Sheila Ward Lawrence resident
Other Voices
Help drug casualties
"Characterizing our No.1 public health problem as a 'war on drugs' has allowed a return to the stricly punitive approach to dealing with people who are, in fact, sick." Ford said.
Former first lady Betty Ford appeared before Congress recently urging a new sensitivity in the drug debate. There is an old war still being fought.
If the federal government is going to wage a "war" on drugs, it must provide for its casualties and警员 as well. More public money should be used to fill empty beds in treatment hospitals to make sure people who need help can get it.
From the Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss.
Gorbachev warned
For someone who has gotten a lot of political mileage lately out of playing to Soviets' ancient fears of civil unrest, Mikhail Gorbachev seems determined to invite a potentially cataclysmic confrontation with Russian federation President Boris Yeltsin.
The huge, illegal demonstration March 28 that closed down the center of Moscow should be warning enough to Gorbachev that he is flirting with the disaster he so earnestly wishes to avoid.
It was a warning, if any were needed, that any attempt by Gorbachev to engineer a no-contidence vote against Yeltsin in the congress would be handily defeated.
*From the News*
From the News and Courier, Charleston, S.C.
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