the daily collegian editorial opinion Violence could end if people.discardtheirshells With rocks tied to sticks or with nuclear bombs, people have been killing each other since there were people to kill. A week ago, someone shot Presi dent Reagan. The president's broth er, Neil, said the incident came as no big surprise to him. We live in a violent society, he said, and should come to expeCt such horrors. Yes, more and more, Americans seem to expect violence as part of everyday life. Handgun sales continue to boom, and people are signing up for train ing in marksmanship, martial arts and personal defense. Turtle-like, people are responding to the fear of violence by pulling shells around themselves and hiding their eyes. But where does this leave Mr. Reagan, Mr. Brady, Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Delahanty? On the side walk, bleeding into the gutter, writh- Handgun control: PR*. . . Somebody has to write this column. Somebody has to take the usual flack from National Rifle Association mem bers. Somebody once again has to be accused of starting the United States down the road to communism. Somebody has to suffer the inevitable chastisement for suggesting that the Bill of Rights be violated. I guess that somebody might as well be me this time. But I'm not a dedicated humanitarian, a communist or a martyr. I'm just Becatiseit's tiine,to put the guns-awaSt• ..s;Monday was the second time in my 21 years that I heard someone say, "The president's been shot." I was just 4 years old the first time, not old enough to really understand what had just happened. This time I understood. This time I was ap palled. John F. Kennedy is dead. Martin Lu- a/),fyi,_. autu&t , (l. reader opinion Deprived The term "gun control" is a misnomer. Since they are inanimate objects, without wills or the ability to act pn their own, there is obviously no need to control guns. "Gun control" is in actuality "people control." It consists of depriving people, to one degree or another, of the most effective means of self-defense: firearms. You can't depend on the police to protect you from violent crime. Police apprehend criminals after the crime is done, very rarely do they stumble into it. Their limited resources make it impossible for them to be there when needed. If you want protection you will have to provide it yourself. Handguns are just right. They can be em ployed by one single, weak, innocent against a group of strong evil attackers. They are equalizers and, by definition, evil groups attack good individuals, not the other way around. Statistically, in 1966, 87 percent of all gun crimes in New York City were committed by unregistered weap ons. In Detroit in 1971, the figure was 75 percent. Real criminals won't register their guns. In 1970, states with strict gun control had a murder opinions Fear kills ther King is dead. John Lennon is dead. A neighbor of mine, struck by a stray gunshot in a bar room brawl three years ago, is dead. So are countless others who are victims of gunshot wounds every year. Early evidence seems to show that John Warnock Hinckley Jr., the man charged with the attempted assassina tion of Reagan, was not a terrorist or a left-wing radical dismayed with Rea gan's economic and political views. He is ing in pain like the thousands of others who die of 'gunshot and knife wounds each year while the rest of us prance away in terror. Everyone is to blame for violence, not just owners of guns and knives, not just killers. Everyone is respon sible. And the whole country must respond together rather than with drawing into each individual shell. The gun control issue must be decided. If banning handguns would save lives, perhaps banning hand guns is one answer. If banning vio lence on television would save lives, maybe that's an answer. Other solu tions must be explored. But to continue to accept violence as a natural part of our society is to condone the assassination of presi dents, the killing of next-door neigh bors, and nuclear holocaust. The Daily Collegian's editorial opinion is determined by its Board of Opinion, with the editor-in-chief holding final responsibility. tee: MMI rate of 4.1 per 100,000 people. In the same year, states with more libertarian laws regarding guns had 3.9 deaths from handguns per 100,000 people. Philadelphia, in 1968, enacted severe restrictions on gun ownership. During the next two years, it experi enced a 17 percent increase in murders (increasing to 37 percent in the next year and a half). During the same period, Pittsburgh, with a relatively libertarian gun law, had a 1 percent decline in homicides. Crimi nals tend to kill the unarmed, not the armed. Finally, if one likes political reasons one should remember that on the day Nazi Germany swallowed the main part of Czechoslovakia, the arms registration lists were seized and the people disarmed. The same thing happened in Hungary in 1948 when it went Communist. I have never fired a gun in my life but I sleep better knowing there are 90 million private guns in America. When only police have guns, the police state is just around the corner. Walt Karwicki II 252 W. Cottage Place York, PA 17403 March 24 simply a man who allegedly walked into a pawn shop; bought a gun and shot the President of the United States. And the blood is on our hands. It's time to stop the killing. Don't tell me that the U.S. Constitution protects the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. Don't tell me that gun control is the first step to communism. And don't tell me that "guns don't kill people, people do." Because guns do kill people. And the Constitution, if you take the time to read it, only protects our right to a well-regu- there's nothing to stop me from walking thee,rigtitA of ..g. f azy, into : aipaym shop and‘ buying a gun. i o •. People - to' carry r Alegarider Haig As 'd God knoivs there are'enough crazy' should be the exception, not the rule,.. . __people walking around with guns cra- Having freedom is not very useful zy enough to kill, but not too crazy for our when you can't walk down a public street society to give them a way to kill, quickly without fearing for your life. And the two and effectively, rights that our Constitution certainly does guarantee are life and liberty. But I don't really believe Congress or anyone else will establish gun control in -• . ;;.• • • .'"*.t•I' , ••••, • • this country. The NRA is a huge interest group, controlling lots of bucks, and consequently, lots of votes. In the home of the brave, survival of the fittest rules in the street as well as the political arena. I know the inevitable flow of anti-gun control letters will follow this column in just a few days. They'll say I'm un-Amer ican, a communist, a bleeding-heart. Some of them may even say I'm crazy. But let's hope they're wrong. Because Doug Bell is a 12th-term journalism major and contributing editor for The Daily Collegian. .• tr:, ..,. • , ..:411..„•• : •• • • • rPr•-• dl7l;;.Collegian Monday April 6, 1981—Page 2 Paula Froke • Editor Business Manager BOARD OF EDITORS: Managing Editor, Maryann Hakowski; Editorial Editor, Tom Boyer; Assistant Editorial Editor, John Allison; News Editors, Cindy Deskins, Dave Medzerian; Sports Editor, Mike Poorman; Assistant Sports Editors, Sharon Fink, Ron Gardner; Arts Editor, Stuart Austin; Assistant Arts Editor, Elaine Wetmore; Photo Editor, Stel Varias; Assistant Photo Editors, Janis Burger, Renee Jacobs; Graphics Editor, Lynda Cloud; Copy Editors, Rosa Eberly, Diane Kuklar, Denise Laffan, Andy Linker, Lisa Morano, Paddy Patton, Wendy Trilling; Becky Jones; Campus Editor, Joyce Venezia; Assistant Campus Editor, Chuck Hall; Town Editor, Phil Gutis; Assistant Town Editor, Becky Jones; Features Editor, Pamela Macleod; Weekly Collegian Editor, Christopher Lee; Assistant Weekly Collegian Editor, Neil Axe; Contributing Editor, Doug Bell. BUSINESS COORDINATORS: Layout, Cathy Norris, Mike Conklin, Teresa Dorr; Special Projects, Jay Goldberg, Sam Sample. 01981 Collegian Inc. Debby Vinokur . . ,and CON, Why me? After visiting John Lennon's home only weeks after his slaying, then, only two weeks later, hearing that my uncle, a New York City police officer, was killed with an illegal handgun, and finally, last week, anxiously waiting for the dreaded news that thankfully never came about President Reagan, why am I still against gun control? On this block, there is a restaurant, Among all this violence, the restaruant ii;:+ Ntr :41t,4 .3A i 4:; 11' , 11ad z;noeril beini.Aeuched;,: notWeven the lira• ' iilirerWare had been lifted` the reason for this was the restaurant reportedly had Mafia connections. You see, the Mafia has this policy concerning, crimes committed against // them. There are no trials, no lawyers and no judges, just one-way rides to the bottom of the nearest river when you are caught. This is an extreme example. Using organized crime as a model for society is ridiculous, but it does show that , capital punishment can and does work. Of course I don't mean capital punish- - ment should be implemented for every crime involving a handgun. These crimes should be taken on an individual basis; only if a death occurs should the penalty be implemented. The government has to take a get- Jo tough stance. It has to take a stand and decide if it wants to stop the use of handguns in crime, or if it simply wants to take the easy way out of a hard situation and in the process, have many more innocent people killed, and many more murderers walking the streets. Taking guns from the public is not the ,b answer. Dealing with criminals instead of citizens is the answer. I guess it's because I realize gun con trol laws alone will not change anything. It's the old "if a criminal wants a gun bad enough, he will get one easily" line, but unfortunately it is true. • • • Sure, countries such as England and Japan are good examples for the employ ment of gun control. But they cannot be applied here. The United States is a different country with a much different culture. What is needed are stricter laws con cerning the use of handguns. There has to be a deterrent that would make a person think before using a gun while commit ting a crime. The death penalty for murder has to be reinstated before any talk about reduc ing gun-related crimes can start. Until then, no amount of gun control legislation will be effective. Someone now caught in the act of a crime knows that using a gun will only result in a slightly longer sentence if caught. This makes it very tempting for the criminal to use a gun. However, if the The American way By. ALLEN R. MARSHALL graduate-geography March 30, 1981 Once again the violent dimension of American life has gripped us with a fear we have come to know all too well over the recent years. The act of terror perpetrated this afternoon against our president and others is not an isolated incident, but rather an example ,of the way we have chosen to vent our frustrations and disappointments. The assailant was not alone in committing a crime of rage today. Every one of us that sat in front of the TV and wished for Hinkley's death or harm as punish ment committed a crime of rage as well. Are we any better than him, even if we do not actually pull the trigger? The American way of life has come to be synonymous with a fas cination for violence and hate. Vio lent sports, shoot-em-up entertainment, cruelty to wives and children, and threats of war and armed intervention to promote polit ical stability exemplified by U.S. policy towards El Salvador all these are symptomatic of this fas cination. We as a society and a nation have cultivated a response to frustration which is fundamentally violent. If we choose to condemn the death penalty for the use of that gun were imposed, then the criminal might not be as tempted to pull it as quickly. I would like to use a column by Michael Daly in The New York Daily News to make a point. Daly mentioned a certain crime-ridden area of New York. On this block, every store had been held up at least once. A couple of store owners had even been shot. Dean Longo is a 6th-term aerospace engineering major and a staff writer for The Daily Collegian. assailant's actions, I think it is es sential that we examine the tenor of American life and how it affects our judgment of the situation. Violence, justified in the name 6f revenge, is without a doubt' one of the most serious moral bankruptcies in American culture. In the context of a society where military expan sionism and threats of nuclear war, domestic household terror, murder and rape are rampant, is it really extraordinary that seven of the last 16 presidents have been attacked by potential assassins? Is it any wonder that Martin Luther King was killed tragically? Is anyone suprised that we can react so passively to the news of a lynching last week? Unless we begin to ask why in the face of such horror, we are at best disinter ested and •at worst, enthralled with the spectacle of an asassination at tempt; the cruelty and suffering President Reagan and the others experienced today and the unbridled violence of American life generally will never abate. The society condemning today's act of terror is also a society which finds its heros in warriors with smoking guns. Until this moral con tradiction is resolved, we will never be a nation at peace, and acts of cruelty and hatred will continue to haunt us. • -reader opinion Think With the clamor and emotionalism brought on by the recent assassination attempt on President Reagan, I feel that students should use their heads when deciding on the issue of gun control. The incident has brought on the wrath of gun control advocates and their reactionary coun terparts. The solution to the handgun problem ranges from the views of gun control advocates who feel the abolition of private gun ownership • or strict control is the answer, to the views of pro- gun advocates who feel that strict mandato ,. • ry.sentences are the answer. In talking with many students, 'I find that the majority of opin : . ions do not lie around the mean of these solu tions, but at the extremes. If a student stops and puts either one of these • solutions into the real world, he or she will - realize neither one is the answer. Students at the University can easily observe that the govern ment is not very efficient in limiting the supply of controlled substances to the public. The mass :•;,, quantities of marijuana, speed and other such • $ controlled substances available on this campus ,• should be proof enough of that. In effect, then, i • the argument of pro-gun enthusiasts is correct in that the government would only be disarming the law-abiding citizen. On the other hand, steep •• case loads and overcrowding in American pris ons do not make the solution of pro-gun advo cates very feasible either. • I feel that the problem we currently face goes far deeper than violence caused by handguns. Many freedoms and privileges are abused by f: Americans every day. It is the cost of living in a •free society. Personally, I strongly oppose gun • control even though I feel the solution offered by ,„ e t :, * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TAHOKA FREEWAY . * * AT TIE * * BREWERy‘ * * "TEQUILA NiTE" * ****** * * * * * * IMMEEN pro-gun advocates is not much better. Most of all, I think students should not insult their educational achievements by being easily swayed by either side during this period of emotionalism and illogic. Jim Laurie, 7th-administration of justice April 3 Shuddering As I sit listening to the reports concerning the shooting of President Reagan, I shudder at the thought of opening the paper tomorrow and looking at the headlines which claim that hand guns should be banned. I would be the first one to admit that what transpired was shameless and very regretable. However, the fact remains that banning hand guns to stop the crime of murder is like banning butane lighters to stop the act of smoking; banning water pipes to stop people from smoking marijuana; banning the automobile in order to stop people from getting maimed or killed; or banning alcohol hoping people will not drink alcoholic beverages. The fact is that people will always have access to gum when they wish to obtain them. Further more,.banning handguns penalizes the law-abid ing citizen who wishes to engage in sport shooting or hunting. Taken one step further, if handguns indeed were ever banned, what is to stop the rifle that the sportsman lawfully uses to hunt with from being banned? President Reagan himself is against handgun control, and I'll just bet that is still his position. Finally, I would like to point out that the right Aid CAN'T b‘, WONe A tOR INMIOUIASKII SON* VeRV QUeSTIORSI 1111111111IIEZIE !l'ed `r to keep and bear arms has been a cherished freedom for many yeks, very dear to a large number of people throughout the United States. So all you people who think that this incident could have been avoided through some type of gun control, think , over what I have said and use a little common sense when making your cocka mamie claims that gun control is the answer to our spiraling crime rate. Mike Henry, 10th-administration of justice March 30 Not well This here American hasn't been doing well lately, I mean sex, violence, drugs, scandle, swindle and stealing are increasingly mortal hazards. However, recently it seems this country has acquired a taste for blood. It's like a Dracula syndrome: the Kennedys, Malcolm X, George Wallace, Martin Luther King, John Lennon, Vernon Jordan, Ronald Reagan and company, Atlanta, Dade County, legal prisoner executions. We couldn't even salvage another Japan, Ko rea, or Taiwan out of Vietnam despite the vain bloodletting from both friends and enemies. So what's to be expected? After all, the 1948 to 1960 war babies, intentionally, circumstancially or ignorantly are living up to our names. Something tells me that "the system" has some very major flaws at home, and Aightening the social screws will only increase the pressure in the melting pot. How can this country even attempt to police and incorporate the whole world when clearly frustration and gross socio economic inequality pervades here, especially in .-Ns. NEW . : :monday 9pm -2am rock'n'roll records tit iott 't ili i, 4410 1 1 1 \ L --", • --4 it ISMER II 11 i I congratulate you for publishing Wendy Mill er's review of the Whetstone Run/Buffalo Chip kickers concert in the HUB on March 22. The review has stirred much discussion and contro versy. Considering I have an interest both personal and professional in bluegrass, I must respond. I quarrel with Miller's definition of bluegrass, and I question her interpretation of the perfor- SCORPION this generation. For instance, the official family-of-four pover ty line is $8,410 yet the state incarcerates a felon at a cost of $lO,OOO minimum. What an unfair insult! I think we ought to issue guns to everybody born between 1948 and 1960 and really wade in ankle dpep blood for a while maybe after the initial exhilaration, shock , remorse and rage pass, those of us still alive will be wiser andmore confident because, • after all, isn't normalcy stretched with each outrageous, irrational event? We can always nickel-dime, Son of Sam; Hill side Strangler, Klu Klux Klan it, or demand more consideration from Corporate America and Hank America, defended by our ignorant, mercenary army, to develop the future here, for us, instead of investing, exploiting, manipulat ing, conserving and owning a 20th century figurative, not literal world. Gordon Zernich, Bth-history March 31 Response / / PI~EcSeSI~EL~"tIB ......... ..... .„..., .. .. .....r...........,......,...,,...„„„,..„....::„.„,„„.„...::::::....„.,..„ Today's specials Meatball Hoagie and Tossed Salad $1.99 1 / 2 small pizza and soup or salad $1.65 4.. The Press Box is located al 1291 S. Pugh Si. fresh, home style soups daily . 11 11 l ,, A 11 across from the parkin(' garage The Daily Collegian Monday, April 6, 1981 mance. I was irritated by her use of terms su as "get down." What in the world does "g down" mean? And how about "foot-stompin?" often feel my foot going up and down when listen to Bach or Mozart. What's theconnectio Fundamentally, bluegrass is a part-popula part-folk American music form. It consists b sically of a four-part vocal harmony and a fo instrument combination: guitar, banjo, fiddle mandolin, and bass. The song style comes to in part from the ancient ballad singing of t British Isles, and in part from the southe harmony singing of religious groups in the 19 , and 20th centuries. Add influences from Iri fiddle tunes, and complicate it further by addi influences according to Bill Monroe fro black blues singers. Together, these influenc: are the base for an intricate American mus' form open to interpretation. Bluegrass is not a stilted ancient music for it is a free style. And it is a young music for The first recognized bluegrass festival too place in 1965. Bluegrass comes from the name • Bill Monroe's band, the Bluegrass Boys, a nam he chose to honor his native state of Kentuck Monroe was an innovator, and musicians copie his band's style, as well as the style of his banj player (Earl Scruggs). Thus a new America genre was born: bluegrass! Jeff Dixon of the Hetzel Union Board state clearly to me that the purpose of the Sunda night series is to present bands which normall play downtown and are therefore unavailable t the under 21 age group. The HUB concert a I tempted to present a wide spectrum of what w call bluegrass. We call Whetstone Run a trad' tional bluegrass band because they keep th harmonies and instrumentations establish • early in bluegrass history. Their sound is readil identifiable, and as most folks in our regio , know, it's good, very good. The Buffalo Chipkick ens do progressive bluegrass; they feel free t interpret, invent, and take artistic liberties i developing their own style. They are as far fro Miller's hayseed image of bluegrassers as on can get. Miller gave us her own candid evaluation the concert. I feel that she did not research he subject thoroughly before writing her revie and I cannot remain silent over such irrespons' ble journalism. Bob Doyle, Bob Doyle Agency April 1 the Original Std le Colley Spolls ddr
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers