Monday, June 13, 2011

From the "Not Getting It" Files...

Open-access policy has risk: guns on campus

WELLESLEY — Valedictorians applying to Harvard report not only breathtaking grades and SAT scores but also any criminal convictions or high school disciplinary violations. Such mandated disclosures are standard at hundreds of schools, including the University of Massachusetts and most other Massachusetts state colleges.

But when Darryl Max Dookhran, a reputed gang member with a history of violent behavior, applied to Massachusetts Bay Community College, he didn’t have to report any of his transgressions. Three weeks after Dookhran enrolled, he was apprehended carrying a loaded semiautomatic machine gun around campus, nine days after a student first reported seeing him with a weapon.

Ah, layers and layers of editorial oversight: "semiautomatic machine gun". Newflash to the Boston Globe: A machine gun is, by definition, fully automatic. Nice scare tactics. From the article - and given the careful documentation they've already shown in gathering their "facts", anything is possible - the gun in question was an IntraTec AB-9, the post-Assault Weapons Ban version of the Tec-9. Jack Burton may have made it look cool, but the Tec-9 relied far more on scare factor than actual function - they're no Sig P226 or S&W M&P.

That said, the real meat of the article lies in the laughable contention that the "open admission" is putting college students at risk. Look, here's a newsflash. The 18 year gang member in question has broken dozens of laws - he's a felon in possession of a firearm; no firearms permit; high capacity magazine without proper permit; carrying a firearm on school grounds; etc. What other gun laws could possibly be passed that would stop this? You've got someone with a violent past carrying a weapon in violation of pretty much every gun law in the Commonwealth; adding another dozen - or hundred - laws wouldn't have slowed this guy down for a moment.

Here's a stunner: Keep the violent gangbangers in jail! If the real concern is for the welfare of the community college students, keep the violent criminals in jail. Wringing hands about whether or not new students have criminal pasts isn't going to stop violent predators from hanging around college campuses; keeping the violent predators in jail will. The college campus is a criminal's DisneyLand - you've got young folks naïve in the ways of the world with lots of cool expensive gadgets in a "gun-free" zone. It's the perfect place for a criminal to ply his trade. Worrying about whether the college grants admission without a background check is secondary to these thugs being on the street in the first place.

But yeah, it's easier to jump up and down about the easy availability of "semiautomatic machine gun"s, isn't it?

That is all.

4 comments:

Bubblehead Les. said...

It may be different in your neck of the woods, but Open Admission is pretty much Mandatory for the State-Sponsored Community Colleges and Universities here in Ohio. Political Correctness requires that, if a Student wants to start a College Career, even if they're dumber than a Box of Rocks, they pretty much have to be enrolled. Plus, if they can't afford it, then it gets paid for by the Tax Payers. Unless, of course, your Great-Great- Great Great Ancestors were members of the Oppressor Class, and you happened to inherit their Genes, then it comes out of your pocket. And, they even have special Prep classes, just in case you didn't learn Basic English and Math while attending the local Inner City Teenage Pass 'Em Along Institution for 6 years.

Weer'd Beard said...

Yep all that focus on the gun, and not the really scary thing, the gang member with a violent history.

Sorry this guy with a flat-head screwdriver or a lug wrench is more of a threat than you and I, both packing guns, in a dodge ram loaded with dozens of firearms and tens of thousands of rounds of ammo heading for the New Hampshire boarder looking for a good time.

These are the same people who say "Guns Make Killing Too Easy", and don't note the irony when you say: "OK go kill somebody then", and they balk.

Guns don't do shit, they're just another tool. The scary thing is those who have the WILL to kill and do violence.

Ancient Woodsman said...

I stopped reading the Boston Glob last century when Mike Barnicle dropped two ignorant nasties in two different alarmist crime articles: the "zigzar" 226 and the "brownie" hi-power.

With layers of editorial oversight like that, I haven't read the Glob since.

TOTWTYTR said...

It's pretty much the same Bubblehead Les. This policy allows violent felons to roam about on campus unchecked so that they can continue to commit crimes only in a new "target rich" environment.

Keep these thugs in prison and off of college campuses.