Safer than a toaster

In his April 3 column “Locked, loaded and ready to learn,” Tyler Chernesky criticizes legislation currently being considered in Texas that would allow college students to carry concealed weapons on campus for personal defense, yet he provides nothing to support his argument other than over-simplified statistics and hypotheticals.

Chernesky states that in his dorm room, he doesn’t “even have the right to a candle, waterbed or certain kitchen appliances.” What he fails to realize is that cooking equipment causes 72 percent of dorm fires, which have dramatically increased in the last decade according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

Chernesky says “concealed firearms seem much more dangerous than a toaster,” yet he doesn’t bother to explain how an accidental discharge of a firearm is more dangerous than a fire which puts the entire body of residents at risk.

He goes on to say that “about 100,000 people are injured by accidental gunshots each year,” yet fails to mention that of the 11 universities (including all public universities in Utah) in the United States that already allow concealed carry, none have had a single gun-related incident since permitting guns on campus.

Chernesky argues that “academic exchange occurs best in a trusting, secure environment” and that “the only people that should pack heat on this campus are the silent guardians and watchful protectors of the IU Police Department.” But he didn’t bother explaining how a handful of officers will protect over 30,000 individuals.

Where were campus police when Seung-Hui Cho murdered more than 30 defenseless people at Virginia Tech? Where were campus police when Steven Kazmierczak killed six and wounded 18 last year at Northern Illinois University, just a five-hour drive from our campus? Both Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University were “trusting, secure environments,” according to Chernesky’s reasoning, yet they were anything but trusting and secure.

Chernesky even admits that “rapes have been stopped and armed robbers deterred by gun-wielding citizens,” yet he never explains why allowing licensed students (who already carry in movie theaters, malls, etc.) shouldn’t be allowed to carry on campus as well. 

For anyone interested in this issue, please search for facts and beware of empty rhetoric such as that demonstrated in Chernesky’s column.

Adam N. Jacobs
IU junior