Friday, September 22, 2006



UT: Gun ban "temporarily suspended": "The U lifted its longtime policy banning guns on campus Monday. University of Utah President Michael Young announced the decision in an e-mail addressed to students, faculty and staff, stating that the policy would be suspended 'temporarily' until a resolution is met with state lawmakers. The change in policy came after the Utah Supreme Court released a ruling earlier this month stating that the campus ban on guns violated a 2004 state law prohibiting government entities from outlawing concealed firearms. Young had previously said the U would continue enforcing the ban despite the high court ruling."


Keillor makes sense for once: "The way to stop terrorists on planes is to encourage passengers to bring loaded firearms aboard: guys in orange vests sitting in exit rows with deer rifles on their laps, ladies with Mr. Colt in their purses, kids with peashooters. Somebody wake up the National Rifle Association. Does the 2nd Amendment say 'The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed except on commercial airliners?' Where is the right wing when you really need them?" [Full circle? Now we have a "progressive" movement icon, however whimsically, saying what libertarians have been saying all along]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice thought, except for two rather important facts.

The first is that airlines are private entities that happen to serve the public, and this is their choice--it is also, therefore, their choice what articles their customers may and may not bring with them when patronizing that airline. I believe this should be the choice of the individual company, not the government, but no company would ever permit firearms on modern aircraft, which brings us to point 2:

A bullet hole through the cabin of a plane, whether through a window or through the sheet metal, causes a non-explosive but nevertheless extremely rapid cabin depressurization. While oxygen masks would keep passengers in decent condition, such an event could still really ruin someone's day, so as long as an airline can prevent it, it will.