Decision to be made on firearm policies
New group sets sights on changing UND's campus gun
Theresa Rerick
Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: News
In Sunday's Student Senate meeting Jae Baker, president of a new student organization aimed at empowering women and their second amendment right, Females for Firearms, made a statement in response to UND's gun control policies, including the current issue of the forbiddance of weapons in on-campus apartments. A decision for the policy will be made later this week.
"The function of the club right now is to educate people on all different aspects of firearms, which include what type they are and what they are used for," she said. "Some people don't even know the difference between shotguns and protection pieces."
She said that the group informs people by starting from the ground up and works their way up to safety techniques.
Baker herself is an advocate for gun rights. She said that UND students should have the right to bear arms in their apartments, as well as carry them on campus.
"In terms of people being able to carry weapons on campus, I don't believe that an establishment of higher education should have the ability to take away rights written in our constitution," she said. "It's too bad if you don't like those rights, but you shouldn't have the right to take them away."
"Until you change the amendment, you shouldn't be able to change the right to bear arms, but they found a loophole," she added.
Gregory Plautz, president of UND Students for Concealed Carry, supports Baker's opinion. "If someone is a permit holder and is certified to carry a concealed firearm, they should have the right to defend themselves," he said. "It gives students the opportunity to defend themselves should a situation arise," Plautz said. "The only action would be a reaction by campus police, and by the time they would respond the situation would be over, as Virginia Tech showed. Students in this case are 100 percent defenseless."
Duane Czapiewski, chief of the University Police Department, said there are legitimate reasons for the university's weapon policies, which include the prohibition of weapons in residence halls, on any property of the university and in a vehicle parked on campus.
"The function of the club right now is to educate people on all different aspects of firearms, which include what type they are and what they are used for," she said. "Some people don't even know the difference between shotguns and protection pieces."
She said that the group informs people by starting from the ground up and works their way up to safety techniques.
Baker herself is an advocate for gun rights. She said that UND students should have the right to bear arms in their apartments, as well as carry them on campus.
"In terms of people being able to carry weapons on campus, I don't believe that an establishment of higher education should have the ability to take away rights written in our constitution," she said. "It's too bad if you don't like those rights, but you shouldn't have the right to take them away."
"Until you change the amendment, you shouldn't be able to change the right to bear arms, but they found a loophole," she added.
Gregory Plautz, president of UND Students for Concealed Carry, supports Baker's opinion. "If someone is a permit holder and is certified to carry a concealed firearm, they should have the right to defend themselves," he said. "It gives students the opportunity to defend themselves should a situation arise," Plautz said. "The only action would be a reaction by campus police, and by the time they would respond the situation would be over, as Virginia Tech showed. Students in this case are 100 percent defenseless."
Duane Czapiewski, chief of the University Police Department, said there are legitimate reasons for the university's weapon policies, which include the prohibition of weapons in residence halls, on any property of the university and in a vehicle parked on campus.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 14
anonymous
posted 4/25/08 @ 4:40 PM CST
Mr. Czapiewski,
you are a disgusting excuse for a police officer.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
Greg
posted 4/25/08 @ 6:22 PM CST
I didn't know the UND Police force was so trigger-happy that they would shoot someone handling a weapon without telling them to put it down first. Our campus police force is pretty gung-ho, eh?
Tim Rodenberger
posted 4/26/08 @ 1:09 AM CST
I just got a letter in my mail, postmarked April 24th, stating the ban has already been decided. What is irritating is Troy Noelder's attempt to say they took consideration from the Apartment Community Council and Residents when the ACC voted to keep the status quo and 2/3rds of the residents were fine with it. (Continued…)
Pete C.
posted 4/26/08 @ 7:26 AM CST
And months after the VA tech tragedy, the administrators
of the school in IL sat smugly behind their desks,
content because they had implemented all this great
community alert technology and emergency response
training. (Continued…)
GunShowOnTheNet
posted 4/26/08 @ 4:01 PM CST
"[W]hereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them; nor does it follow from this, that all promiscuously must go into actual service on every occasion. (Continued…)
Wendy Weinbaum
posted 4/26/08 @ 5:07 PM CST
I 100% support the new concealed carry bill allowing trained students to carry guns As a Jewess in the US, I would like to remind everyone that criminals are stopped by FIREARMS, not by talk. (Continued…)
Noah Chelliah
posted 9/17/08 @ 1:19 PM CST
"there are legitimate reasons for the university's weapon policies, which include the prohibition of weapons in residence halls, on any property of the university and in a vehicle parked on campus. (Continued…)
Dave
posted 9/19/08 @ 12:07 AM CST
"there are legitimate reasons for the university's weapon policies, which include the prohibition of weapons in residence halls, on any property of the university and in a vehicle parked on campus. (Continued…)
Sam
posted 9/21/08 @ 11:46 AM CST
You're all right - MORE guns are the answer....apparently some of us have watched too many fictitious shoot-outs at the OK Corral.
Sam
posted 9/21/08 @ 6:20 PM CST
Greg - I would suggest you too research facts....the U.S. has among the highest rates of gun-related crime in the world. Again, adding more guns to the equation does not make sense. (Continued…)
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