AaronBC
Regular Member
imported post
Although I haven't said much on here since I joined that isn't out of lack of interest! I'm finishing up my freshman year here at Carthage College(Kenosha WI) and wanted to share something I found fairly interesting and partly disturbing.
As part of one of my required general classes we were asked to do a speech on a class or group of citizens which we believe are seen though a "veil" by society. (based the writings of Du Bois.)
Some months ago in this class our discussion for whatever reason lead to the teacher asking those of us who knew someone who owned an unregistered gun to raise our hand. I raised my hand instantly, and a few others more slowly, and she quickly added that we shouldn't specify who we knew. Apparently she believed it to be illegal. I told her that I myself owned an "unregistered" gun(I consider my .410 to be unregistered seeing it's been passed down as opposed to my other guns which required a transaction record to purchase) and that although I didn't (at the time) know what the law was in Illinois, that in Wisconsin a citizen is not required to register their guns or possess a permit for owning a firearm.
Well, being influenced by this event and seeing that most of my fellow student were from either Illinois or Wisconsin and seemed fairly ignorant of the laws, I chose to write on those in society who choose to exercise their second amendment rights as being behind a societal "veil".
The speech time was fairly limited so I tried to give them as much information as I could on paper to supplement the speech. This included a basic overview of gun laws in WI, especially the controversial ones, the 1000ft GFSZ map of Milwaukee(which is rather close to us), some quotes, some great links, and Wisconsin Carry Inc. Pamphlets (printed off extra of these and put them on the boards around campus while I was at it.)
Come Fridays class and we spend about 45 minutes talking about the new Arizona illegal immigrant law. What disturbed me is that while most agreed that it was a violation of a persons rights (I specified 4th amendment), the general opinion of the class was that this was something that would be inevitable, basically a "necessary evil".
Both my teacher and I were a bit shocked, and based on the way the conversation was turning and how much I was providing to it she allowed me to do my presentation then as a bit of a wrap up. I have to be honest, it was my first one of the year and I got a bit nervous, but I did fairly well. =)
I opened my speech by asking how many of the students supported/believed in the constitutional amendments covered by the Bill of Rights. About 1/5 of the class raised their hands. This is something that really surprised and kind of horrified me. It appears that the general consensus of my class that in order to gain security one must give up liberty, and that this is perfectly acceptable in todays society. (I had that quote on one of my sheets luckily and brought it up)
The speech didn't come out too badly, I covered most of what I intended and was able to answer some questions. At one point another student who is apparently some sort of police assistant made the statement that a person must legally have a form of ID on them at all times and provide it if asked by a police officer. I corrected him and brought up the situation of the case mentioned on the WI Carry Inc. pamphlet as proof.
A part of the classes previous discussion on the new Arizona law caught my eye and I brought it up as well. Part of the phrasing of this new law was a vague statement that for an officer to "card" a suspected illegal immigrant that officer only needed something less than reasonable suspicion but more than a hunch. The wording was similar enough to instantly make me think of some statements from the Milwaukee chief of police on open carry and I brought that up as something a bit closer to home. What it came down to was a system of "guilty until proven innocent" and once again the class seemed okay with this.
Well, I never really intended to get into details on the speech here and waste your time. My whole point was that people who chose to exercise their right to bear arms in Wisconsin and Illinois are seen with an undeserved negative light and that in fact many of my fellow students were the culprits. Part of our assignment was to connect our speech with Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk". Du Bois speaks of when the slaves were first emancipated, they were handed arms and asked to fight for their freedom. The fertilizer of the tree of liberty is the blood of patriots, and without the 2nd amendment we are all 2nd class citizens. The class seemed to think I was crazy(er).
The whole ordeal made me feel....well....:banghead::cuss::banghead:
I did have a few supporters, the professor being one of them to her credit. I'm just generally surprised by their reaction and wonder if most of my generation are like them, passive in their rights yet unwaivering in their beliefs. To be honest a lot of my college appears to be upper-middle class from Illinois, so might be a bit of a bias there. I find my college a bit funny as in we have a pretty determined security staff (They have 24/7 rounds and I see them all the time) yet of course nobody on campus carries and the theft/vandalism rates have skyrocketed, yet everyone feels like things are fine. (My bike was recently stolen and I was told that it was the tenth in one week. After a few days of hearing nothing about the situation I went out and eventually found it myself.)
Anyways, I'm looking forward to purchasing my first handgun this summer and actually exercising the rights which I am advocating!(Once I save some money and If I can find a seller. I wish they'd trash the 21 year old purchasing restriction through registered dealers)Sorry about this post being a bit of a rant.
Although I haven't said much on here since I joined that isn't out of lack of interest! I'm finishing up my freshman year here at Carthage College(Kenosha WI) and wanted to share something I found fairly interesting and partly disturbing.
As part of one of my required general classes we were asked to do a speech on a class or group of citizens which we believe are seen though a "veil" by society. (based the writings of Du Bois.)
Some months ago in this class our discussion for whatever reason lead to the teacher asking those of us who knew someone who owned an unregistered gun to raise our hand. I raised my hand instantly, and a few others more slowly, and she quickly added that we shouldn't specify who we knew. Apparently she believed it to be illegal. I told her that I myself owned an "unregistered" gun(I consider my .410 to be unregistered seeing it's been passed down as opposed to my other guns which required a transaction record to purchase) and that although I didn't (at the time) know what the law was in Illinois, that in Wisconsin a citizen is not required to register their guns or possess a permit for owning a firearm.
Well, being influenced by this event and seeing that most of my fellow student were from either Illinois or Wisconsin and seemed fairly ignorant of the laws, I chose to write on those in society who choose to exercise their second amendment rights as being behind a societal "veil".
The speech time was fairly limited so I tried to give them as much information as I could on paper to supplement the speech. This included a basic overview of gun laws in WI, especially the controversial ones, the 1000ft GFSZ map of Milwaukee(which is rather close to us), some quotes, some great links, and Wisconsin Carry Inc. Pamphlets (printed off extra of these and put them on the boards around campus while I was at it.)
Come Fridays class and we spend about 45 minutes talking about the new Arizona illegal immigrant law. What disturbed me is that while most agreed that it was a violation of a persons rights (I specified 4th amendment), the general opinion of the class was that this was something that would be inevitable, basically a "necessary evil".
Both my teacher and I were a bit shocked, and based on the way the conversation was turning and how much I was providing to it she allowed me to do my presentation then as a bit of a wrap up. I have to be honest, it was my first one of the year and I got a bit nervous, but I did fairly well. =)
I opened my speech by asking how many of the students supported/believed in the constitutional amendments covered by the Bill of Rights. About 1/5 of the class raised their hands. This is something that really surprised and kind of horrified me. It appears that the general consensus of my class that in order to gain security one must give up liberty, and that this is perfectly acceptable in todays society. (I had that quote on one of my sheets luckily and brought it up)
The speech didn't come out too badly, I covered most of what I intended and was able to answer some questions. At one point another student who is apparently some sort of police assistant made the statement that a person must legally have a form of ID on them at all times and provide it if asked by a police officer. I corrected him and brought up the situation of the case mentioned on the WI Carry Inc. pamphlet as proof.
A part of the classes previous discussion on the new Arizona law caught my eye and I brought it up as well. Part of the phrasing of this new law was a vague statement that for an officer to "card" a suspected illegal immigrant that officer only needed something less than reasonable suspicion but more than a hunch. The wording was similar enough to instantly make me think of some statements from the Milwaukee chief of police on open carry and I brought that up as something a bit closer to home. What it came down to was a system of "guilty until proven innocent" and once again the class seemed okay with this.
Well, I never really intended to get into details on the speech here and waste your time. My whole point was that people who chose to exercise their right to bear arms in Wisconsin and Illinois are seen with an undeserved negative light and that in fact many of my fellow students were the culprits. Part of our assignment was to connect our speech with Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk". Du Bois speaks of when the slaves were first emancipated, they were handed arms and asked to fight for their freedom. The fertilizer of the tree of liberty is the blood of patriots, and without the 2nd amendment we are all 2nd class citizens. The class seemed to think I was crazy(er).
The whole ordeal made me feel....well....:banghead::cuss::banghead:
I did have a few supporters, the professor being one of them to her credit. I'm just generally surprised by their reaction and wonder if most of my generation are like them, passive in their rights yet unwaivering in their beliefs. To be honest a lot of my college appears to be upper-middle class from Illinois, so might be a bit of a bias there. I find my college a bit funny as in we have a pretty determined security staff (They have 24/7 rounds and I see them all the time) yet of course nobody on campus carries and the theft/vandalism rates have skyrocketed, yet everyone feels like things are fine. (My bike was recently stolen and I was told that it was the tenth in one week. After a few days of hearing nothing about the situation I went out and eventually found it myself.)
Anyways, I'm looking forward to purchasing my first handgun this summer and actually exercising the rights which I am advocating!(Once I save some money and If I can find a seller. I wish they'd trash the 21 year old purchasing restriction through registered dealers)Sorry about this post being a bit of a rant.
