2008 Woodie Awards
G.A.M.E. as gun education, not just fun with firearms
Tom Applewhite
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Commentary
|
To some, it probably sounds harmless. Others need not read past the first word before they are concerned.Our group has worked with the dean of students for more than six months to placate safety concerns and avoid confrontation.
Our charter and constitution, which were e-mailed to all students by their Student Government Association senators this week, were signed off by SLU's General Counsel.
Unfortunately, some passionate individuals still maintain false representations about our group and our cause. We do not advocate concealed carrying of weapons on campus. We will never bring a weapon on campus and will report anyone who does. We are not affiliated with the National Rifle Association, though some of our objectives may fall in line with theirs. We seek to promote security and responsibility, not mayhem.
Some of the misrepresentations alleged by those passionate critics make us seem like extremists. I can assure you that we are not, and that all types of violence, gun-related or not, trouble us, just as it troubles them. In fact, we have sought to avoid confrontation while maintaining the integrity of our group's mission.
There are other controversial groups on campus; not every student likes every group. In recognition of this fact, we, per our constitution (in a non-amendable provision), will never ask for nor receive SGA funds for any activity involving the use of a firearm.
Students are entitled to their opinions, but student groups should not be denied existence based solely on others' opinions.
We would welcome the formation of an anti-gun group in order for students to understand both sides of this discussion. We simply want to exist so we may present our side.
The marksmanship education component of our purpose is integral for safety, if we are to promote second amendment freedoms. All use of firearms in which we participate will be under the supervision of trained individuals, and inexperienced individuals must receive special training before they are allowed to handle firearms, in any capacity.
In addition to marksmanship education activities, we have promoted the second amendment in a variety of ways, here at SLU. We privately paid for the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director Chris W. Cox to speak in the BSC in late March. A police officer had dinner with us in order to speak on gun safety. We have raised thousands of dollars of funding through letters and outfitters and have even reached out to donors from other parts of the country for funding.
Many individuals will try to use religion to oppose the official chartering of our group. I believe that this critique is imprudent. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said to his apostles in Luke 22:36, "But now one who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a sack, and one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one." This occurred only 15 verses before Jesus told his followers to put away their swords in the Garden of Gethsemane. Many controversial groups have been chartered at SLU. G.A.M.E. has gone through the proper channels to do so, and we deserve our fair review.
Tom Applewhite is a senior in the John Cook School of Business and president of SLU Gun Awareness and Marksmanship Education.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 12
Tim Wright
posted 4/20/08 @ 2:51 PM CST
This article started out alright, but the last part of it is horrible. I'm speaking mostly of the citation to Luke. Verse dropping is just about the worst method of proving a point imaginable, especially when you are taking a religious avenue. (Continued…)
Michael Bertolino
posted 4/21/08 @ 2:52 PM CST
Tom's use of scripture was used as a counter to those who would use religious gounds to criticize the organization. To use bible verse as a point against a religiously based argument is completely acceptable. (Continued…)
Philip Hayes
posted 4/21/08 @ 4:10 PM CST
This is the kind of baseless attack that Tom's article points out to be clearly false. These personal attacks on what is supposedly the intent of this group are exactly why the people opposed to this are horribly wrong. (Continued…)
Tim Wright
posted 4/22/08 @ 4:15 PM CST
I stand by what I said.
Tom's use of the verse from Luke is akin to the following argument:
"I oppose football. I know some people have religious arguments in favor of football, so I will cite to Leviticus when it mentions 'touching the skin of a dead pig as making a person unclean'. (Continued…)
SLU.SMOKERS.SUCK
posted 4/22/08 @ 11:05 PM CST
Our organization agrees that the students should keep their focus on the true issues at hand. This debate concerning G.A.M.E. detracts student fingers from the trigger of a more pressing issue: on campus smoking and appropriate punishment from those who would violate the proposed smoking ban. (Continued…)
Post a Comment