Wow, well...let me explain what happened today.
I'm taking a 400 level sociology class, called "Social problems". It has been a very interesting class so far, and I love the teacher. He's from Trinidad, and one of the smartest professors I've yet had.
Anyway, I am following along, doing well in the course. A lot of information is presented, and it is all pretty interesting. Finally, we come to social problems about crime. I was dreading this day, because I knew this was where our paths would not longer converge.
Guns have finally come up. We're expected to copy down a slide that basically reads "As gun ownership increases so does violence and gun death". My fiancee was sitting next to me and sort of laughed, because I was like, "Ah hell. Well, here goes nothin'."
Raise my hand.
"What about Switzerland? Gun ownership per capita is probably some of the highest in the world. They have next to no murder."
For some reason, this point never much got touched upon. The cool thing about my teacher is that he is always willing to learn as well as teach, and change his viewpoint. So, I think I have half a chance with him. For some reason, the class sort of turned into a heaving mob of anger suddenly!
A guy in the front row brings up Chicago being so violent. My teacher directs the conversation away from Switzerland, taking hold to the Chicago comment and placing the frame of reference firmly on social problems in the U.S.
Up goes the hand again (I should've known...).
"How about Vermont? Next to NO gun laws, a great shooting culture...they have some of the lowest violent crime rates in the nation."
The kid in the front gets all pissy.
"Comparing Vermont to Chicago is absurd! One is a huge city and Vermont is full of white people who are rich."
"Okay. I might give you that. However, the point on the slide is that huge numbers of guns equate to an increase in violence."
He shut up.
For some reason, my teacher brings up Texas.
"In Texas, you can openly carry about guns like a cowboy!" (He isn't trying to be offensive, he is from Trinidad, and simply believes this to be true)
This time my Fiancee beat me to it.
"No, Texas doesn't do Open Carry like Vermont. Texas requires a CCW license. You can't wear your guns out. That isn't true."
Apprently the class didn't understand. Now they were really hostile. They couldn't grasp the concept of Open Carry/Concealed carry.
I never knew so many people here were so rabidly anti :O ! It was shocking. Even guys that seemed pretty cool were all up in arms like guns were as bad as crack- even in the hands of law abiding citizens.
So I raise my hand again, and talk about how I was there in Scotland when handguns were banned back in 96'. I talk about how crime rates haven't gone down. Now people just stab each other. And now, they've banned knives. I was attempting to illustrate the slippery slope.
The whole class was up in arms about this (no pun intended). On the plus side, every argument that cropped up I was able to firmly and politely refute and silence. Eventually people were just like, "I totally disagree. That's dumb. Guns are bad."
Class ended.
I went up to talk to the teacher, like I do after most classes. I am taking another one of his courses I enjoy them so much. Anyway, he greatly thanked me for the contribution. And laughed, appologizing for all the heat I took. I told him it was fine, I welcomed debate and discussion.
He said, "Well, I know that you don't need any help from me." That is, in most cases he has to jump in and rescue the person being flayed. It was rather amazing, because my fiancee and I actually totally "pwned" the hordes of angry college students.
You see, this class is extremely "liberal", one might say. Though my teacher openly dislikes both major political parties. I would venture to say he is a libertarian in all ways but well-fare.
Anyway, I'll be back on Friday. It didn't seem like anyone could argue the point at all. In fact, I've never yet met someone who could argue. I've had one professor that rabidly hated my viewpoints and it was in debate class. He was a classic tweed jacket wearing academic type, but was pretty cool despite his rather limited thinking when it came to firearms. This is the only point I conceded with him.
"Well, if guns didn't exist at all then there would be a lot less death."
I agree with that. In a perfect world, we wouldn't need guns. But we can't change reality. The world we live in has some violent, bad people. Guns are an essential evil in this world. It doesn't do anyone any good to bury their heads in the sand.
I guess I'm just looking for a little feed back. I thought I would have some more allies being in a rural college, but even the hunting types kept quiet. Not that I ended up needing their help. Between my fiancee and I, we were able to debate every rebuke to the point of silencing the other person. It was really, really cool
. If anyone has any extra ammo to give me, I'll take it. No doubt some of the kids will go and try to find statistics to back up their viewpoint for friday.
Thanks, and take 'er easy.
I'm taking a 400 level sociology class, called "Social problems". It has been a very interesting class so far, and I love the teacher. He's from Trinidad, and one of the smartest professors I've yet had.
Anyway, I am following along, doing well in the course. A lot of information is presented, and it is all pretty interesting. Finally, we come to social problems about crime. I was dreading this day, because I knew this was where our paths would not longer converge.
Guns have finally come up. We're expected to copy down a slide that basically reads "As gun ownership increases so does violence and gun death". My fiancee was sitting next to me and sort of laughed, because I was like, "Ah hell. Well, here goes nothin'."
Raise my hand.
"What about Switzerland? Gun ownership per capita is probably some of the highest in the world. They have next to no murder."
For some reason, this point never much got touched upon. The cool thing about my teacher is that he is always willing to learn as well as teach, and change his viewpoint. So, I think I have half a chance with him. For some reason, the class sort of turned into a heaving mob of anger suddenly!
A guy in the front row brings up Chicago being so violent. My teacher directs the conversation away from Switzerland, taking hold to the Chicago comment and placing the frame of reference firmly on social problems in the U.S.
Up goes the hand again (I should've known...).
"How about Vermont? Next to NO gun laws, a great shooting culture...they have some of the lowest violent crime rates in the nation."
The kid in the front gets all pissy.
"Comparing Vermont to Chicago is absurd! One is a huge city and Vermont is full of white people who are rich."
"Okay. I might give you that. However, the point on the slide is that huge numbers of guns equate to an increase in violence."
He shut up.
For some reason, my teacher brings up Texas.
"In Texas, you can openly carry about guns like a cowboy!" (He isn't trying to be offensive, he is from Trinidad, and simply believes this to be true)
This time my Fiancee beat me to it.
"No, Texas doesn't do Open Carry like Vermont. Texas requires a CCW license. You can't wear your guns out. That isn't true."
Apprently the class didn't understand. Now they were really hostile. They couldn't grasp the concept of Open Carry/Concealed carry.
I never knew so many people here were so rabidly anti :O ! It was shocking. Even guys that seemed pretty cool were all up in arms like guns were as bad as crack- even in the hands of law abiding citizens.
So I raise my hand again, and talk about how I was there in Scotland when handguns were banned back in 96'. I talk about how crime rates haven't gone down. Now people just stab each other. And now, they've banned knives. I was attempting to illustrate the slippery slope.
The whole class was up in arms about this (no pun intended). On the plus side, every argument that cropped up I was able to firmly and politely refute and silence. Eventually people were just like, "I totally disagree. That's dumb. Guns are bad."
Class ended.
I went up to talk to the teacher, like I do after most classes. I am taking another one of his courses I enjoy them so much. Anyway, he greatly thanked me for the contribution. And laughed, appologizing for all the heat I took. I told him it was fine, I welcomed debate and discussion.
He said, "Well, I know that you don't need any help from me." That is, in most cases he has to jump in and rescue the person being flayed. It was rather amazing, because my fiancee and I actually totally "pwned" the hordes of angry college students.
You see, this class is extremely "liberal", one might say. Though my teacher openly dislikes both major political parties. I would venture to say he is a libertarian in all ways but well-fare.
Anyway, I'll be back on Friday. It didn't seem like anyone could argue the point at all. In fact, I've never yet met someone who could argue. I've had one professor that rabidly hated my viewpoints and it was in debate class. He was a classic tweed jacket wearing academic type, but was pretty cool despite his rather limited thinking when it came to firearms. This is the only point I conceded with him.
"Well, if guns didn't exist at all then there would be a lot less death."
I agree with that. In a perfect world, we wouldn't need guns. But we can't change reality. The world we live in has some violent, bad people. Guns are an essential evil in this world. It doesn't do anyone any good to bury their heads in the sand.
I guess I'm just looking for a little feed back. I thought I would have some more allies being in a rural college, but even the hunting types kept quiet. Not that I ended up needing their help. Between my fiancee and I, we were able to debate every rebuke to the point of silencing the other person. It was really, really cool
. If anyone has any extra ammo to give me, I'll take it. No doubt some of the kids will go and try to find statistics to back up their viewpoint for friday.Thanks, and take 'er easy.
:banghead: 
