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I Saw Guns and Sharp Swords in the Hands of Young Children

TheOldMole May 10 2006 11:35 AM

All kinds of fun on my campus. I'm told that Fox News is up here today covering the story, but they haven't talked to me. ] New Paltz - The SUNY New Paltz students who support a gun-and-camera-toting militia on campus say their plan is no joke. Ray Bryant agrees. The chief of SUNY's campus police says the students' statements not only are no joke, they're not funny, either. "I don't think the students who started this have any idea what they've started - it scares people, whether they're serious or not." Four student leaders - Daniel Curtis, president-elect of the statewide SUNY Student Assembly; Justin Holmes, president-elect of the SUNY New Paltz Student Association; R.J. Partington, outgoing president of the SUNY New Paltz Student Association; and Michael J. Peters, chairman of the New Paltz College Republicans - said last week that they favor establishing a student militia that should be allowed to carry firearms on campus. They said students had that right constitutionally in the face of what they called harassment by police. Bryant has been a campus cop for 29 years, three of them as chief. He's seen just about every type of student protest during that time, and the on-campus militia proposal is one of the strangest. "It's like the left and right going so far out that they meet," he said. Whatever the group's political persuasion, Bryant said it was composed of a tiny minority who "will do anything for controversy, to cause discomfort." "Personally, I believe it's for public exposure; it's a ploy to get the attention of the media." Bryant noted that students have complained about police harassment, but have been unable to cite specific examples of abuse. He contends the students are most upset about police enforcement of drug laws, most of them relating to the use of marijuana. Campus police have lately paid more attention to marijuana violations than in the past - there were 52 arrests in 2005, compared with 12 in 2004. Do those increased numbers reflect a greater degree of repressive activity on the part of police? Hardly, said Bryant. The vast majority of drug arrests on campus are violations handled through the campus' judicial system. Most first-time offenses receive wrist-slap sentences. Most second offenses result in suspensions. "These students don't like the fact that we enforce the law, but what they don't want to admit is that the majority of complaints we get that result in arrests come from their fellow students," Bryant said. Lynne Walsh, a junior at the college, echoed many of Bryant's assertions yesterday, saying "a majority of students here just think it's a really dumb idea." If it's all about a handful of students who just want to get publicity, why treat the calls for a militia seriously? "Because, unfortunately, it can draw individuals - fanatical individuals. I'm taking it very seriously." [URL=http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/05/10/news-jhantimilitia-05-10.html]source[/URL]

cooby May 10 2006 11:50 AM

This was a recent issue in my son's high school, should the cops there carry guns? Thank god it was voted down. You don't read about student protests anymore since the draft ended, do you? I personally think it's time for a good old fashioned nationwide college student antiwar sit in.