emerald
Vol 83,No 39
Eugene,Oregon97403
Wednesday,Oct.28,1981
Panelists discuss handgun control
By DANE CLAUSSEN
01 ttw EnwriM
The explosive topic of hand
gun control brought together a
state representative, a phy
sician a University law school
professor and a law enforce
ment educator in a panel dis
cussion Tuesday
The panel, sponsored by the
Oregon Student Public Interest
Research Group and moderat
ed by Steve Schneider, was held
to mark National End Handgun
Violence Week The com
memorative week was estab
lished by the National Coalition
to Ban Handguns
Panel members, speaking to
an audience of more than 40,
stressed that handgun control is
more than a single issue
"We have to look further into
society " said Dr Thomas Ge
row director of Sacred Heart
Hospital emergency room
"I’m very concerned that
people tend to isolate the gun.”
said Ken Viegas, director of the
law enforcement education
program at the University's
school of community service
and public affairs
Violent behavior is in the grain
of American society, added
Rep Gretchen Kafoury, D-Port
r
land Switzerland is a country
where most people own guns
but do not have this country's
problems with them, she ex
plained
Canada, a country similar to
the United States, also does not
have the problem of handgun
abuse, said Kafoury
Banning handguns would not
eliminate violence from society
It would simply create a black
market, Viegas said
People have a "tremendous
amount of fear, he went on to
say "In that environment, we
have people wanting to arm
themselves."
"We will have to do things
incrementally as we understand
how to take the right steps,"
Viegas said
The society's image of the
good guys with guns killing the
bad guys with guns is an absurd
representation of society," said
James OFallen of the Universi
ty’s law school
Very little violence is the re
sult of a rational decision made
to better society, O Fallen said
Oregon's firearm statutes
were written in 1925 and have
been badly in need of change
for at least 10 years, Kafoury
said She proposed legislation
Photo by Mark Pynes
Ken Viegas, director of the law enforcement education program at the University’s law school, said
banning hand guns would create a black market.
dealing with concealed weapon
permits during the 1977 and
1979 legislative sessions, and
Flu shots — sniff — offered
Photo by Mark Pynes
A moment of discomfort at the Student Health Center for Elsie
Essien may save a week's worth of agony Vaccinations for
students cost $2 50, while those for faculty and staff cost $3.50
Influenza vaccinations for
students, faculty and staff
are available at the Student
Health Center until the end of
fall term
The vaccinations, which
cost $2 50 per injection for
students and $3 50 per in
jection for faculty and staff,
are especially advisable for
people with a high risk of
complications from lower
respiratory tract infections,
according to University Phy
sician James Jackson
The shots are "not terribly
popular”, partly because it’s
been several years since a
serious flu outbreak, Jack
son says, adding that more
faculty and staff seem to de
sire the shots than students
Unless students have
other medical problems that
could be compounded by in
fluenza, a flu shot isn't
necessary, Jackson says,
although the vaccination is a
good precaution against
getting the flu and missing
classes
Anyone under 28 who has
never been vaccinated will
need two injections four
weeks apart Persons over 28
need only one injection, as
does anyone vaccinated with
the 1978-79, 1979-80 or
1980-81 vaccine
Vaccinations will be given
at the health center every
Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday from 8 to 9 a m. For
more information, call the
health center at 686-4441
on banning so-called Saturday
Night Specials and automatic
firearms during the 1981 ses
sion, she said
Those bills did not fare well in
the legislature because gun
control is not “a rational sub
ject” in the western states and
because of the power of the
National Rifle Association,
which testified against the bills,
she added
Nationally, Congress ap
proved a bill banning the im
portation of handguns after the
assassinations of Sen Robert
Kennedy and civil rights leader
Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968,
said Schneider The effort now
being made is to prohibit the
importation of handgun parts,
allowable through a loophole in
the law, he added
The number of crimes involv
ing handguns is increasing
dramatically, Schneider said
The argument that citizens
may carry firearms uncondi*
tionally under the provisions of
the second amendment to the
Constitution is faulty, said
O'Fallen, who stressed he was
not representing the law
school’s opinion.
When the amendment was
ratified, he explained, all able
bodied men were required to
serve in the state militia and
provide their own guns.
"The Federal Government
could not prohibit states from
having and outfitting a militia’’
after the amendment was rat
ified, O’Fallen said ‘‘Gun-own
ing was not granted as a per
sonal right but as a right of the
state vis-a-vis the Federal
Government,” he said
It is fortunate Eugene has few
of the handgun-related prob
lems many larger cities have,
Gerow said
Copter at campus
misses ill cargo
Pilots of an Air Force helicopter that buzzed the EMU
before landing on Hayward Field Tuesday must have felt a
little silly.
The helicopter, dispatched from the 304 Aerospace Rescue
and Recovery Squadron in Portland, flew to Eugene to take a
Sacred Heart patient with a broken leg to a Portland hospital
for further treatment.
But when the helicopter landed at Hayward Field — the
usual spot for large helicopters to land in Eugene — the pilots
found no doctors and no patient
The transfer was supposed to take place today.
The foul-up apparently happened at the helicopter s head
quarters, said a representative of the Eugene Fire Depart
ment, which coordinates transportation of medical emergen
cies.
Less than three minutes after landing, the early bird's pilots
learned of the mistake and returned to Portland. They'll return
this afternoon