Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
EDITORIAL
Weapons suit
raises campus
safety issues
for gun owners
In a dramatic challenge to Oregon University System poli
cy, physics graduate student Brian Stubbs filed a lawsuit in
Federal District Court against several state higher education
organizations. In his claim, Stubbs argues that the system's
ban on concealed weapons violates state laws that allow Con
cealed Handgun License holders to carry concealed firearms
on public property anywhere in Oregon, save in courtrooms
and where otherwise dictated by the Oregon Legislature
The case could have wide-reaching ramifications, too.
"For some time we have known that schools all over the
state have been violating the law. It is a case with statewide
implications," said Kevin Starrett, the executive director of the
Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation.
Prima fade, Stubbs is right-on, but the details of the argu
ments are worth doser inspection.
State law spedfically prohibits dries and counties from
abridging gun possession rights of CHL holders within
their boundaries. However, both the Board of Higher Ed
ucation and the Oregon University System certainly qualify
as lesser jurisdictional authorities. If educational authori
ties are allowed, in the purported and ill-defined notion of
student safety, to abridge liberties on their campuses other
wise specifically granted by law, what's to prevent them
from otherwise limiting speech they deem "harmful"? If
gun rights are to be curtailed on Oregon campuses, such
limitations must be legislated.
OUS spokeswoman Di Saunders maintained that the
relevant OUS rules are legitimate and are motivated by
safety concerns.
"Student safety on OUS campuses is our first and foremost
concern," she explained to the Emerald. 'That is why the state
board went beyond the Oregon statue and voted to not allow
handguns on Oregon public campuses."
What's clear is that safety is important to students and OUS
alike. What's less clear is whether Stubbs' possession of a
firearm constitutes a sufficient material threat to safety on
campuses to ban him, or any other CHL owner, from carrying
handguns there.
Some evidence suggests not. The state laws regulating dis
tribution of CHLs (ORS 166.291-166.295) are justifiably rig
orous: The twelve qualifying conditions, which range from
age and citizen status to handgun training to past criminal
record, ensure that, in the state's view, anyone who receives a
CHL — including Stubbs — has the sense of civic responsi
bility to cany his or her firearm on public property and use it
appropriately.
Indeed, with evidently law-abiding citizens trained in
firearm safety carrying a handgun, many students might
feel safer.
"Prohibiting law-abiding citizens from carrying their
handguns onto campus will not stop a criminal who is in
tent on violence," Stubbs said. "It will just ensure that all
of the potential victims are unarmed and unable to defend
themselves."
EDITORIAL POLICY
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald
editorial board. Responses can be sent to letters
@dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and guest
commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited
to 250 words and guest commentaries to 550 words.
Authors are limited to one submission per calendar
month. Submission must include phone number and
address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right
to edit for space, grammar and style.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Brad Schmidt Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief Freelance Editor
Jan Tobias Montry Ayisha Yahya
Managing Editor News Editor
Travis Willse
Editorial Editor
Full circle
Four years ago, I mopped the floor with
Jeremy Lansing while playing his residence
hall-room Playstation. On Thursday nights
we took tequila shots right out of the bottle
and cruised down to the girls' floor.
When you're trying to take somebody's
life in a video game, you never imagine
that one day he'll save lives. When you're
taking shots with somebody, you never
imagine that someday he'll help people
kick their alcoholism.
After four years of drifting away from each
other, that's what I've come to find out.
That's what Jeremy Lansing does, or tries to
do, every day as a counselor for the Cottage
Grove Family Relief Nursery.
Other people think about changing
the world. Jeremy Lansing changes it.
The Relief Nursery is an organization
aimed at preventing child abuse before it
happens. There's a nursery in Eugene, but
Lansing works for the Cottage Grove ver
sion. He likes the rural community because
it's more challenging. If there's one thing
you'll learn about Jeremy Lansing, it's that
he likes a challenge
Lansing is an "Early Childhood Interven
tion and Community Outreach Specialist."
It's a fancy way of saying he works with both
kids and their parents. He spends hours dur
ing the day with the kids, most of whom
bounce off the walls like they were super
heroes, and he never uses the word "no" or
the word "don't"
Then he goes into the community and
meets with parents, many of whom have
drug problems or emotional issues, and he
never uses the word "no" or the word
"don't."
"People don't learn from being told what
they can't do, they learn from being told
what they can do," Lansing said.
Some of the families are required to at
tend the nursery by the courts after child
abuse cases. Some families seek out the
nursery because the weight of parenting is
heavier than a dumbbell. Some parents sim
ply want to learn how to be better. At life
Peter Hockaday
Today is Hockaday
Lansing deals with enough sadness every
day to crush a normal person. He deals with
kids whose parents were abusive or whose
parents stuck needles in their arms while
they were pregnant. He deals with kids who
won't talk and kids who talk too much.
"I want those situations that are mind
wrenching sometimes, or heart-tearing,"
Lansing said. 'That's where the most change
can happen."
Lansing was a psychology major, but ap
plying that psychology still blows his mind.
"It's not always easy," Lansing admits.
Sometimes, Lansing has to face issues that
the rest of us will never want to or have to
face He tells the story of a young girl who,
when she first got to the nursery, wouldn't
talk and mostly sat in a comer, biting her lip.
Worse she reenacted sexual acts with a doll
on the nursery playground, underneath a
slide. She often broke down crying for no
particular reason.
"Seeing a child do things like that makes
you awe-struck," Lansing said. "It's not
something you assodate with a child."
The girl's mother was a methampheta
mine addict and her father was a pe
dophile. The girl would spend days in bed
with her mother, and she was neglected by
both parents.
After the girl moved in with a foster fami
ly, the family didn't know how to deal with
her. Their natural reaction was, "Stop!"
"No!" "Don't!"
But over several months at the relief nurs
ery, the girl learned how to interact socially.
Slowly, with Lansing's positive building
blocks, she built relationships with her foster
parents and with other children in the pro
gram. Lansing tried to help the foster parents
understand their child, so they ended up
working alongside him in her development,
like partners in a new restaurant
Lansing helped a little girl say, "Please
pass the ketchup." It may not seem like a lot.
But he taught a girl without feelings how to
feel. He does this all the time. If a kid lashes
out he teaches the kid to lash in. If a parent
can't take the stress, Lansing helps them
manage it like a bank manages money.
Once upon a time, Lansing was that lash
out kid, without the troubled background.
He threw chairs and even hit a teacher in
fifth grade When I knew him freshman year,
he was a typical college student drinking a
lot and being social. Now I find out that he's
come full circle he's helping kids like him.
And that's the point he says. If he can do it
why can't other lads?
Lansing wants to enact change on a grand
scale some day. He wishes he could've been
an athlete, so he could "have a pulpit" to im
part his views. Someday, he will have that
pulpit. The instant he shows up on my pres
idential ballot I'm ticking his name without
hesitating.
See, I think Lansing already enacts change
on a grand scale Even if it's only one or two
people at a time it's better to change things
in a small environment than not change
things at all.
Lansing said his goal is to inspire some
body every day, whether it be a child at the
relief nursery or a co-worker or a friend, he
doesn't care.
Well, today, Jeremy Lansing inspired me,
and I hope he inspired you.
To donate to the Cottage Grove Family
Relief Nursery, call (541) 942-4835.
Contact the columnist
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A sorry State of the Union
President Bush shared his wisdom and vi
sion for our country in his State of the
Union address. His speech made me want
to Act Patriot-like, and write him a letter. So 1
write this to our President George W. Bush.
George, I can't find a job, I can't feed my
children, I have no insurance, I have less pri
vacy, no rebate check, I do not feel safer and
extreme uncertainty is the future that lies
ahead. I have seen help wanted ads shrink,
pay decrease and jobs dose or move. I have
seen education cut social services cut and I
can't even afford to get my hair cut
Unlike you, George, I know friends and
family sent to Iraq/Afghanistan to fight your
wars, felt hunger know poverty, and fed em
pathy for those who suffer. As a "compas
sionate conservative," George; 1 thought that
you would apologize for the economic state
of the union and for misleading the nation
into a war based on misinformation. I guess
Bill "the impeachable president" Clinton
taught you a thing or two on how to "mis
lead." However, I would rather be lied to
about sex than about war.
When I go to the poll this year, I will think
back to the good old days before you took
office Am I better off than I was four years
ago? No! George your State of the Union
was exactly what I expected. You fed us a
bunch of crap. Excuse my French, oops, I
mean "Freedom!"
Scott Britt
senior
sociology