A Rational Student's View of #EKU's Over Reaction to Shooting Threat

     As stated in a previous post, I am what is considered on EKU's campus as an OWL or older, wiser, learner.  I am a non traditional student pursuing my Bachelors Degree.  Being an OWL and a believer of the Conservative/Libertarian political ideology or "Conservatarian" if you will has me looking at this entire threat that is supposed to come to fruition on EKU's campus in Richmond, KY. from a mature, rational, realistic point of view.  For those that do not know, the following was written in big letters on a bathroom stall in the Combs building on campus last week.  "BRINGING GUNS TO HERE 2/11/15 DEAD STUDENTS.  While it is not your typical graffiti garbage that you would find or even the occasional threat written on the walls of a bathroom stall, it is a vague threat.  

     To understand where I am about to go with this, we have to understand the psychological make up of the USA right after 9/11.  We were angry, scared, and blood thirsty for revenge.  We were so blinded by ambition that we lost sight on what actually took place.  It wasn't just hijacked planes that crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania.  It was a direct attack on our senses.  Our sense of security, destroyed.  We seemed to have lost that day the notion that we were too big and powerful to be attacked.  But perhaps what damaged us more so than the physical terror attack, than the amount of lives lost, than the financial repercussions of losing the World Trade Center, was how we far too easily gave up our constitutional rights, our freedoms, our liberties.  We fell for one of the oldest political tricks in the book.  We allowed something called "The Patriot Act" to be passed and thought this was going to help us reclaim our security and punish those who attacked us.  But 13 years later, all we have as a result is more debt, more infringements of our liberty and freedom.  We then took a direct hit again when the federal government established the Department of Homeland Security.  Again, we fell for the oldest political trick in the book.  We allowed congress to pass liberty robbing debt accumulating legislation all packaged up with a name that couldn't possibly be debated in the realm of political correctness.  The very attempt would draw sharp criticism in the media, 'How could you possibly be against Homeland Security' just as 'How could you possibly be against "The Patriot Act."  If that wasn't enough, we were then subjected to the creation of the TSA.  This unconstitutional arm of the federal government took over airport security. The TSA introduced to the mainstream the notion that you must be willing to be physically fondled by federal employees in order to prove that you are an innocent civilian merely looking to fly to see Grandma before she dies.  Even little boys and girls and Grandpa's in wheelchairs were not immune to being fondled in a manner that if you or I did that to someone on the street would be cause for us to be thrown in jail for sex crimes and be outcasts of society for the rest of our lives.

     What am I driving at?  Simply this, we must NEVER sacrifice one ounce of liberty for any amount of promised security from government.  Yet even to attend classes on campus during a regular day requires that I sacrifice one very BIG Constitutional right.  That is my Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.  In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I am permitted by license to conceal carry deadly weapons including of course firearms.  However EKU and other education institutions have decided that they do not want people exercising that particular freedom on campus.  To illustrate how delusional this is, EKU is one of the biggest training facilities in the state for training Law Enforcement Officers.  Also EKU is lucky to have a Kentucky State National Guard facility near by which encourages those seeking ROTC programs to attend EKU.  I often see these fine men and women walking campus in full uniforms.  You cannot possibly tell me that our campus would not be safer if we allowed these people to conceal carry on campus.  One of the biggest reasons in my humblest of opinions and already have been echoed by more than one professor on campus is that this threat is the product of a dense unarmed population as a result of EKU's Weapons policy.  The simple psychology is this, criminals or those seeking to commit a crime, especially for the first time will ALWAYS choose a victim they know is unarmed over one that they either know or don't know to be armed.

     Tomorrow is the 11th which will mark the day set by the deviant who wrote that threat.  Some professors have already called off their classes for tomorrow.  Students have expressed that they will not be on campus at all or at the least be staying in their dorms all day tomorrow.  This was not spurred by the threat.  This was spurred by EKU's President Benson who publicly announced that any student, staff, faculty that did not feel safe coming on to campus on the 11th could stay away without any consequences.  Not only does President Benson make as much if not more than the President of the United States, but with that declaration shared President Obama's affinity for giving in to the enemy, to give in to terror threats.  This will no doubt be repeated by the next deviant who seeks to bring a new wave of fear and a free day off once this even subsides.  Please stay tuned to this blog and make sure to follow me on Twitter @ IrvinePatriot for live updates as I will be on campus tomorrow and documenting any instances where I see constitutional rights violations above and beyond what normally takes place on this campus.  Oh and one more thing, I AM NOT AFRAID, I AM NOT SCARED, I DO NOT GIVE IN TO THREATS!