ACC Campus Carry

Austin Community College is soon to usher in the new campus carry policy, so to create a smooth transition, a “campus carry task force”  committee was formed. The Committee has hosted three forums to educate the community. The concerns that many have expressed at these forms by faculty, teachers, and students alike are concerns based on fear, false facts, and narratives put out by Anti-gun advocates. http://Kxan.com/2017/04/28/acc-closer-to-refining-its-plan-for-campus-carry-law-in-august/

https://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/news/2017/04/29/austin-community-college-prepares-to-implement-campus-carry.html
A concern vocalized multiple times was the idea that people are going to start shooting or brandishing a weapon over grades or controversial topics in a class room. This is not realistic because there is no evidence to suggest that this is a probable scenario. Evidence does suggest however, the more likely scenario where a crazed person comes into a gun free zone, which are magnets for people who want to commit mass murder. A person hell bent on causing maximum harm to others knows that they will have a window of time before anyone with a gun gets there. That is one primary reason why the data and statistics show gun free zones are more dangerous. Point in case, Columbine high school where 13 were killed, University of Texas 18 killed, Virginia tech 32 killed, Sandy hook elementary school 27 killed; all gun free zones, and the list goes on. Here is the reality: concealed carry holders are statistically the most law abiding group in the country. Texas as of 2016 had over 1 million licensed to carry holders. Concealed carry holders will make our campus safer, not less. When law abiding people have guns criminals are less empowered. I believe the new concealed carry laws give people a fighting chance to defend life, and disincentivises would be armed assailants; and the evidence and data backs up my belief. For instance, the 2013 CDC report commissioned by the anti-gun Obama administration and National Research Institute reluctantly concluded that the statistics and data unquestionably show that "the presence of a fire arm and concealed carry deters crime". There are 500,000 to 3.3 million cases of defensive gun use annually which is far greater then criminal usage.

The Campus Carry Task Force board members should help with the transition in implementing this new law by helping educate our teachers and faculty members on the facts, data, and statistics to help alleviate their irrational and misguided fears. The implementation and education of laws and policy should always be constructed on facts and not on emotion.

face value

I agree with your assessment that this blog you read is biased. Generally, it is understood that Blogs tend to have a narrative or lean heavily on one topic or opinion. Though the blog you read was heavily biased, I don’t believe that is reason alone to dismiss its claims. For example,

“The opinion that Democrats treat The New York Times as the gospel.”

This might be hyperbole, however, one would be hard pressed to find a democrat that didn’t take everything the New York Times prints at face value. Liberals praise the New York Times as being a reliable credible source of non partisan news. Perhaps democrats choose to ignore New York Times left leaning bias because their journalists views and articles comfortably coincide with their own world view.

Another example of bias you site is the bloggers opinion that “the Democratic Party is well on its way to marginalizing itself as an effective opposition party.” Even Democrats are worried about their sphere of influence. The DNC was rendered more ineffective after WikiLeaks revealed conspiring favoritism of Hillary, and cheating that took place during the primary. The Democrat party is already showing signs of loosing political influence. This opinion could at least be considered quantifiably true given the record number of republicans holding seats in office.

 The next opinion “Democrats are fueled by substance-less ideals and not offering plausible alternative policies;” sounds rather alarming and I would consider very far right as far as opinion goes. That said it is not without some merit as well.

Under the Obama administration our government enacted liberal policies that resulted in more income inequality, and an increase in the number of people on food stamps and other welfare programs. Under Democrat policies we just went through the worst recovery since the great depression. Minimum wage as a way to lift people out of poverty is one of those substance-less ideals. The unintended consequences of creating more unemployment, more expensive goods and services, and pricing young and low skilled people out of the labor market is certainly not a plausible solution to poverty.

You said you fear blogs like these because of how one sided their views are. The Fact of the matter is, blogs are going to be one sided and biased. This day and age it has become the norm to read or watch something that is one sided rather then impartial. Readers need to be educated in how to source information, recognize bias, and get to what’s truth and fact, separate from the Hyperbole and vilifying. I do agree that readers can be mislead and I think that it is a real problem that low information, intellectually lazy citizens, are taking blog sites at face value. May I suggest that its not bias that is the problem. Everyone is going to have their own bias, especially when it comes to politics. It is, and I agree with you, a huge problem to claim your unbiased when you’re not. What is important is that bloggers are up front about the perspective and bias lens they are receiving information through, and not purport to be giving a neutral bipartisan perspective; like the New York Times does. The real problem I believe is that readers need to be more skeptical and read opinions on every side before they cast their own judgments. You should not dismiss something outright because its presenting an opposing view. We should all be judging peoples claims and arguments based on their individual merit and consider all sides of the argument. In the case of the article you reviewed the authors claims are not outside of truth or reality, however biased or hyperbolic they are.