Connecticut Student Questioned By Police Over Firearm Beliefs

Mark Twain once said “Never let your schooling interfere with your education”.

It is up the individual to educate themselves, look at the facts, apply a little logic, and come up with their conclusions. Sounds to me like Mr. Wahlberg did exactly that, and arrived at the ONLY logical conclusion to the current nightmare of Educational Pistol-free zones.

Kudos to Mr. Wahlberg for covering such a pertinent topic. The good news here, is that he is not alone. There are 37,000 like-minded students across the country – see concealedcampus.org.

Even though the ACLU has a (in my opinion) screwed-up interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, they DO fight for your 1st Amendment rights tirelessly. Remember the “Cussing Canoeist”? They backed his defense and later appeal which overturned that profanity law he was arrested for violating. Further, they do not take a stand on gun control as they do not believe it is a civil liberties issue.

I belong to the ACLU, the NRA, GOA, MCRGO, and the Campaign for Liberty. I suggest you all do the same if you care about your rights as guaranteed and supposedly protected by the US Constitution and its Bill of Rights.

You may also want to participate in the 2nd Amendment March on Washington DC in Spring 2010. There are 80 million gun owners in this country – Don’t tread on us!

MiGuard

Fantastic story Mike. Thanks. I grew up in the town that this college is in, and when I was a kid I would open carry my 16 gauge shotgun around 4 miles from my parent’s house to the gun shop ON MAIN STREET, without a case. No one ever said a thing because people in those days were not the cowards and left-wing nut jobs they are today. I am totally fed up with it. I really hope the kid’s parents contact a good attorney and drag the college and everyone involved in this through the courts. MiGuard belongs to the ACLU. How about contacting them to see if they will investigate this infringement on this student’s civil rights? If they won’t, the truth will come out what they really are about. As you know I’ve already written the school paper and the NRA legal division. I am asking that your readers do the same. As Tom Gresham from GunTalk says, we must take on a ‘No Shrug Policy’ for now on. No longer can we just stand by while our civil rights are stripped away. I hope this kid goes after the CCSU campus police and has them fired and attested for accessing his personal information. Thanks’s again Mike for getting involved in this case.

Bob.. funny you mentioned that. I already contacted the ACLU of Connecticut about the original story that ran in The Register (link above).

Best regards,
MiGuard

Sorry – I meant “The Recorder”

The sad situation we are in today is directly related to the “miseducating of America” by these so called learned people we entrust our children to. The liberal bias of these educators in general has caused what I politely refer to as “The Pussification of America”. It’s shameful how far we have fallen as a society and there is nothing I see that lends me faith that things will ever change for the better. I truly feel terrible for the future of our children.

my son was recently a victem if such. in the 5 grade science fair he built a robot that could drive around, tell colors and shapes, and pritty much any small task you programmed via blue tooth for it to do. it had a fake mini gun (that would spin but not shoot) it would aim at programmed targets and an arm that would retreave seperate targets. he got interested in this field of work because my brother builts these things for the military. my sons research was 250 pages long and the whole project took 6 months to complete. he had information about every system and item he incorperated into the robot. my father who used to judge science fairs said he had never seen anything like it even in highschool science fairs. well the judge was a female and very liberal. she lectured him on why the military is bad. she then awarded first prize to a girl who took bacteria samples from her bathroom and had no research or info on her project. she also disqualified my son in an anouncement over the intercom. I SUED!!!! I am still awaiting the outcome of litigation. she had no right to belittle a very sharp mind, infront of a whole school (or at all). anyway the other kids loved it! instant popularity!

This did not stop his love of science this years project- tele-portation of energy/ electrical/photon/electrical/ and nuclear battery storage. study on efficiency of transportation and storage.

I don’t even know where to start with my response. I am honestly so ticked I can hardly type.

Where has this country gone? I am literally scared for where it is headed, and I hope I can instill some common sense and morals into my 5 month old daughter, so that she can realize when she is being mistreated.

Why did this student have to go through any of this? Being questioned like a criminal because he expressed his opinion. That isn’t the America I know and love.

I hate the direction this country is heading, and I hope we pull up out of this dive before it’s too late.

this is just rediculous,,to have happned in the 1st place,, our country is goin to hell in a handbasket>>> but if this kind of action is not stopped, it will continue to spiral out of control.. it starts with one person takin control of HIS/HERS life back,,, i’d go to NRA and see if they would take this case…ppl get on board, we have to do , what we have to do, to get a lil respect back……….

This story appeared on Foxnews.com today:

Professor Takes Heat for Calling Cops on Student Who Discussed Guns in Class

If we sit down and take a deep breath of air and think about this for a moment we conclude WE Americans (Real Ones) that know about our rights and how we got them consider these times unreal. The signs are daily and my friends, if we can be honest with ourselves we know it will get worse. A democrat in the white house and the power of congress….Well, to put it in plain English…. Hold on and don’t be shocked by what you hear and see. It has been said and I feel very true that a democratic nation’s life span is just about 200 years. I think our clock is ticking and those of us that recognize the sound and temperature know we are not far from major changes and loss of Constitutional Rights……. No I don’t mean to step on this hornet nest… Just sounding the alarm. First Amendment rights are being tested. If it’s not meeting the twisted opinion of a few in college (corporate big business)educational systems, then it’s not good enough for all of us. As my Grandpa said long ago…. 99% of the over educated people in society are dangerous to everyone. A know-it-all that learned all they know from a book or another know-it-all often built the so called warming fire that burned down the town. I think that idea he shared with me long ago holds very true to this day. In my closing I remind those that have forgot that when the early colonist left England they were departing for a multitude of reasons to include: taxation, control freaks and the filthy rich who were the rulers of the other 99% of the civilians.

I guess it is one big ugly cycle and we are on it for the ride of our lives…….I hope we regain the breaks and remember how to use them………….

WAKE UP PEOPLE!

If you are surprised by the way this college student was treated, then you’ve obviously had you heads burried in the sand for the last twenty years, or at least since Clinton was president.

How can I say that? I listen to what the liberals say. As for colleges, they, like the liberals running the country now, are the most closed minded people in America. Disagree with them and they shout at you, scream obscenities at you, and make every attempt to ruin your reputation and run you into the ground.

As for the police that questioned Mr. Wahlberg, they think they are the gustapo. Think about it, the liberals are always calling us conservatives Nazis and they are ones taking away our civil rights.

I for one am simply sick and tired of the liberals desecrating the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Watch closely folks. The liberals will slowly but surely take away our civil rights little by little. And now, they are running the country. Scarey isn’t it?

Hey all,
I don’t think its scary at all. It does not seem like the police questioning him (interrogation is a strong word) is at all out of line (as long as it was done respectfully). They need to be sure the guns are not on campus b/c that is the current law. They did not confiscate the guns (which would be wrong), they just wanted to be sure they were not on campus property.

If you need to own an object that can harm people, then you should be responsible enough to allow society to ask you questions about it. Police (on the behalf of the people) should be allowed to ask you about it. Those of us who are free and without guns, should have the freedom to know where those guns are. I want to know who has guns in they’re home b/c I want the freedom to decide whether my child should play at that location. I do not think guns should be banned but I also do not think you have the right to keep them secret and not be asked about them. I don’t want to be in a classroom with a concealed or unconcealed weapon and I should have the freedom to know or not attend a class if it does. Other people have freedoms that need to be considered too.

Gun owners need to stop being so paranoid. It does not help those who don’t wish to own guns trust those who do own guns.

First off you are free because of guns. Guns are what gave you the right to freely express your opinion. The police do not have the right to question me without cause. This is called profiling! We cannot stop people because they might look like a thug, we cannot go and ask people if they have guns because they give an oral arguement in a classroom that is pro gun. No one had any idea that this gentleman owned a gun until the police pulled up his record. A record mind you that was clean, if it wasn’t he wouldn’t have been allowed to own guns. They don’t have to question him about his guns, he has already passed the background check to get them.

Maybe we need to have the police to question you about your parenting skills since I don’t like the way you talk about my freedoms! Now that wouldn’t be right either now would it? I wouldn’t want the police to infringe on your constitutional rights any more than I want them to infringe on mine. We are not paranoid gun owners, all of you people who are anti gun are the paranoid people. If you weren’t you wouldn’t worry about law abiding citizens who own guns. One day it might be me carrying a legal concealed weapon in your neighborhood park while your child is playing when a thug tries to abduct your child, and it is me who makes a decision to stop him from harming your child. I assume from your stance that I would be wrong for doing that also. You shouldn’t fear those who have guns legally, you should fear those who try to circumvent the law and take your freedoms from you. Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither.

As far as trusting us who own guns, why wouldn’t you trust us? We have passed the fbi background check to lawfully own a gun. We have done everything lawfully to make sure that we are a trustworthy and law abiding person. The people who are trying to take away my freedoms are the people I don’t trust!

Freedom for everyone Says:
“If you need to own an object that can harm people, then you should be responsible enough to allow society to ask you questions about it.”

Oh, come on now! That phrase (“an object that can harm people”) covers everything from pocket knives and hammers to nuclear weapons. If you were thinking more clearly, you would have phrased your message better.

I own a (carefully undisclosed number of) weapon(s). All of them are legal. Absent any reasonable suspicion of illegality, what business is it of yours, or of the State’s, what I own in my home?

I want be clear that I do NOT want to ban you from owning guns lawfully. I don’t want to take your freedoms, but I also don’t want lives taken with guns. Crimes are committed with lawfully owned guns too. I do not feel safer from a gun that I know is owned lawfully. Everyone is lawful until they decide one time not to be. (yes maybe I am the one paranoid) I am honestly looking for a reasoned answer to guns. How can we protect the freedom to own a gun and still responsibly check and stop the improper use of them? How would the campus police know the guns are lawful unless they checked, and how would they know the student was acting lawfully and not bringing a gun on campus unless they asked? What should we do?

Again, I do think you have the constitutional freedom to have them in your home, I’m glad they are not allowed in school. My brother and I are debating this very thing (he sent me to this article). I do not want to own a gun nor do I feel any need to and he owns many lawful rifles and handguns. So we naturally come at this from different angles.

Also I view guns as very different from other “objects that harm.” Yes anything can be a weapon, but its seems that a gun’s sole purpose is to be a weapon. I should have phrased that better. I know the “State” knowing you have a gun seems “big brother”, but how else are we to know if they are legally owned by lawful(at least at the time of purchase) citizens? These are just questions I have.

“Maybe we need to have the police to question you about your parenting skills since I don’t like the way you talk about my freedoms!” I really don’t think this was called for, but I also should not have thrown out the “paranoid” comment. I should have been less incendiary.

I have a very busy month ahead at work and if I don’t get a chance to comment more please know my brother will be arguing for you very effectively!

Freedom for everyone,

I want to address some of your concerns from the standpoint of Liberty, as I view it, and as I truly believe our Founding Fathers viewed it.

Many of your concerns are directly addressed in the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution. Remember that the Bill of Rights do not “grant” you these rights. Your rights, and the Bill of Rights concept, as written down by Madison, were a guarantee of a person’s *natural rights retained*, not to be subject to abuse by our own government.

“how would they know the student was acting lawfully and not bringing a gun on campus unless they asked?”

The Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights guards against searches, arrests, and seizures of property without a specific warrant or a “probable cause” to believe a crime has been committed. The Campus police had no probable cause to believe a crime had been committed based solely on an oral presentation by a student. That presentation clearly being free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. If the student had a criminal mindset, he likely would have chosen another topic to discuss, to dissuade attention from himself, and he certainly would not have been truthful and forthcoming about whether he had a gun on campus anyway.

“They need to be sure the guns are not on campus b/c that is the current law.”
“I don’t want to be in a classroom with a concealed or unconcealed weapon.”

I think you’re saying that you don’t want to be in a classroom with a *criminal* that has a concealed weapon. None of us do, but you’ll never know if you are, that’s the problem. Criminals by definition, do not obey the law. So knowing that a criminal will not obey the rules, and then not protecting yourself from that fact, is basically putting yourself completely at the mercy of the criminal. Do you really want to place your life in the hands of a criminal? By not allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed on campus, you are putting everybody on campus at the mercy of the criminals. Criminals know this, that is why they almost always choose a concealed carry gun-free zone to commit mass-murder/suicide. Columbine (15 dead), Virginia Tech (33 dead), Amish School (6 dead), etc. Everybody (except the criminals) was unarmed. The body count would likely had been lower if some of those people had a fighting chance.

If you put yourself in the criminal’s shoes, would you enter a school or church with the intention of doing harm, if you knew for a fact that half the people in there could be armed and will fight back?

“If you need to own an object that can harm people, then you should be responsible enough to allow society to ask you questions about it.”
“I also do not think you have the right to keep them secret and not be asked about them.”
“Police (on the behalf of the people) should be allowed to ask you about it.”

Once again, you will only be getting the truth from the law-abiding. If you really think about that, you’ll realize I’m right. As a U.S. Citizen, your natural right to keep and bear arms “shall not be infringed” (according to and guaranteed by the Second Amendment).

“Those of us who are free and without guns, should have the freedom to know where those guns are.”

If you are free and without guns, you admit to believing that the protection of yourself and your loved ones from violent physical attack, robbery, rape, and general mayhem is the sole responsibility of others. If you are depending on protection from the police, you will be surprised to learn that according to the U.S. Supreme Court, the police have no obligation to protect the individual in society, and they are not liable when they don’t. Let that sink in, along with the fact that when you call the police, you are nearly always calling them *after* the crime has already happened. It’s already too late at that point. Would you depend on the military for personal protection? Do you think the victims of 9/11 depended on the military? Do you remember that they crashed a plane into the Pentagon?

Unfortunately, you will never know where all the guns are.

“how else are we to know if they are legally owned by lawful(at least at the time of purchase) citizens?”
“I also don’t want lives taken with guns. Crimes are committed with lawfully owned guns too.”

None of us (the law-abiding) want lives taken with guns, but that is a panacea. Guns are already in society – Pandora is out of the box so-to-speak. Passing more gun laws will only affect the law-abiding. If a crime is committed with a lawfully owned gun, then it’s still a crime and that person is now a criminal. You will never be able to know that a crime will be committed before it actually happens (like in Minority Report). The current laws in place are sufficient to screen individuals’ backgrounds before they purchase any firearm. That’s simply the best we can do without eroding an individual’s natural rights.

“How can we protect the freedom to own a gun and still responsibly check and stop the improper use of them?”

You can’t. The problem here is that even if you throw out the Fourth Amendment, and allow the police and/or military to go door-to-door and confiscate every gun in existence (Martial Law), now the only people with the weapons are the government, and they will have no more reason to fear the population. That’s the perfect setting for any number of atrocities including genocide, as told all throughout history. What is even more scary to think about, is that this already happened in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They confiscated law-abiding citizens guns, and still provided NO personal protection afterward. You should not doubt that the military will be deployed to American streets in the event of civil unrest or national emergency, it has already happened numerous times. This is a clear violation of Article I, Section 10 of the US Constitution (no standing troops unless actually invaded).

“I do not want to own a gun nor do I feel any need to”

I respect that, owning a gun, and having the mindset to use it in self-defense is not for everybody (even though it is your right). There are three kinds of people in the world (LTC(Ret)Dave Grossman) you have sheep, sheep dogs, and wolves. Wolves attack and kill the sheep, sheep dogs protect the sheep from the wolves.

I would rather be a sheep dog.

For more reading:
Gun Control, A Historical Perspective
Trust the People: The Case Against Gun Control

Miguard,
Thanks for your answers. I honestly do not think about this issue much until my brother brings it to my attention and asks me about it. I think it is important for gun owners to understand that guns just scare people. No one knows who is good and who is bad (or having a really bad day), it could be a criminal or someone who owns a gun with lawful intentions but snaps for some reason. Maybe there is nothing we can do to protect ourselves other than owning a gun ourselves. I do think registering guns would be a good idea and I don’t know why gun owners would be against that if their intentions are lawful, why hide them? The only reason I can think of is if you fear the government knowing. I guess I see little danger in that with our government. If I lived somewhere else this might not be the case.

I will always see the issue differently, but I also don’t want to be close minded to other side. I do think gun ownership is protected by the constitution, and maybe the current laws are the best we can do in terms of regulation. (I also do not consider myself a sheep b/c I don’t have a gun, I don’t think the would can be that simply defined….but that is just me.) Thanks for a discussion on the issue!

Miguard, very well put! Freedom for everyone, thank you for having an open eye to his response. Very good discussion and education going on with this issue. I applaud both of you for taking the time to reasonably Q & A! Too bad more people don’t take this approach when listening to the pro gun side instead of trying to call us crazy or paranoid!

Freedom for everyone,

I do realize that guns scare some people. I would hope that knowing law-abiding citizens are carrying concealed and able to protect themselves and those that don’t, would provide some consolation.

If you look at countries that *have* banned guns.. you start to see that the criminals just switch to other weapons, like swords/knives in the UK and Australia. Do a google search on “uk australia knife sword crime”. There will always be a weapon available to someone who “snaps” as you put it.

Again, if you *really* think about it, you begin to realize that the only reason for gun licensing and registration is for eventual gun confiscation (it’s the first step). The criminals will not bother licensing and registering their guns, they’re criminals. In fact, you will be surprised to learn that they are *exempt* from that requirement. That is why us gun-owners are so dead-set against gun registration. I hope that makes sense. And of course, the only reason for gun confiscation is for eventual tyranny (once again, told throughout history). Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed. The British tried that with our founding fathers, and it raised the alarm. Pick any oppressive government in history, and you will discover that their population was disarmed (even if it occurred slowly over decades).

It’s a very elitist position, to say that the public can not be trusted with guns. At this point in history, that is the only thing *guaranteeing* all your other natural rights in this country. Shame on the elitist professor for taking that position with her student. Our current administration is the most gun-unfriendly group of politicians ever assembled to run the country. We, the gun owners, will be watching them closely, and keeping a further check on their attempts to erode our rights and the constitution.

Study the founding fathers, their writings about freedom, the federalist papers, etc. They took their wisdom from history. You will realize that the Second Amendment is really about *self-defense* of your person and your country. Every living being has the natural right to self-defense. We don’t need a document to tell us that, it’s an obvious and inherent aspect of life.

Take away the second amendment, and the fourth and first amendments will eventually follow. Many of us believe it is already happening to some degree. We see searches without probable cause becoming more tolerated within our society. Metal detectors and pat-downs at airports and schools (a conditioning of sorts), phone tapping at the national level with immunity being granted by the government to the phone companies that do its bidding. Just read! Ruby Ridge, Waco, etc. It’s actually scary how far we’ve let the pendulum swing.

We are slowly giving up the gift of Liberty left to us by our founders.

How do we fix it?

Reclaim the Republic
Restore the Constitution
End the open-ended war on terror
Restore Habeus Corpus
Dismantle the Empire
Dismantle the Welfare State
Dismantle the Lobbyocracy
Restore the Gold Standard

That would be a good start for me.

Your Friend in Liberty,
MiGuard