By Michael Bryan
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 1, 1998

On weapons, Wildcat 'irony impaired'

To the Editor:

I have become convinced that the editorial staff of the Wildcat is irony impaired. The juxtaposition of a picture of an Apache helicopter with the superimposed "Nice gun" on page one and a letter to the editor on page four exclaiming "Guns and students don't mix" in the March 26 issue is a quite skillful example. Yet the editors of the Wildcat failed to exploit this delightful contradiction. It seems to me that there is a certain degree of hypocrisy involved in banning weapons on campus and then plunking down a multimillion-dollar engine of death on the Mall. It is as if a law were passed banning the stacking of rocks and then someone built the pyramids anyway. I'm surprised that no one thought to perhaps determine what administrator(s) here at our university are responsible for approving this little recruiting stunt by the Army. I would suggest that that person(s) be held accountable for the six months in jail and one thousand dollar fine for bringing a weapon to campus, for surely that is exactly what was done. Alternatively, we could perhaps begin to discuss legitimate exceptions to our ban which would allow students to protect themselves from violent crime on campus. Surely, this is a more urgent reason to make an exception than the Army's desire for a few good men.

Michael Bryan
Political Science Junior