friday, October 31, 1975
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Handgun control no solution
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By Del Gustafson
In the wake of two assasination attempts upon President
Gerald Ford, it is not surprising that bill upon bill has been
introduced in Congress designed to somenow increase
governmental control over private possession of firearms.
Walter Fauntroy (dem-District of Columbia) has intro
duced one of the toughest bills, which would make the
possession of any handgun illegal.
Fauntroy maintains that his bill, if passed, would halt
the soaring murder rate. I doubt it. More over, the imple
mentation of such a policy would have many undesirable
consequences.
Since the ownership of a gun is almost a traditional
aspect of American life (nearly 50 per cent of all American
families have at least one gun) the immediate effect of such
a law would be a black market for handguns.
The higher prices of the proscribed weapon on this black
market would deprive only the poor of their guns, as Pro
hibition deprived only the poor of booze.
If the federal government decided to enforce the pro
visions of the law-that is, to make certain no house in the
United States sheltered a pistol-a costly and massive
agency would have to be created for the sole purpose of
ferreting out handguns.
That agency would have to engage in the most system
atic and ubiquitous invasion of individual privacy this
country has ever seen. The phone-tapping and house-searching
now reserved generally only for the elite, would become
the experience of Mr. Middle America.
Dear editor,
Your handling of the Ann Perkinton story was a classic
example of irresponsible and shoddy journalism.
First, editorials belong on the editorial page and not in
the news section. The Daily Nebraskan presented one
opinion from an outraged person with the deepest will for
revenge, and gave the other side in one paragraph at the end
of the story.
The story itself contains more than one outright lie. Ann
stated that she is absolutely sure she is the lowest paid DJ
at KFMQ. I know of at least one that is lower paid. . . me!
She also stated that Sunday evening DJ Jeff Taylor is
quitting because he "can't" understand limitations put on
employes". If you had contacted him, you would have dis
covered that Taylor has accepted a bartending job in
Colorado because he likes the mountains.
Finally, if KFMQ were a feminist, rip-off station (as the
banner in front of the Women's Resource Center so proudly
proclaims) why would they have hired a female DJ (the
only one in Lincoln) in the first place?
Maybe the Daily Nebraskan should strive more for
accuracy instead of speed in rolling a story off its red hot
press. ' , '
Dick Deitemeyer
Professionalism, not feminism
Dear editor.
Disc jockeys are not program managers. It is the re
sponsib. ty of a program manager to develop and approve
programs that satisfy both the station policy and the in
credible mass of legal requirements imposed by the F.C.C.
These points are basic knowledge for any person who
has taken even the most fundamental broadcasting courses.
Your attempt to make a feminist issue out of Perkin
ton's dismissal from KFMQ is way off base. The issue is
professionalism, net feminism.
The conflict between Ann and the KFMQ management
over Ann's desire to alter the format or strike on Women's
Strike Day should have been resolved off the air. The
matter was not kept off the air; hence Perkin ton's dismissal.
Just because an issue involves a female, it does not auto
matically become a feminist issue. It seems that just as
there is a right way, a wrong way and the Army way, that
the attitude of supposedly professional women reflects a
ri-iit wsy, a wrorg way and the feminist way..
' f ..' -" - . . Capricorn
And after the agents were finished and the American
populace had been deprived of its guns as well as its civil
liberties, where would we be? Organized crime would no
doubt still have its guns, along with a profit from the illicit
sale of firearms large enough to fund its own army. Sorry to
say it, but the murder rate probably would be about the
same.
Statistics released by the United Nations reveal that the
most definite conclusion one can draw about the relation
ship between the availability of guns and the homicide rate
is that one can't draw any conclusions.
Most of the 39 nations with homicide rates higher than
the United States also have stricter regulations on the
private use of firearms. Switzerland, which has the world's
highest number of guns per population, also has the ninth
lowest homocide rate.
It becomes apparent that one must look beyond the
murder weapon into the very soul of the murderer, if the
force which drives a man to kill his fellowman is to be
found.
It is a sad commentary upon the level of rational dis
course in our modem age that, were Brutus to kill Ceasar
today, The New York Times and Ted Kennedy would call
for stricter regulation of knives; Brutus would no doubt be
mentioned as a possible presidential candidate; and, after
his delivery of the funeral oration which laid the blame for
Caesar's death on Brutus's head, poor Anthony would be
denounced as a rightwing knife nut. Progress is certainly
marvelous.
Slanted journalism
Dear editor,
Rebecca Brite's editorial on Perkinton is the best
example of cheap, slanted journalism.
Brite writes, "KFMQ's action was deplorable, and their
defense for the firing, that Perkin ton's professional perfor
mance had been unsatisfactory, is very weak under the
circumstances."
In my opinion, just the fact that Perkinton was told
"three or four hours prior to her dismissal not to announce
the women's program" is a good enough case for being
dismissed.
Is it the opinion of the Daily Nebraskan that because
Perkinton is a woman she has the right to be insubordinate?
The owner and managers of KFMQ, to which I am in no
way attached, set the format and policy of the station. An
announcer is hired and well aware of these circumstances
before she or he goes on the air.
It is part of the job to conform to the policy of the
station. An announcer is hired and well aware of these cir
cumstances before she or he goes on the giar.
11 is pari or tne joo to conform to the policy of the
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the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the
public for what is played and announced on their station
and it is their prerogative-the owners', that is-to decide
what is to be played and said on the air.
Meanwhile, as the Daily Nebraskan supports someone
who in my opinion deserves no support, somewhere a
woman who is qualified for her job is being turned down or
fired just because she is a woman. I support the National
Organization for Women and most of their policies and I
believe that a woman is equally apt to be fired for cood
reasons as a man. 6
I would like to point out that KFMQ is well aware of
Womens Strike Day and had been for sometime So it is
doubtful they would fire Perkinton right before the strike
day Jcnowmg it would be picked up by the newspapers, un
less they had sound reasons.
R. David Graupner
Closing mistake
Dear editor,
I think that the proposed closing of the undergraduate
library is a bad mistake. The library is one of the best things
going on campus for undergraduates. It is so easy to locate
materials, the location and hours are very convenient and it
is one of the best places to study on campus.
I urge all members of the university community who
feel as I do to write Dr. Rudolph, Love Library 106, and
Dr. Breckenxidge Administration 309. to express their
opinions on the closing. If enough support is shown, the
decision should be reversed.
. Lee Doren
innocent bystander
Female traits suit
Presidential role
By Arthur Hoppe
My sistsr dropped by the other evening to break the
news. "I'm running for President," she said.
"That's nice," I said. "Of the P.T.A. or the Garden
Club?"
"Of the United States " she said. "The latest Gallup
Poll says that a record 73 per cent of the public would now
vote for a woman President. Our time has come! Why are
you frowning? Don't you want a President in the family?"
"I have nothing against Presidents," I said. "Bat I
certainly wouldn't want my sister to bfe one."
"I always suspected as much. You're a male chauvinist
pig-"
"Nonsense. You know very well I have always placed
women on a pedestal and treated tham as equals."
"If you think I'm your equal, why don't you want me
to be President?"
"Because it's no job for a woman. You know how
women are."
"How are they?"
"Charming. But they tend to be flighty. When it comes
to decisions, they never can make up their minds."
"What are you talking about? I make hundreds of
decisions every day -which bills to pay first, what to cook
George for dinner, whether the children are too sick to go
to school, where we should go on our vacation, who to . .
"I mean crucial decisions-like whether we should
recognize Albania."
"You're right. I often let George make those."
"And another thing. If you were President, who'd
take care of the kids? After all, there is no more important,
challenging and rewarding role in our society than raising
the next generation. We relegate this task to womea
because they have the love, understanding and wisdom to
accomplish it."
"George says hell take care of the children."
"Well, that lazy idiot's probably not much good for
anything else. But the main tiling is that women are too
soft. Name two women who are tough enough to . , .
"Golda Meir and Indira Ghandi."
. .be vigorous leaders. Anyway, you know how
women are, always worrying about looking their best,
expecting people to open doors for them and talking too
much."
'That sounds like a President to me."
"And besides being soft, flighty and indecisive, women
are constantly telling people what to do, bossing them
around."
"I think a woman would make a great President."
"Not on your life. Do you realize a President has to
work twelve hours a day? What poor, weak housewife could
stand the strain? It's a job for a real man. And further
more. . Put that down!"
My sister's emotional outburst didn't surprise me. You
know how women are -so irrational. What surprised me was
that a member of the weaker sex could swing a 32-pound
floor lamp that hard.
(Copyright Chronicl Publishing Co. 1975)
UN misconceptions
Dear editor,
Last Friday's Daily Nebraskan contained an outpouring
of anti-United Nations letters, all of which included major
errors and misconceptions.
First, it was not the UN that limited VS. forces in
Korea. It was President Truman and the VS. Joint Chiefs
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McArthur's proposals would involve us in "the wrong war,
at the wrong place and at the wrong time, and with the
wrong enemy." In any case, the writer never did show any
causal link between bombing north of the Ualu in Korea,
and Dien Phu in Vietnam.
Second, the term "tyranny of the majority" as used by
U.S. Ambassador Moynihan refers to the idea that the
majority in any democracy has the duty to respect the
rights of the minority, a concept notably lacking in today's
UN.
Furthermore, remember that the nations who usually
combine to produce a numerical voting majority include
such large nations as Fiji (population 567,520 -about the
size of Omaha), Malta (at 325, 000-the average size of an
American congressional district) and Bahrain (222,000-thc
size of Lincoln).
Thus we find that many 'majorities' in the UN actually
represent the wishes of nations with a combined population
equal to or less than that of the United States.
l-inally, a letter condemned Moynihan because he callcfl
Uganda s Idi Amin a "radical tyrant" The writer contended
that this was because Amin had threatened to kill w
englishman and insinuated that Moynihan couldn't care less
about Jews or Blacks.
Very interesting point, for Newsweek (Oct. 20, 1975)
states that Moynihan'i condemnation of Amin was because
Amin had called for the 'extinction of the state of Israel,
and because "anywhere fro.r. 25,000 to 250.000 Ugandans
nlU, iflf s have en murdered since Amin sieved
power in jyj,
Michael Gibson
