A packed Boulder High School auditorium welcomed the a panel on the United States’ right to bear arms Thursday afternoon.
Boulder High’s Intervention Specialist Ainsley Cone moderated the controversial Conference on World Affairs panel. It was a well-rounded debate with liberal and conservative political perspectives, a change of pace from some other panels that have only presented one side of the story this week.
Margot Adler, a well-known liberal, admitted that in her days of activism in the 1960s, she sided with the Black Panthers and their view that if the police had guns, everyone should be able to have guns.
Boulder High School student asks a question of the Right to Bear Arms panel including moderator Ainsley Cone, left, and panelists Margot Adler, Guy Benson and Colin Goddard. (Avalon Jacka/CU Independent)
Conservative Guy Benson was the most adamant pro-gun panelist, but he acknowledged that with any gun legislation, regardless of the extent, lawmakers have to “be smart about it.”
Colin Goddard, a survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, opened his segment on a lighter note, joking that he thought he was at a panel for sleeveless shirts.
He got serious on gun regulation, though, stating that while America can’t fully stop all gun violence, we have to take steps to prevent future tragedies form happening.
The panel was well-received by the audience of mostly high school students, with multiple points from each panelist spurring the full auditorium to applaud. Below are key points the panelists made on gun regulation and violence prevention.
Adler
“If the police have guns, I should have a gun… [But] do I have a right to a nuclear weapon because the government has a nuclear weapon?”
On gun regulation: “For many, way down deep, you’re afraid they [the government] will take your rights away.”
On having guns for protection from the government: “On some level, even in the world we live in now, an assault weapon with all the magazines in the world can’t go up against the greatest military might in the world.”
Benson
In response to the NRA defense that, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”: “Ultimately, it’s human evil that kills people, but they [guns] certainly make it easier.”
“Pie in the sky [legislation] doesn’t cut it in Washington, you have to get the votes.”
“As an open-minded conservative, it does trouble me that the advocates for this control are so ignorant about guns.”
Goddard
“If we don’t make changes, we can’t be shocked the next time a mass shooting happens.”
“Of all the amendments, the second is the only one with the word ‘regulated’ in it.”
“We put limits on the amount of bullets you can hunt animals with, but we don’t have limits on the amount of bullets you can hunt human beings with.”
Contact CU Independent News Budget Editor Avalon Jacka at Avalon.jacka@colorado.edu.
