Whose Rl'gi‘llL to Bear Arms

by Dave Schochter

There Is perhaps no other topic
that is so Controversial in Amat‘
ire today as gain control. And for
every American that speaks out
on the subject, there are just as
many varying opinions. There iS
no trend to the opinions, as they
come from all over the country,
all walks of life, and from all
social Classe . And so do the
mounting statistics or gun-res
lated deaths. Gun deaths, acci»
dental or otherwise, strike
Blacks and Whites, the rich and
the poor, from the downtown
executive to the ghetto store own‘
er.

in the last decideand iouryears
this country has' losththrough
murder, men who could have
possibly steeredthis country onto
a better course than the one now
plotted. John F. Kennedy, Robert
F. Kennedy, Dr. Miirtin Luther
King, Medgar Evers, Malcolm
x, Joseph Yablonski, and Kansas
City Black political leader Leon
Jordan fell victim to what i now
callously referred to as 'The
American Pastime;" assassina-
tion. For every publicly known
assassination there are thous-
ands of not so well publicized
murders and other gunrrelated
deathsi »

Lee Harvery Oswald got hisgun
through a mail order houseusing
a false nami‘. It didn‘t matter,
he could have gotten thegun over
the counter in many places using
his real name. In Chicagoa {ours
teen year old boy, usinghisfath'
crs guns, shotand killed the prinr
cipal of an elementaryschool and
wounded several other faculty

smemliers. An eleven year—old
boy dies when a friend handlinga
gun that he thought wasn‘t loaded
accidentally shot him. Woplckup
the newspaper and readoipolices
men being killed in New York,
Philadelphia, Chicago and Los
Angeles. MlT protessor William
Barnett declared Monday that a
child born in any of tha nation's
fifty largest cities stands a 2%
chance of being murdered some
timL‘ in its life.

Statistics are supposed to be
impressive things. The StatiS'
tics on gun deaths in this soon
try tell a tale that should be re-
written. In 1970, and these fig
ures continue to rise; therewere
9,039 murders (an increase of
9% since 1965), 2,600 accidental
gun deaths, in 1968 there were
an estimated 10,000 gun-related
suicides, 44,001) assaults with
guns, 50,000 armed robberies,
and 100,000 gun-relatednon-fntal
injuries.

And estimates as to the numhér
of privately owned guns in this
country range from 50 to 203
million depending on whose fig'
ures one goes by. To top off the
morbid list, more people have
died since the turn of the Cen*
tury as the result of privately
owned gun related deaths than
all of the United States Service-
men killed in all the Wars in this
century.

There are somr. forms of gun
use that I do not Object to in
their present forms. 1 have no-
thing against target shooting and
skeet shooting, I have nothing he
gainst legitimate hunting done in
controlled areas where the biO'
logical balance will not be upset
by massive hunting ofan animal.
1 have no respect for those who
hunt irom a car, truck, snow
mobile, helicopter, or airplane.
Gun enthusiasts like to soy that
the Constitution gives them the
right to own a gun. The second
amendment states, ”the right of
the people to bear arms, shall
not be infringed." Well, I don't
concur with this argument. The
Founding Fathers intended this
provision to regard those times
when a militia ls needIdfor CiVll
defense. The Founding Fathers
could not have forescen the Str-
etch job thal has been done on
this amendmcnt. We are not,

and have not, been in a civil
defense situation of the kind res
quiring a militia for better than
twenty years. The Bill of Righls
maintains that one’s individual
rights shall not be iniringodupon.
When a child is killed bytheacc-
idental discharge 0le privately
owned gun then onemightsay that
his rights have been violated.

Another argument for the own-
ership at a gun is that of salt-
dctcnsc. The followup argument
is that if guns are outlawed, then
only outlaws would have guns.
No person, be he the armod bur-
glar.or the man dcicnding his
property has the right to tire
a gun at another. Shooting some-
one may stop his criminalact, but
it won‘t keep you out of trouble.
There is nothing wrong with a
iamily owning a gun for legitr
mate hunting purposes. ButthCSC
guns mist be locked up where

children, who are not oi age
to use them. and others with no
knowledge of their use, can get
at them.

The biggest force in this couns
try against gun control is the
National Riﬂe Association (NRA).
With over 1,000,030 members
and a budget or several million
dollars they have a large lob-
bying and public relations Cam'
paign aimed at convincing the
American people that only the
extremeists want to take away
the right of every Ame icau to
own a gun or two. Public opi»
nion polls over the past several
decades have shown the minors
ity of the public sampled to be in
favor of some form or another of
gun control. The Gun Act of 1968
is not strong enough in its pre—
ventive and protective measures.
One NRKm-zmller toldNewsweek,
"i don’t want some dumb cop
deciding whether or not I can
own a gun." One comment not
enough; a Chicago gun dealer
said, "Guns are part of the
American way of living...
you might as well stop General
Motors from makingcars .. they

Edilorial Positions

Six students have been appointed
i0 salaried management positions
on the Grinnell Scarlet lit Black for
the 197445 academic year.

Junior Kyle Schaub and Sophomore
Brent Schondelmeyei- have been
named Editors of lhe publication.
Schaub will serve first semester
and Schondelmeyer will serve sec»
and semester.

Schaub is a three year veteran of
the Scarlet and Black. She served
as Associate Editor her freshman
year, as a staff writer her soph—
omore year, as a foreign column-
ist the first half of her junior year,
and, most recently, as a stall writ—
er and layout assistant.

Schondelmeyer, a two year veteran
of the staff, joined the Scarlet Kl
Black as a slat! writer his fresh-
man year, and was named Manzg»
ing Editor in April, 1973, a post
he Still holds,

Brent Schondelmeyer

kill [00."

It is a sad state Wht‘n the use
and owuscrship oi a lethal \Vcn'
pon is considered to be part of
the American culturc. In Europe
many people still associate this
country with murders. In many
foreign countries With strict gun
control laws, there areamnzing-
ly few murders. ln 19.66, for ex-
ample, there were 30 in Eng-
land, 99 in Canadi, 68 in W.
Germany and 37 in Japan.

All handguns, including “Soto
urday Night specials" should be

outlawed. Laws prohibiting mail
order and gun importation should
be reviewed and strengthened if
needed. Guns should be register
ed, and strong consideration sh-
ould be taken of liscensing gun
owners, Perhaps the court sys-
tem shduld be reviewed in order,
perhaps, to permit stricter pen-
alties for gun related crimes to
be meted out. These measures
should be adopted toprotect those
that don't use a gun from those
who own them and don’tuse them
in the proper way.

In in Newsweek column Dr. ThOV
mas E. Deicker expressed his
fear of having hisneighbors owlr
ing guns. Dr. Dcicker,a research
hsychologist at Central Louisiana
State University commented on
the gun control situation. “If
Congress genuinely voiced the
will of the people, that would
be enough support even to over-
ride a veto. The difference lies,
we rabid pacifist: suspect, in the
vigor oi the relevant lobbying
groups. Although Iain guaranteed
by my Constitution the right to
bear arms, ldon’t knOWhOW much
longer 1 can bear my neighbor's

Kyle Sch-uh

Celia Goldwag, a freshman, has
been named Managing Editor. A
newcomer To the Scarlet 51 Black
stall, Goidwag was active in high
school journalism, and was an ed—
itor of The Romsonian.

John R. Lom, a sophomore, has
been named Advertising Manager.
HP has served as a staff writer

. and a sports writer lot the news-

paper for the past two years.

Dee Dee Goldie, 2 freshman, has
been named Layout Editor. Asfaff
writer for the newspaper since Aug—
ust, 1973, Goldie has recently work-
ed as Coming Events Editor and
as a layout assistant.

Douglas Halsey has been named
to a second term as Photography
Direclor. A sophomore, Halsey has
served as Phoiogmphy Director sis
lice Sepfember, 1973, and has also
’wrinen several feature stories.

PAGE 5 THE GRINNELL SCARLET & BLACK APRIL 12, 1974

 

by Bruce Green
The Falman’s column both this
week and next will deal with jazz
records being released lot the iitst
time (lot many at them) in years,
by Faniasy/Pteslige/Milestone re-
co‘rds. They are invaluable history
lessons for serious record colleen
tors, and individually, they aregood
music, Sometimes masterpieces of
music by artists long since gone.
I recently received package same
piers ol the issues, and I own a
good many of them myseli, so 1
think I can talk quite safely about
them.

I’ll look iirsl at lwoters, Speci»
ally priced lwo»ior-one sets by
Prestige, in the 24000 series. My
package, consisting of selections
from the various releases, Slarls
off with a track from 3 Miles, Da-
vis release called Tallest Trees,,
(PRESTIGE Z4012), called "Doxy."
The personnell on both this track
and the two other tracks by Davis
on this package consists of Miles
with Sonny Rollins, Percy Heath,
Kenny Clarke, and Horace Silver.

Rollins appears on only “Doxy,”
his own composition, whereas the
other lwo, “Blue Haze” and ”Mi—
les Ahead" are quartet performer
nces. On all three Miles is in
classic Early Formrmenning pTEr
Gil Evans work. His melodic sense
is classic, his understatement is
classic, and his backup is fantas—
tic. All in all, a good sample of
early recordings by the greatest
trumpeter since Diz in jazz.

The great John Coltrane is re»
presented,,,bv More Lasting Than
Bronze, (PRESTIGE 24014) which
is represented on my sampler by
“Straight Street” and “I Hear 3
Rhapsody." both with Paul Chamr
bers and Albert Heath, and with
other various accompaniment. The
tracks are good and Cotrnne is a
very good saxophonist, even in this
period, before he left Miles Davis.
The album should interest allTrane
fans, and all jazz oriented people.

Clifford Brown, the legendary tr»
umpeter killed in 1956 at the height
of his career, has his own lwofer,
entitled Clifford Brown in Paris
(PRESTIGE 24020). This was re-
corded by Brownieandvariouspick»
up groups in 1953, when he wenHo
Paris with Lionel Hnmpion’s Band.
This record has some of the best
recorded efforts by one of the best
lrumpeters around in jazz at any
time with quaitet, sextet, seplet,
and big band. It includes Such num-
bers as “It Might As Well Be
Spring” a classic ballad Perforr
mance, ”Blue Concept," and exCer
llehl blues, and a Chordal sequence
number with familiar sounding riffs
and exquisite solos by Brownie and
Gigi Gi-yce entitled “Salute to the
Bandbox.” Brownie was the middle
ground to modern jazz, hallway

required.

night at 10 in South Lounge.

and Mary Robohm on ViDli '

 

AllentionCéiiéclor

Tomorrow night in Herrick at 8 RM,
a concert by visiting soprano Carole Begin-d. She will sing “Arias from llalia
Operas," by Handel; “Songs to the Poems of Emil Dickinson," by Aato
Copland; three songs by John Carpenter, and “Songs to the Poems ?
Verlaine," by Faure, Ms. Bogard. who has sung with the Philadelphia
Orchestra, The Calgary Philharmonic, and the title role in Monteverdi's
“Coronation oi Poppa," with the Netherlands Opera, will be accompanied by
pianist Betty Rutli Tomfohi'de. Should be interesting. _

Tonight, at 8 in Herrick Chapel, the Manhattan String Quartet, with the
assistance of Cecil Lytle on piano, will present Webern's six Bagalelles.
Mozart's Quartet in F, K. 590, and Dvorhk's Quintet In E, 0p. 31. No tickets

A faculty concert by Cecil Lytle and Beverly Avery scheduled for Sunday
night has been postponed until May 17. _
A cancel-f. of Slavic Balalaika players and singers will be presented Saturday

Today at 4:15 PM, there will be a Student Recital in the South Lounge. The
Program will include a Hadyn String Quartet, Vivaldi ’l‘rio Sonaya, and
various and sundry vocal and piano solos. Participating are Catherine Lee,
Michelle ion on viola; Marian Slevick on cello;
David Norvell on piano; Deidre Leipziger, on harpsichord; April Krassner on
nute, Jane M. Turbov on oboe. and Timothy Christinnsen, Betsy Parsons.
Mary Shepard. and Patricia Wood on vocals.

between Miles Davis, and Dizzy
Gillespie, and one of the mostde-
cent, hard-working and personable
lrumpelers at any time. Hehasbeeu
sorely missed, and his music is
eternal. This album is some 01' the
best, if that can he Said abouta man
who always turned out consistently
grealwork. ,

Gene Ammons and pianist Dodo
Matmatosa, along with Sam Jones
on bass and Marshall Thompson‘on
drums, have their own lwofer, en—
titled simply Jug and Dodo. Dodo,
a consistently underrated pianist
and one who worked with Miles Da—
vis and Charlie Parker, and Amm-
ons present good swinging jazz, but
nothing along the lines of Miles
Davis Dr Coltrane. The two tracks
I have heard off their lwofer,
(PRESTIGE 24021) "Georgia” by
Hnogy Carmichael, and “For You,”
by Dubin and Blake, have beengood,
but not classics, as might be ex-
pected. Nonetheless, it is good.
Gerry Mulligan and ChelBaker,re-
presented by their twofer Mulligan/
Baker, (PRESTIGE 24016) are two
very fine instrumentals. The tunes
they have together are “My Funny
Valentine," which is pleasing, and
interesting, but notstanlinglycrea—
five, which is nothing new foreiiher
Baker or Mulligan, and “Carolea,”
about which the same could be said.
Mulligan has one track alone, with
rhythm, and three brass and an
extra bari sax, and tenor. fl is
called “Funhouse,” and is one of
Mulligans essays in arranging. it
comes on very well, with the two
haris giving a contrapiiiitai exposi~
tion of the theme, and a good solo
by Mulligan. All in ali,ugoodaibum
if you like Mulligan and/01' Baker,
but not one to find out whether you
do or not on.

The great Stan Getz has two num-
bers on my sampler from his Two-
feI‘ (PRESTIGE 24019) one called
“Big Bear,” and one called “the
Lady in Red." Both are good, and
so, probably, is the album itself.
For vocalist fans, King Pleasure
has his own twofer, (The Source,
PRESTIGE 24017), which is very
good, from what I have heard. It
includes “Moody’s Mood fol-Love,”
which is lyrics to the solobyJames
Moody of “I'm in the Mood for
Love,” which is includedonaMoody
package (PRESTIGE 24013), which
includes a version 0f“The Breeze
and I," with Kenny Buri‘ell and
Ray Bartelto, which is excellent.
For rhythm fans, MongoSanlamaria
has Afro Roots, (PRESTIGE 24018),
on which you can find Afro Blue
in the best version I have ever
heard, with Paul Horn on Flute.

Next week-Miles, ‘Trane. Mingus,
Sonny Rollins, Mose Allison, MJQ,
Eric Dolphy, YuseanleeI.zndBird.

FATMAN

the Department of Music will preseii

 

 

Render: Praise for SAGA Passover Cooperation

To the Editors:

would like to thank the planners and
the participants oitlie two Passover
Seders, for making the holiday
meaningful in city of Grinnell. In the
past, it has been my feeling that the
College did not retilly take an
interest in the wishes of students in
this respect. I really underestima-
ted SAGA. thinking that, being an
observant .lcw. it would be very
diiiicult and lonely to keep the
holiday. To my surprise and delight
there has been great cooperation

with students who have desired to
keep the holiday oiPassover, SAGA

has provided adequate meals that

were suitable lor‘ the holiday. I must

also thank SAGA Dave and those

who helped prepare the meals for

the two Sedeis. loi they worked

hard to prepare those meals, while

exhibiting a respect lor those who

wanted to observe Passover in the’
traditional way. This kind oi respect

is welcome and i hope it is

contagious.

Robert Render

 

