In case Magaña runs again

In 2006 Mario E. Magaña (D), associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at OSU, challenged Sen. Frank Morse (R-Incumbent) for the Dist. 8 Oregon State senate seat but failed. In case the professor runs for elected office again, it might be instructive to keep this OSU Barometer forum exchange on hand for a glimpse into Magaña’s rather smug outlook.

Political science senior, Lyndsey Shaver, wrote a letter to the editor (4/26/07 Issue of The Barometer) critical of an anti-violence rally held on the OSU campus following the Virginia Tech shooting where 32 innocent students lost their lives. Among other points, Shaver advocated rethinking the ‘right to carry’ ban on the VT campus. He wrote, “...work to give students the KNOWLEDGE and ABILITY to PROTECT THEMSELVES.”

Professor Magaña had every right to disagree with the Shaver opinion (only one opinion regarding VT on Thursday) but let’s look at how he did this in his 5/1/07 letter (h/t: Reece).

Response to last Thursday's letters - Use your brain

In the aftermath of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I find it very hard to believe that college students, who in principle are supposed to be capable of performing minimally complex thinking, can express such absurd and ludicrous ideas, and even have the audacity of justifying them with arguments worthy of small minds.

Minimal analysis of the speed of motion of a projectile launched by a fire arm should lead to the inescapable conclusion that no human being is capable of outpacing it. Moreover, with today's modern semi and automatic weapons, which can be obtained legally even by the mentally deficient, can release projectiles at an incredibly high rate and the probability of multiple targets (humans) being hit in a very short period of time is extremely high. The idea that the best way to protect ourselves is by having everyone carry a gun is laughable at best, unless we are willing to live in a society "a la OK Corral".

After reading these letters, I also decided to take a close look at the famous second amendment to see if I could arrive at the same conclusion as those who claim that the founding fathers could foresee the future (perhaps with a crystal ball) and figured that the parameters of that era would remain unchanged after more than two hundred years! Unfortunately, regardless of how much I tried to bring myself down to their level of mental development, I could not!

The proponents of such irrational and illogical thinking that support uncontrolled gun possession should take a look at countries such as Spain and Germany to educate themselves about sensible gun ownership laws. The fact that we live in the most violent society earth today does not mean that we have accept it and keep it that way.

-Prof. Mario E. Magaña
School of EECS

Do we need more elitist's looking down their noses at 'the little people'? I don't think so. See also Was Cho Taught to Hate?