Update (Oct. 20, 2007):  There has been an important development in this story. I have learned that the supposed meeting was actually a misprint and am now correcting the record in order to maintain credibility with you my readers. My apologies, but we were under the impression that as of late yesterday that the original story was the case.

Well, I have been thinking about what to write about and decided to tackle an issue close to home. The institution of higher learning that I now attend (the University of North Dakota) has now decided that its older students that reside in campus apartments, many of whom have families, are not responsible or mature enough to have firearms within their apartment units. The campus housing authorities have sunk to new lows with this issue and, as a proud conservative who believes strongly in the right to keep and bear arms, I can no longer remain silent.

Let me first state for the record that I do not live on campus (and have no desire to with this new policy, even though I do not currently own a weapon), but that I am standing alongside my friends and colleagues that will be adversely affected by this draconian example of college officials demonstrating a knee-jerk reaction to the Virginia Tech tragedy.

This story originates at the end of September when one of my colleagues and friends (I will omit their names for now) discovered the weapons ban proposal by the University's Apartment Community Council (ACC) buried in an innocuous email that most people would delete if nothing in the subject caught their eye. The email mentioned that there would be a forum on Tues. Oct. 2 to discuss the ban. With only around a week to prepare, my friends organized and came out strong to the forum to express their concerns over the proposal. The pro-ban side was small compared to those against and my friends and their supporters were able to tear apart the University Police Chief's arguments easily and civilly. The overall argument for the ban is continuity, but what is good for the goose (undergraduates living in dormitories in a more close and intimate setting) may not be good for the gander (older, typically graduate-level, students who often have a spouse and child). While it is true that weapons are banned in all other campus facilities, the apartments are an appropriate exception given the nature of apartment living and the demographics of most people living in them.

We left the forum with confidence, but caution as well, as we knew that the battle to safeguard the Second Amendment rights of apartment residents was just starting. We also knew that we had seriously annoyed the pro-ban housing administrative staff, who were likely expecting to quietly pass the ban by hiding it in an email that no one would read. 

This lead to what happened earlier today. One of my colleagues and I were in a computer lab working on an assignment, when he checked a quick message that he received to his Facebook account. The message was from one of our supporters stating that they had uncovered that UND Housing held a meeting and did not publicize it (my friends had been paying closer attention to their emails since the original email for just this reason), essentially holding a closed-door meeting. Update: The supposed secret meeting was actually a misprint and the actual meeting date will be posted at a later date.

We have discovered that housing really wants to avoid the issue, as repeated attempts earlier this week to learn about a possible forum went unanswered. Now, the housing office has stooped to actually hanging up on students attempting to find out the truth and more information. This is unacceptable for these professionals to treat students in such a cursory manner. All these students want is to know the latest on the issue and make their voices heard. I will do my best to keep you up to date on this issue.

I encourage you, my faithful readers, to stand up for your rights in your localities, as we are attempting to do in ours. Always remember that if the other side tries to invoke Virginia Tech to remind them that criminals always break the law and that one more will not stop them.