Ace of Spades HQ

April 10, 2013

The campus "gun scare" you never heard about [Purp]
— Open Blogger

Normally, the national media is all over the kind of story where hundreds of students are panicking, some injured in the panic, a campus is locked down, and heavily armed state police are called in, right? Its a hanging curve right in the media's wheelhouse begging to be pounded into the cheap seats with at least a full days worth of breathless coverage and interviews, right?

Not this time though...

...there was something very "inconvenient" and kind of embarrassing about the story. The inconvenient thing is that it happened in Rhode Island.

Right now you're wondering why a Rhode Island campus gun scare is different than any other state, right? Its a good question and the answer is below the fold. Its because the campus police in Rhode Island are disarmed. That's right, in Rhode Island, the first responders on campus are expected to respond to lethal threats with non-lethal force. You'll have to scroll down to the bottom of that article to find that out.

The incident has re-ignited the debate over whether URI should allow its police officers to carry guns.
Mark Chearino, a 15-year veteran of the URI police force, said that Rhode Island is the only state in which campus police donÂ’t have firearms.
Â“Guess they donÂ’t have the money,Â” he said Thursday during the lockdown. Â“I donÂ’t know. They donÂ’t trust us.Â”
Chearino testified in 2001 before the Board of Governors on Higher Education.
Â“We were told arming the police would adversely affect the learning environment at URI,Â” he said, adding that after Virginia Tech, Â“Police officers who are assigned to protect should not be without a firearm in this day and age.Â”
Chearino said he did not think ThursdayÂ’s incident would change anyoneÂ’s mind about arming the campus police.
Â“This wonÂ’t do it,Â” he said. Â“A hoax is a hoax.Â”
Chearino said that if he saw someone with a gun on campus heÂ’d run. Â“IÂ’m gonna run and hide behind a car like everyone else, he said. Â“IÂ’m not Superman.Â”

The good news though is the heavily armed state police (who showed up only 20min after the call) confiscated a Nerf gun from some student, although nobody knows if that's what set off the panic...but they took it anyway just to be sure.

Operating under the principle of an "abundance of caution", 50 cases of pop tarts were also confiscated from the university cafeteria lest they be carelessly nibbled into menacing forms(1).

(1) I may have made up that part about the pop tarts...but the nerf gun is true.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 01:39 AM | Comments (51)
Post contains 439 words, total size 3 kb.

1 First? Laughed out loud about the pop tarts.

Posted by: Boone at April 10, 2013 01:43 AM (tIyK2)

2 #facepalm

Posted by: Y-not at April 10, 2013 01:43 AM (5H6zj)

3 gun scare? "Good news: AQ in Iraq merges with Syrian jihadists." A match made in hell - and one whose significance won't really be felt until the shooting stops in Syria. Rick Moran, American Thinker, 4/9

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 01:54 AM (MhA4j)

4 Unfreakingbelievable. What is the point of cops without guns? How do they justify their salaries if they cannot perform their duties? Idjits All.

Posted by: ALH at April 10, 2013 02:05 AM (eqV3Q)

5 No gun zones, open invitation to criminals. But the NRA proposition to arm public educators fails to consider that the population of teachers includes pedophiles, fanatics and abusive personalities amongst the profession. How hard is it to design school campuses for the threats faced these days? Just as with "open borders" and international crime organizations taking advantage of US lack of immigration law enforcement, it is too easy for stray people to enter school grounds, and too easy to conduct organized crime cartel business at school. How many points of entry per school? For example, disband the tax funded TSA trained "agents" for security pat-downs, transfer employment opportunity per community school district, DOE?

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 02:08 AM (MhA4j)

6 How do they justify their salaries if they cannot perform their duties?

Their duty is to make people "feel good". It has nothing to do with actually providing protection.

Posted by: @PurpAv at April 10, 2013 02:10 AM (/gHaE)

7 Sometimes the absurd ironies literally write themselves. But keep in mind that leftism is a mental disorder, not a legitimate political ideology. Leftists have force fields surrounding their gray matter, preventing reality from seeping in. A leftist could read that story (or at least peruse it, until their ADHD set in and they tuned out) and not grasp the obvious points, even if you sat down and explained those obvious points to them, using a flow chart and a puppet show. C'est la vie. Lastly, on a related topic, especially since a state university is involved with this story, Rhode Island and Utah, for example, have roughly similar populations. They each have one major city within their borders. Rhode Island's unemployment rate is 9.4%. Utah's is 5.2%. That's not coincidental. Politics actually matters.

Posted by: Tsar Nicholas II at April 10, 2013 02:13 AM (r2PLg)

8 Morning PurpAv! ALH has been down with a sinus infection for the past few days. The pollen count here in Georgia is approaching Biblical plague level. I think there will be a total eclipse of the sun today. The skies are yellow!

Posted by: ALH at April 10, 2013 02:14 AM (eqV3Q)

9 Anyone who is a BeBop Deluxe fan: a) knows their music (and has good taste) B) and is showing their age! Well done, Purp!

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 10, 2013 02:14 AM (tqLft)

10 Campus Cops should have milk cartons instead of guns.

Posted by: Mother jones at April 10, 2013 02:14 AM (rCS6C)

11 When exactly did a gov't employee ever have to "justify their salary?" If that was the case most of these shitbags would be paying us!

Posted by: Suppressed Flasher at April 10, 2013 02:15 AM (X+nFp)

12 This is fucking retarded. What do their police do? Walk around smiling like idiots, telling everyone they see "Be well, citizen."

Posted by: Empire of Jeff at April 10, 2013 02:24 AM (JDIKC)

13 http://tinyurl.com/DisarmRI Further disarmament.

Posted by: Maloderous Rex at April 10, 2013 02:32 AM (ZZ0xJ)

14 Meanwhile, this Thursday, the criminals in the Senate are about to engage in a naked power grab by taking our 2nd Amendment rights from us. Illegal. Unconstitutional. Dangerous.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 10, 2013 02:32 AM (tqLft)

15 URI campus cops armed with stun guns at least?

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 02:34 AM (MhA4j)

16 In a firm but polite voice, say "Enhance your calm, sir" and instruct the shooter to lie on the ground . - URI campus police training manual

Posted by: Empire of Jeff at April 10, 2013 02:34 AM (JDIKC)

17 14. States to unite in recall of Senators?

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 02:36 AM (MhA4j)

18 15 URI campus cops armed with stun guns at least?

Pepper spray and batons.

Posted by: @PurpAv at April 10, 2013 02:37 AM (/gHaE)

19 Didn't British cops get disarmed years ago?

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 02:37 AM (MhA4j)

20 Pay tell, Sir, wouldst thou take heed to sheath thine weapon of fyre?

Posted by: University of Rhode Island Campus Police at April 10, 2013 02:37 AM (+iA5G)

21 Lilyhammer!

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 02:38 AM (MhA4j)

22 Prescient

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Archons

Posted by: @PurpAv at April 10, 2013 02:40 AM (/gHaE)

23 URI cops armed with Pepper spray and batons. 007 batons or magic wands

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 02:40 AM (MhA4j)

24 The sweet honeysuckle smell of my pussy will disarm the most aggressive of gunmen!

Posted by: Lincoln Chafee at April 10, 2013 02:43 AM (+iA5G)

25 17 Where do we start the recall? I have reached critical mass with my " elected representatives."

Posted by: AnnaS at April 10, 2013 02:46 AM (htu8n)

26 007 batons or magic wands

I think Gov Chaffee only lets them have these.

http://tinyurl.com/cqw2yb3

Posted by: @PurpAv at April 10, 2013 02:46 AM (/gHaE)

27 How can it take a State trooper twenty minutes to get anywhere in RI?

Posted by: Jean at April 10, 2013 02:50 AM (fW/Ev)

28 The power of my pussy compels you!

The power of my pussy compels you!

The power of my pussy compels you!

Posted by: Lincoln Chaffee at April 10, 2013 02:50 AM (+iA5G)

29 Maybe they could carry around kittehs, or pictures of kittehs, since those are proven to promote relaxation.

Posted by: Elizabethe on the phone at April 10, 2013 02:52 AM (qPCAa)

30 How can it take a State trooper twenty minutes to get anywhere in RI?

Its unwise to ask such questions comrade.

Posted by: @PurpAv at April 10, 2013 02:52 AM (/gHaE)

31 I discoverd Sam Adams and lesbians in Providence. I don't remember anything else.

Posted by: Beefy Meatball at April 10, 2013 02:52 AM (i7B17)

32 Please don't tell me Chafee Hall is named after the current fucking Governor of Rhode Island and Plymouth Plantations.

Vanity of Vanities, all is vanity!

Posted by: logprof at April 10, 2013 02:56 AM (+iA5G)

33 Racking out now. If the NORKs start a nuclear war before say 1pm, can someone wake me up?

Posted by: @PurpAv at April 10, 2013 02:56 AM (/gHaE)

34 I sometimes think the NE is just lost to dementia.

Posted by: Infidel at April 10, 2013 03:09 AM (gqEUi)

"But the NRA proposition to arm public educators fails to consider that the population of teachers includes pedophiles, fanatics and abusive personalities amongst the profession"

Which wasn't a problem back in my day, when it was entirely common for guns to be present in the parking lot - in the vehicles of both students and teachers.

What exactly happened in the 80's to go from "nobody cares about a gun near anything, including schools" to the early 90's "panic over guns near schools"?

Posted by: Kitty Frontage, previously known as Jess1 at April 10, 2013 03:42 AM (lbiWb)

36 25. Where do we start the recall? I have reached critical mass with my " elected representatives." -- AnnaS Yeah. "Elections have consequences" has come to mean that every vote from the citizenry to send "representatives" to Washington removes America that much further from Constitutional Governance. And that applies every bit as much against the Republican Leadership, if not more, than to the Democratic asses. For instance, McCain is not a "maverick" but is exemplary of what is identifiable throughout the Republican Leadership. Otherwise, he would not have been the GOP '08 Potus Candidate. It isn't as if the neoconservative "gifts" that won't stop taking, Patriot Act & DHS, have been protecting Constitutional Governance, unless playing the PC idiot game saying that it's for our own good, for the children, blah blah blah. Which Congressional Caucus repeatedly institutes and augments the gross abuses of power in federal bureaucracies? Rather, there's only one that opposes such, and the Republican Leadership are keeping their promise to usurp such grassroots efforts that ARE elected with the public mandate to re-institute constitutional governance. Congress? Bring them home. Bring them ALL home.

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 03:45 AM (MhA4j)

37 35 Kitty, "whatever happened"? Increase in crime, theft, violence, etc. But let's not be fooled into thinking that in the 1960-70s urban America where revolution and race riots ruled the day 'everything used to be fine'. I'd say that the homogenization of America (and the globe) into urban culture is what happened. Meanwhile, after Kennedy's assassination and the expected national sympathetic vote for LBJ v. Goldwater, Americans unwittingly passed the citizenry tax-funded and electoral result buck-of-responsibility to Uncle Sam, aka Big Brother. Academia had already been spending the 20th Century convincing voters to "trust the experts" who had been already denounced by Eisenhower as the (Congressional-) Military-Industrial complex. Truman said 'the buck stops here'. Today's translation: "What difference does it make?!! They're dead." We're told that all belong to the "collective" by our federal propaganda ministry, aka msm. As if to say it on television makes it true. Finally, consider what enforces the massive treason in Washington. The Patriot Act with DHS cover the organized crime conducted by all three branches merging into a single conglomerate (judicial legislating from the bench, executive dictatorship, legislative Ponzis). ...Send them all home.

Posted by: panzernashorn at April 10, 2013 04:05 AM (MhA4j)

38 Agreed! Bring them ALL home!! The Dems are chipping away at our 2nd Amendment rights and there is that senile McCain going ballistic over a proposed filibuster. Apparently the Republicans are poised to give the Regime a cave on background checks. The fools need to fight every attempt to chip away our rights. They have been there too long--re-election is their only goal. I will work at the precinct level to throw these scum out in the primary!

Posted by: annas at April 10, 2013 04:05 AM (3Fe39)

"Â“We were told arming the police would adversely affect the learning environment at URI,Â”

What kind of bullcrap is that? I bet the kids at Sidwell Friends in DC aren't adversely affected by all the Secret Service guys swarming around. In fact, I'd be willing to be that both the parents AND students feel safer knowing that a Columbine or Sandy Hook attack would NEVER happen at their school while the Obama kids are there.

Posted by: sydney jane at April 10, 2013 04:34 AM (zYWPO)

40 This is quasi-literally the only guy in the state legislature speaking out against fascism, et al... http://www.repchip.com

Posted by: Maloderous at April 10, 2013 04:45 AM (p2s4o)

41 When I was in college we had fights with the old fashioned dart guns, darts had suction cup tips. They always had shaving cream, Vaseline or some other type of craP slathered on them. We never got in trouble, my how times have changed

Posted by: Misanthropic humanitarian fka irishacres at April 10, 2013 05:13 AM (HVff2)

42 We were told arming the police would adversely affect the learning environment at URI In other words, the URI administration believes in Gun Cooties.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at April 10, 2013 05:32 AM (MBqvE)

43 Little-Known fact about the Westerly Sun.... The Sun is (or used to be) an afternoon paper. It was the very first newspaper to report the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Posted by: tomaig at April 10, 2013 05:36 AM (8ogqy)

44 At my school (mid 70's) we played the Assassin game; you were assigned a target who you would hunt down on campus and shoot with a water pistol, while watching out for whoever was hunting you. Good clean fun. It was about a decade later that I first heard of college administrators trying to stop this kind of thing. Side effect of War on Drugs, maybe ? What a sorry-ass world kids are growing up in today .... no fun, no color, entirely free of spice (but may contain traces of soy, milk, tree nuts and shellfish).

Posted by: Shlem Budyenni at April 10, 2013 05:42 AM (3X3ZR)

45 SO ... the state police disarmed the most heavily armed non-belligerent actor on campus? The very first person to arrive with an offensive weapon? /sarc

Posted by: Nerf Team Six at April 10, 2013 06:53 AM (0F6Sg)

46 In other news, the US Army is exploring non-lethal means to overrun machine gun nests, assault fortified positions and provide protection.

In an interview, SFC Krapovski says "Yeah, they want us to wave our arms in a threatening manner. This is bullshit."

His platoon CC, 1Lt Yatla offered "I have no idea. I've been to Ranger school, ate dirt and snakes and now I'm told that a sternly worded letter is my limit of elevating the response. I just told my guys to run. We do a lot of PT now just so we can get away."

Posted by: tangonine at April 10, 2013 06:57 AM (x3YFz)

Â“We were told arming the police would adversely affect the learning environment at URI,Â”..........wonder if being shot affects learning?

Posted by: uglykidjoe at April 10, 2013 07:47 AM (6uYpM)

48 Greetings: Obviously, the 15-year veteran officer stuck with his job regardless, so his current upset doesn't much impress me. What concerns me much more is how these "campus" police departments fit into our democratic republic. This has been agitating my mind since the Penn State child molestations came to public light. Are there elected officials to whom these guys report or just some appointed person? And why can't the regular police forces who report to elected officials (I hope) do the job? These semi-private police forces smack of feudalism to me.

Posted by: 11B40 at April 10, 2013 08:42 AM (h6Yiw)

49 And why can't the regular police forces who report to elected officials (I hope) do the job? These semi-private police forces smack of feudalism to me.

They are "regular police"; public employees. Their jurisdiction happens to be the university.

They're nothing like mall security guards.

Posted by: @PurpAv at April 10, 2013 11:00 AM (/gHaE)

50 Greetings, PurpAv @ 49 Accepting that they are regular police/public employees, what is their chain-of-command? Does it end in an elected official or some appointed hack ? Is it the unelected head of the college or the ...?

Posted by: 11B40 at April 10, 2013 01:23 PM (sY7ut)

51 The head of the university thinks the policy is stupid, he's not the one imposing it.

The governor is. The campus police chain of command ends at the governor

Posted by: @PurpAv at April 10, 2013 04:56 PM (/gHaE)

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