Letter to the Editor: Concealed Carry forum allows students to debate

This is a letter to the editor, written by junior Trista Sullivan about the concealed carry forum. For more information about the concealed carry forum, read the article that appeared in the Feb. 18 Index.

As most members of campus know, there is debate going on in the Truman community regarding Dixon’s SB 589 and Munzlinger’s SB 731, which would make room for allowance of conceal and carry on MO college campuses. I encourage you all to look up these bills, but I am not writing you all to talk about my perspective on the bills. What I want to share today is the greater call that these debates are bringing to our community.

I was browsing Yik Yak, as I often do, I saw a post about the conceal and carry forum that occurred last Tuesday. I don’t remember the exact content of the post, but someone commented something along the lines of think how much progress we could make with the wifi if we cared about it as much as people seem to care about guns on campus. It was this statement that really stuck out to me, and lingered in my head for the rest of the day. At first, I was a little upset by this comment as I thought to myself why can’t people take this issue more seriously? But, I went on to correct myself and explore the ideas of solidarity, organization, and convictions that this brought to mind.

Regardless of if you are a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian, a Socialist, etc. What matters isn’t how you affiliate yourself politically, or if you are pro-conceal and carry or not. What matters, is that we all have the ability to stand up to the things we see in this  world to be injustices. We have the potential to make change in our community, and beyond our campus as well. We have to harness our connections with each other, and act for the will and good of our fellow citizens. That is what I have found to be most important in this situation, and many other political conflicts I have observed recently on campus.

Some may scrutinize and criticize me for my opinions on the matter, and changing the tone of the conversation, but I find comfort in leaving you all with this …

Now is the time to find your voice. Now is the time to untap your potential. The society we live in is ours for the making. We can fix the problems and issues that we see and experience, but we must find a way to organize and stand up against injustice. We have the ability, the rights, and the duty to make change, and what better place to start this trend amongst yourselves and your community than getting out to vote, and learning how to take place in the political process. Missouri’s Primary for the Presidential Election is days shy of once month away on March 15th, 2016.

I hope that you all can take something away from these debates on campus and between political affiliates, to find where you fit and to start fighting for what you believe in.

What’s there to hold you back?