# Anti-gun college professor calls cops



## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

*Professor Takes Heat for Calling Cops on Student Who Discussed Guns in Class*

* A professor in Connecticut reported one of her students to the police after he gave a class presentation on why students and teachers should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus. Now, free speech activists say the professor's actions are what really need to be investigated.*

Last October, John Wahlberg and two classmates at Central Connecticut State University gave an oral presentation for a communications class taught by Professor Paula Anderson. The assignment was to discuss a "relevant issue in the media," and the students presented their view that the death toll in the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting massacre would have been lower if professors and students had been carrying guns.​
That night, police called Wahlberg, a 23-year-old senior, and asked him to come to the station. When he arrived, they they read off a list of firearms that were registered in his name and asked where he kept them. Guns are strictly prohibited on the CCSU campus and residence halls, but Wahlberg says he lives 20 miles off-campus and keeps his gun collection locked up in a safe. No further action was taken by police or administrators.

"I don't think that Professor Anderson was justified in calling the CCSU police over a clearly non-threatening matter," Wahlberg told The Recorder, the CCSU student newspaper that first reported the story. "Although the topic of discussion may have made a few individuals uncomfortable, there was no need to label me as a threat."

Wahlberg declined to comment further to FOXNews.com, saying he did not want more media attention.

According to The Recorder, Anderson cited safety as her reason for calling the police.

"It is also my responsibility as a teacher to protect the well-being of our students, and the campus community at all times," she told The Recorder. "As such, when deemed necessary because of any perceived risks, I seek guidance and consultation from the Chair of my Department, the Dean and any relevant University officials."

Anderson did not respond to calls from FOXNews.com. Campus police forwarded requests to university spokesman Mark McLaughlin, who declined to comment, citing Wahlberg's privacy.

Robert Shibley, vice president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), said Anderson's actions appeared to be out of line.

"If all he did was discuss reasons for allowing guns on campus, it seems a bit much to call the police and grill him about it," Shibley said. "If you go after students for just discussing an idea, that goes against everything a university is supposed to stand for."

Shibley said FIRE has seen many more cases of hair-trigger responses by administrators over anything gun-related since the Virginia Tech shooting.

In 2007, Shibley noted, a student at Hamline University in Minnesota was suspended after writing a letter to an administrator arguing that carrying concealed weapons on campus may help prevent tragedies like the one at Virginia Tech. The student was allowed to return only after undergoing a psychological evaluation, he said.

Shibley also cited an incident at Colorado College last year in which campus administrators denounced a flyer as "threatening and demeaning content" because it mentioned guns. He said the students who produced the flyer were found guilty of violating the school's violence policy, which was added to their school records.

"It is, of course, important that administrators identify real threats to students," Shibley said. "But they need to use logic to discern whether a threat is real."

But Jerold Duquette, an associate professor of political science at CCSU who sits on the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom, say the Wahlberg case is not so clear-cut.

"This is a situation where both sides can come up with a reasonable explanation," Duquette said.

"[Wahlberg] certainly has a reason to complain, since he didn't do anything directly threatening. But I wouldn't say the administration has a reason to sanction or punish the professor or the police.... I don't know if I would have done anything differently in the situation."

Katie Kasprzak, a spokeswoman for the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, suggested that the professor called the police because she disagreed with Wahlberg's political views.

"Critics of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus argue that colleges and universities are dedicated to the free flow of ideas," she said. "Yet when a student gives a class presentation on a relevant issue in the media, it is acceptable to label the student as a threat? The only threat posed was a threat to the professor's personal beliefs."

Duquette said there was no evidence to support that.

"I think a lot of people see this as a liberal professor going after a student because he likes guns. I don't know if that's the case," Duquette said, adding that more would need to be known about the incident.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,504524,00.html


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## DevilsJohnson (Oct 21, 2007)

They will never stop. They think if you outlaw them we will live in some utopia where we all sit around, smoke pot, and talk about how smart we are. :buttkick:


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## kg333 (May 19, 2008)

Either that professor implied a lot more about the student than she had evidence for, or the police took far more action than was necessary on that complaint.
Someone get that kid a lawyer and sue like crazy...surely you could get a slander charge. :smt076

KG


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## clanger (Jan 27, 2009)

> "It is also my responsibility as a teacher to protect the well-being of our students, and the campus community at all times," she told The Recorder. "As such, when deemed necessary because of any perceived risks, I seek guidance and consultation from the Chair of my Department, the Dean and any relevant University officials."


Falsely ratting someone out because they were right is not the same thing, Mr. Tweed-Jacket Bogus-Agenda Man.


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## macgulley (Mar 10, 2009)

How silly.


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## jump15vc (Feb 24, 2009)

I did the same thing at my school for an ethics class, and when my professor found out about what my topic was he made me come in the day before and give him the presentation in his office to make sure i didnt say anything offensive, I was the only one he made do this and there was a kid advocating that we get rid of our military entirely, how is that not offensive??


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## jimmy (Feb 3, 2009)

Hey jump15vc, I remember your thread from couple weeks ago, when you where asking about refrences to write your paper..When I was reading this thread for a split second I thought that the student might be you because I forgot where you go to college..Thanks to God it is not you...The poor student must have been through a rough time..it is very intimidating.

Any ways, people are nervous these days because of all the shooting incidences that happened lately..I know that i will be boo'ed by so many, but to be realistic, talking about guns is a sensitive issue in society these days. The general public/people are clouded by the fear of lunatics going on shooting rampages..Specially non-gun owners don't understant the technical terms of what is a conceal carry and what responsibilities are associated with it (from being an extra super good guy to know guns safety and to practice self discpline, etc.. all the things we know about CCW and the responsibilities associated with it)...The general public associates the following "young guy + talk about gun = trouble"..They don't even listen whether the talk about guns was about a responsible and safe carry for the benefit of good of all..They just hear guns and their logic shuts down on the rest..That's why it is our responsibilities as good guys who own guns and beleive in self discipline to promote our side of the story..We have to act double and tripple efforts to explain about safety practice and responsible handling of our rights to own guns, whether in a conversation about Concealed carry or about guns in general..We have to show and emphasize the image more than anybody else in this regard..i know i am doing my part in this and it is working..


Sorry for the lengthy reply..But I feel it is part of my responsibility as a gun owner to reflect the positive image of gun ownership by advertising the responsibility and discipline attached to this right that is above and beyond expectations...

Well I have to go now or I will be late for my bowling pin shoot..


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## jump15vc (Feb 24, 2009)

Yeah, logic just kinda goes out the window when the topic of guns is brought up, but its whatever, their loss and our gain haha


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## KS Trekker (Apr 4, 2009)

This college kid is way more tolerant than me. If my local police department called me and asked me to come to the station to discuss the guns I own, I would have told them to pound sand! Based on what I'm reading here, I don't see what gives them the probably cause to believe that he had committed a crime or he was planning on committing a crime.


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