opinion

Now is the time to act on climate change, or else

By Nicholas Kerr | January 30

When I was born in 1999 in a small town just across the river from Philadelphia, it must’ve seemed to my family that I had a bright future ahead of me. I was being brought into a new millennium propelled by unprecedented economic growth, ever-advancing technology, and a new era of peace ushered in by the end of the Cold War. Americans, by and large, were closing out an era of rapid positive change, eager to see what the year 2000 and beyond would bring.

We need a moderate candidate to run

By Editorial Board | January 30

We’re past the midterms, we’re past the shutdown (for now), and as of Jan. 20, we’re officially halfway done with Donald Trump’s presidency. We all know what this means: campaign announcement season!

SGA creates environmental commission

By Letters to the Editor | January 30

Fellow Pirates:

Student athletes need to care about their mental health

By Staff Writer | January 23

Students and college athletes are being offered more resources for mental health than they ever have before. The stigma around mental health is being broken down, slowly, every day. A question that still arises, however, is why it’s so hard for student-athletes to get the help they need.

This government shutdown is a disgrace

By Staff Writer | January 23

As I’m sure you’re all aware, we are now in Day 34 of the government shutdown. This is the longest shutdown in United States history, surpassing the previous record of 21 days during the Clinton administration over education, the environment and Medicare, among other issues.

Letter to the Editor:

By Letters to the Editor | November 15

Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. Stop blaming guns for the actions of criminals. All American can agree on at least one thing: A world with less violence is a good thing. Notice I did not say gun violence, domestic violence, or hate-crime based violence. All violence is an issue, and those who commit those acts should be punished. The nature of criminals is that they do not follow laws. Writing more restrictions into law will not deter criminals from committing crimes. They do not follow the laws, to begin with, and why would they start now? The article [We need stricter gun laws to stop gun violence, Oct. 31, 2018] says, ‘Gun control may not prevent all shootings, but something has to be done because society is becoming more accustomed and desensitized to these shootings, which isn’t good.’ Writing laws that will have no effect on the actions of those who already will not follow the law to make people feel good about making progress is unproductive and pushes us back from having the real conversation. I will concede that background checks are a common-sense measure to fight against gun violence. Although, there are significant issues with the system. Namely keeping criminal infractions off of juvenile records and allowing minors to not face the consequences of their actions. Instead of forgiving and forgetting the crimes of youth, such as drug offenses and run-ins with the police, we need to rehabilitate and remember, so when that child that got caught selling coke tries to buy a handgun legally, they cannot because of their record. I retain the objections to assuming that a background check will stop gun violence. If a criminal wants to buy a gun, they will get one. It is not a matter of whether a background check will prevent criminals from getting guns, because it will not. Thinking that because now weapons are banned, criminals will not use that weapon is a naïve belief that criminals will follow the law. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.”- Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of NRA. Maxwell James, freshman accounting major