Texas Governor Wants To Allow Concealed Weapons In Classrooms

Yikes. The Houston Chronicle reports that Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) wants to allow school districts to set their own gun rules:

"I'm pretty much a fan that if you've been trained, if you are registered, then you ought to be able to carry a weapon," Perry said.

The idea is that, in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, having trained, gun-bearing adults on school campuses would help to quickly bring any similar future massacres to a halt. Or something. I'm not an expert on this, but my guess is that most school shootings are not Virginia Tech-style massacres, but rather one-on-one confrontations between students who aren't getting along. If that is true, I fail to see how having more guns (legal though they may be) on school campuses - particularly, grade school campuses - makes children safer. It also seems like school districts would potentially open themselves up to all kinds of legal problems by allowing guns in the classroom. All it takes is one teacher failing to lock up his or her gun, and a curious student or group of students.

via Andrew Sullivan

These Jawns, Them Jawns - June 27, 2008

The Supreme Court upholds individual gun rights by a vote of 5-4.

Show of Unity: Obama's campaign announces that he, along with his wife Michelle and several top campaign staffers, have each contributed the maximum amount to Clinton's campaign in order to help retire her debt. The news comes just before Clinton and Obama make their first joint campaign appearance in Unity, NH, where they each received the same number of votes during the primary.

Looks like Madge and Guy Ritchie are divorcing.

VH1’s I Love the New Millennium premiered this week. I guess even their clever writers haven’t figured out what to call this decade.

Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson installs huge waterfalls throughout New York City.

The conservative Orange County Register comes out in favor of gay marriage in an editorial.

Beating the system: Two guys in Virginia, one of them dressed as a woman, get married. I wonder what the OC Register would say about that.

Advantage Obama: MTV has changed its policy and will now accept political ads.

And in local news...

Philly tries optical illusions to slow down drivers. Somehow I don't think it's going to take people too long to figure these jawns out.

Penn President Amy Gutmann makes a lot of money. $1.1 million last year, to be precise.

Shameless plug for a good friend: WILBUR, my favorite vintage clothier in Philadelphia, is open during the afternoon and evening each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Antiquarian’s Delight, 615 S. 6th St. Parker Posey’s been there!

Image: on221.com