Arizona: ASU to step up irrelevant weapons ban after fatal shooting: "Arizona State University will step up enforcement of its campus weapons ban and set up a committee to better investigate code of conduct violations in the wake of last weekend's fatal shooting involving a football player..... Wade, 21, has been jailed without bond since Saturday when he was arrested in the shooting death of former ASU football player Brandon Falkner, 25, outside a Scottsdale nightspot. .... The university already bans the possession of weapons on campus, but Crow said the revised weapons policy will require students and employees to inform the ASU Department of Public Safety of any violations of the weapons policy. Failure to do so will result in sanctions under existing employment and student policies.Crow also said that any student or employee making a threat of violence, if that threat is verified, will be sent for mental health assessment and may be removed from campus and all programs."



Missouri: Police say killing was self-defense: "A robbery attempt in a house in the 5300 block of Maple Avenue early Wednesday turned into a wild fight that ended up with all three participants shot, one of them fatally, St. Louis homicide detectives said. Darryl Blockton, 21, was slashed with a butcher knife and fatally shot after he had shot and wounded Jerelle Gatlin, 31, and Gatlin's girlfriend, Twanna McNeil, 27, with a shotgun blast, police said. ... Detectives said Gatlin fired several shots at Blockton during a struggle over a shotgun and pistol, and McNeil also fired a couple of shots at Blockton and slashed him with a butcher knife. No criminal charges will be brought against the couple because Blockton was the aggressor and the couple acted in self-defense."


Not everyone has a blast with gun use: "Last Friday was the second installment of 'Blow Away Your Stress,' an activity open to all students who wish to blow off steam by firing guns at targets. ... Although I strongly support the right to bare [sic] arms, using AK-74s as a means of leisure is a little disconcerting. I prefer to think of guns as a means of self-defense rather than emotional release. Still, knowing how to fire a gun isn't a worthless talent. Learning how to load and fire a gun may just be more relevant in our lives than studying about, say, Polish cinema or Italian architecture. Students at Webster get a broad liberal arts background, but one of Webster's tenets is 'real world experience.' Nothing is quite so matter-of-fact as knowing how to take aim and fire. Perhaps all students could benefit from taking time away from their studies of formal logic and learning how to protect themselves."