The AR, AR-style rifle conundrum

June 10, 2022

Today we present the last of our gun reform proposals, and it is probably the most controversial of them all. The sale of AR and AR-style rifles should be limited, if not outright banned. We say this with the understanding that “AR” does not mean “assault rifle” or “automatic rifle,” but rather “ArmaLite rifle,” a specific brand. “AR-style” or “Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR)” refers to semiautomatic rifles that resemble the ArmaLite rifle. We also acknowledge that ARs and AR-style guns can look like anything from a traditional hunting rifle (but with a larger ...

Reforming gun laws

June 8, 2022

Yesterday, when we mentioned the process of getting a license to drive a car, we said we’d come back to that. Well, we’re coming back to it now. At the moment, it is harder to get a driver’s license in some states than it is to get a gun. In the vein of commonsense gun reform, the process for purchasing, owning and/or possessing a firearm should be similar to getting a driver’s license. You should have to prove you are a resident of that state. You should have to pass a written exam on the basic mechanics and safety procedures for guns. You should have to pass a skills ...

Bring common sense back to gun ownership

June 7, 2022

First, the supermarket shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., that left 10 dead. Second, the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 kids and two teachers dead. Finally, the medical center shooting in Tulsa, Okla., that left four dead. The first thing we’d like to say, as fellow residents of a state where hunting is a way of life, is that no one wants to take away your hunting rifles. Here comes the “but.” But we, as nation, need to make changes to gun laws. If you hear us out, you may find we don’t disagree as much as you’d think. One thing all three gunmen from the ...

Self-fulfilling prophecy of ‘bad schools’

June 4, 2022

Monongalia and Preston county schools received devastating financial news this past week. Mon County is expected to lose 350 students to charter schools, many of them to the new in-person charter, while Preston will likely lose 44 — to the tune of $1.9 million and $272,000 respectively. Because of legislation passed in the last few years, parents can now choose to enroll their kids in “public” charter schools. We use the term “public” loosely, because charters are not obligated to accept every child the way real public schools do, nor do charters have to hire certified ...

Is this the end of classroom libraries?

June 3, 2022

Schools must now contend with the practical effects of one of the Legislature’s many culture war bills. This one, Senate Bill 704, requires educators to provide a syllabus of all literature to be used during lessons and gives parents the ability to audit books available to their kids in each classroom. The bill says parents can make an appointment to review the books, which wouldn’t be unreasonable — if that was all. However, as the Preston County Board of Education realized this week, it’s not so simple. Under the requirement to make all literature available for ...

Got an incompetent lawyer? Sucks to be you

June 2, 2022

Amidst all the other turmoil of the last couple weeks, the Supreme Court delivered another blow to Americans’ rights. On May 23, the six-member conservative super-majority ruled in Shinn v. Ramirez and Jones that, in essence, defendants cannot introduce evidence in a federal habeas court (challenging a conviction or imprisonment) that was not already introduced into the state courts’ records, including when the evidence is that the defendants’ post-conviction counsel (lawyer at time of sentencing or appeal) was incompetent. Shinn v. Ramirez was the case against two Arizona ...