Thursday, May 03, 2007

A Newly Prohibited Person?

A State University of New York at Cobleskill student, suspended after posting a picture of himself posing with a shotgun on the Internet, said he received a five-day academic suspension.

The student, Tharindu Meepegama, in a Wednesday phone interview from A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta, where he was undergoing an evaluation, said he posed no threat. But he received the suspension "pending a psychological evaluation" after posting the picture April 17 on his profile page on the social-networking Web site Facebook.
Hospital? So he's been involuntarily committed for having his picture taken holding a shotgun because the paranoid campus officials and authorities go bonkers even thinking of such things due to recent "threats"--none of which Meepegama apparently had anything to do with? And they think he's nuts?

Seeing as how someone in an official capacity ordered this kid into the hospital for a psych evaluation as a condition of lifting his suspension, does that qualify with being "adjudicated"? Will an involuntary commitment cause his name to kick out if that record is included in the database supplying NICS? Or is this one of those things where it's considered "voluntary" as long as you do exactly as ordered? And you folks taking this week's WarOnGuns poll over in the left margin who are supporting NRA's position: would you still choose one of those options if you thought more Meepgama's might be disqualified than truly dangerous people?

If so, how many cases like this can we expect because officials suffer from hoplophobia--a self-induced mental affliction even I might say ought to disqualify someone from owning a gun--at least until they're cured.

Oh, and one other thing, "sportsmen": You'll notice the kid was posing with a shotgun. One day, some of you who still don't get it might figure out they hate you as much--if not more--than they hate anyone.

And isn't this interesting--a listing of SUNY Cobleskill Faculty Websites.

What? There's a disclaimer at the bottom?
SUNY Cobleskill, as an academic institution, vigorously supports freedom of speech. The content of these home pages are not a reflection of campus philosophy or policy, nor are they endorsed or regulated by the institution.
You can't tell that by Tharindu Meepegama.

Looking around for a few minutes, I don't really see a way of communicating electronically with "the right people" via their website, and don't have time to continue looking. But the thought strikes: a campaign to send pictures of gun owners holding their guns to these administration headcases does not seem out of line...

[Via ChareltonHest]

5 comments:

John R said...

Soon to be ex-wife: "Your honor, my husband is mentally disturbed."

Judge: "What do you mean?"

Stb e-w: "He goes to the shooting range at least a couple times a week, and when he is home he spends his time cleaning his guns, loading ammunition, and reading gun magazines."

Judge: "hmmm..."

Stb e-w: "Judge... he even writes a gun blog!"

Judge: "That's it, this man is obsessed, I order him to get mental health treatment."

Gun Blogger: "oh chit"

BobG said...

More truth than fiction there, JR.

Anonymous said...

Who would you like to email there? It appears their email addresses are in the form:
xxxxyz@cobleskill.edu
where xxxx is last name
y is first initial
z is middle initial

Here are the officers:

Dr. Anne C. Myers, 1989
Provost and Officer in Charge

Mr. Steven H. Ackerknecht, 1986
Vice President for Student Affairs

Lois E. Goblet, 2002
Acting Director of Development

perhaps try:
myersac@cobleskill.edu

etc.

Anonymous said...

Yikes... I better not post a photo of my fancy new SKS "assault rifle" on MySpace, huh. Oops, too late!

AlanDP said...

At the bottom of that page is a link to "web feedback." The web feedback page states:

"Please complete the items below to submit your website comments and feedback relating to unavailable pages, adding links and general thoughts about your experience on the SUNY Cobleskill website.

PENDING FORMS"

That's right, no forms, no way to send "web feedback."