The University of Adelaide is supporting a most remarkable attack on the people of Australia. It is backing a gun fanatic who wants to change Australian gun laws into those of America.

America has a vastly greater number of gun deaths than Australia but that does not seem to matter to the University of Adelaide. It wants to encourage its lecturers to give their wisdom to the people – in this case the wisdom speaks of death.

When a pistol club member used his legally acquired handguns to shoot two students dead and injure five others at Monash University in October 2002, it was obvious that the rules governing pistol clubs were tragically weak. It is obvious to any sensible person in Australia that students must not bring guns to school or to University. Apparently the University of Adelaide disagrees – it is supporting the views of its strange lecturer Dr John Whitley.

Dr Whitley has associations with two extremist gun organizations and wants all students to carry guns so they can protect themselves.

Not only does the Adelaide University support Dr Whitley promoting his extremely dangerous views, but the department where he works seems to be backing him by allowing him to give his University titles in his promotions.

The Economics Department of Adelaide University does not seem to realise what an enormous cost in pain and suffering will have to be paid by individual Australian’s, and by Australian society generally if the program they are backing with Dr Whitley comes into place.

One must suspect that the University of Adelaide has no interest in anything so mundane as human suffering. It’s also obvious that its Economics Department has little concern with the financial disaster awaiting Australia if the nation takes lecturer Whitley’s desired path and encourages students to bring their guns into classes. One would expect quite a few law suits against the Adelaide University as innocent students bear the brunt of armed students with a grudge.

A glance at the major law suits being taken out by American cities, counties and states, in order to compensate them for the costs of gun injuries shows just what an enormous financial cost to the public is created by a privately armed society. Yet this is what the lecturer in economics is arguing for – strange economics indeed.

Perhaps the Economics Department of Adelaide University simply does not care about such costs. All of us should ask the Federal and State Governments to stop funding them if that is the case. The financial cost to our tourism industry will also be immense once overseas people realise that most people in Australia are armed. The tragic Northern Territory killing will become a not uncommon occurrence. Campus shootings of course will be much more common. High school teachers will be shot at by frustrated students.

But the economics lecturer is not content with a fully armed university, he wants all women to carry guns so they can resist attacks by males.

You probably have heard enough – so for the sake of public safety in Australia, let’s insist that the Adelaide University relocates to Alaska or, maybe Alabama. One thing is for sure, the University is becoming a curse to Australia.

Note: You can read Dr John Whitley’s ideas about armed students and armed women in ‘The Age’ of 31 October 2002 and the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ of 6 December 2002. US law suits re.guns, www.gunlawsuits.org/docket/docket.asp. Details about gun problems in the US, www.vpc.org and www.gunfree.org