Freedom is seldom lost all at once. More often it is quietly surrendered, one principle at a time, by a trusting, yet beguiled public.

Once again this newspaper's editorial staff has climbed up on its rickety anti-gun soap box to make its weak case why SB48 should be vetoed. And weak it is. Of the "many" reasons why guns should be banned on campus, the only meaningful one mentioned is the eclectic campus atmosphere that requires freedom from intimidation, as though there exist other atmospheres that should be intimidated. And the editorial rightly acknowledges that a ban on weapons would not prevent a gun crime. So what gives?

My sense is that the editors understand that if the Board of Regents is allowed to dictate campus gun policy, other institutions, private and public, will similarly advance the anti-gun sentiment with prohibitive rules of their own. And so this particular right of personal sovereignty will be quietly surrendered, one principle at a time.

Richard E. Davis

Salt Lake City