Graduate students discuss gun control issue at panel

Four UM graduate students armed themselves to debate gun control issues in front of an audience Thursday night. One panelist said after the debate that gun control nearly cost him his life.
“My self-defense firearm was safely locked in the car that my head was bouncing off of,” said Daniel Kostelnik, georaphy graduate student.
Two men jumped Kostelnik as he was leaving a bar in Great Falls 11 years ago. The men were after his wallet, but continued to beat him until a bystander intervened. 

Kostelnik usually carried a gun around with him for protection, but left all three of the guns he’d brought to the shooting range that day stowed away in his vehicle in accordance with the Montana law that makes it illegal to bring a gun into a place that serves alcohol.
Kostelnik said most of the time the mere presence of a gun would be enough to prevent a crime like this.
“And if that didn’t stop him, I could’ve shot him,” Kostelnik said, “and left with a black eye, instead of being disabled and missing work for the next four months.”
That experience strengthened Kostelnik’s stance against gun control laws. He bought two more handguns and took the concealed-carry course.
“I realized that I must be ready at any time,” he said.
Kostelnik teamed up with Mike McVicker, a graduate student in Intercultural Youth and Family Development, to defend their Second Amendment right to bear arms in the debate, sponsored by the Multicultural Alliance. About 20 people showed up to watch the four panelists debate.
Mitch Guerette and Aram Rosenberg volunteered to argue in favor of increasing gun control measures.
Guerette and Rosenberg argued that the right to bear arms wasn’t the civil liberty they should be concerned with.
“What about the civil liberty to be able to walk into a mall or a school without having to worry about being gunned down?” Guerette pointed out.
Guerette said measures need to be taken to prevent mass shooting incidents of gun violence in America.
“The United States is the most violent high-income industrialized nation in the world,” Guerette said.
Kaimin editor Bill Oram, who moderated the forum, said two panelists joined the discussion on short notice and offered valuable insights.
“Just because some of our panelists were last-minute doesn’t mean their opinions are any less valid,” Oram said.
Oram called the forum an “outstanding expression of the main themes on both sides of the issue…Hopefully it gave those in attendance some things to think about.”
stacy.gray@umontana.edu