CU Student Arrested For VT Shootings Comments

The question is, though, is he really a danger, or simply a publicity hound?

From the Associated Press:

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - A University of Colorado student was arrested after making comments that classmates deemed sympathetic toward the gunman blamed for killing 32 students and himself at Virginia Tech, authorities said.

During a class discussion of Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech, the student "made comments about understanding how someone could kill 32 people," university police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley said...

The student, identified by police as Max Karson of Denver, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of interfering with staff, faculty or students of an education institution. He had a court appearance set for Wednesday afternoon.

Karson is certainly tasteless, but is he really dangerous? Karson has a history of provocative humor and satire aimed at provoking reactions from authority figures.

Last November, Karson created a stir at Colorado University by publishing an essay about "the myth of the female orgasm" with the express purpose of generating publicity and controversy.

As a high school student, following the discharge of an administrator for seuxally harassing a male student, Karson wrote this (from the same article cited above):

"My response to Mr. Myers' controversial hobby of molesting children?" he asked in print. "I'm going to break up with him, and had I known he was a child molester, I never would have gone out with him in the first place."

And Karson's satirical bent had already been noticed by the CU News:

He begins another one of his newsletters saying "I`m afraid of black people" and goes on to describe how slavery is taught in schools.

"Given that I`ve been taught that I am a member of a race of evil slave-masters ever since I was five years old, it`s a wonder that I can even look a black person in the eye," he wrote.

With Karson's easily verifiable history of making outlandishly provocative statements, his arrest seems to be a gross overreaction, not to mention a violation of his First Amendment rights.