Oct. 16, 1991, Killeen, Texas - 24 killed when a man drove his truck through a window of a Luby’s Cafeteria and walked around the restaurant shooting people as they hid underneath their tables.
April 20, 1999, Littleton, Colo. - 13 killed when at Columbine High School.
Aug. 10, 1999, Granada Hills, Calif. - five wounded when a white supremacist fires 70 rounds into a Jewish community and day-care center.
Oct. 2, 2006, Nickel Mines, Pa. - five killed when a milk-truck driver entered an Amish schoolhouse, ordered all the boys to leave and began shooting the girls.
The above list is a tiny sampling of the growing number of multiple-victim shootings, including at least 39 school shootings in the United States. What do all of the above have in common? Each occurred in a “gun-free zone.”
We’ve held candlelight vigils, worn ribbons and heard speeches, all properly intended to make us feel better. We’ve passed laws forbidding guns within 1,000 feet of a school and the manufacturing of “assault weapons.”
Yet these mass killings are increasing in both frequency and intensity. There is nothing more tragic than laws intended to make us feel safer, when in reality they do just the opposite, especially when it is our children and our brightest college students who pay the final price for our failed policies.
The phrase “gun-free zone” is the ultimate fantasy. A more accurate expression would be “defenseless zone.” Like most mass murderers, the recent Virginia Tech shooter was smart enough to choose victims who could not fight back. The only ones who abide by the draconian gun-control laws are the law-abiding citizens - a concept completely lost in liberal hysterics.
Police, underpaid and overworked, can only show up after a crime has been committed. The duty of crime prevention ultimately rests with an armed and vigilant citizenry. It is a travesty that governments want to deny us the Constitutionally-protected right to defend ourselves, and a greater travesty that so many people will easily relinquish this right to obtain some false sense of security.
Scientific research has consistently shown that restrictions on gun purchases and carriage cause large increases in violent crimes like rape, murder and multiple-victim public shootings. States that allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns enjoy a 60% decrease in multiple-victim public shootings and a 78% decrease in victims per attack. This is exactly why I, and soon my wife as well, carry a concealed handgun.
There was legislation last year in the Virginia House of Delegates that would have allowed concealed guns on college campuses. When it was defeated, Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said, “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.” Did any of the victims of the massacre in their final moments feel secure, appreciative and safe knowing that guns were not allowed on campus? Or were they more likely praying that some fellow student or teacher had broken the rules and put a gun in their backpack?
By the way, if your spouse were being brutally attacked right now would they have anything other than a cell phone with which to defend themselves?
gun-free zone, gun, concealed handgun
1 response so far ↓
1 G-Man // May 9, 2007 at 4:23 pm
You’ve got a nice blog going here. I’ve added you to my blog roll. I couldn’t agree with you more regarding the issue of gun-free zones. When I posted on this subject I likened them to canned hunts for psychopaths. Interestingly, Democrats despise canned hunts, unless the prey is people.