GUN-FREE ZONES DO NOT MAKE US MORE SAFE

Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, 1999; Trolley Square Mall, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2007; Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia, 2007; Westroads Mall, Omaha, Nebraska, 2007; New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2007; Pearl High School, Pearl, Mississippi, 1997. All of these, except Colorado Springs were in areas designated as gun-free zones, places where state, federal, and/or private property laws and regulations forbid people from carrying a firearm, except law enforcement or security personnel. The only difference between the first four incidents and the last two is the gunman was confronted by someone else with a gun before law enforcement could arrive. Do you feel
While the numbers vary somewhat, the shooters violated at least seventeen federal and state gun control laws before they ever fired a single shot (Twenty potential weapons, n.d.). Did any of those laws stop them from killing 13 students and teachers before turning the guns on themselves? No. Instead, it gave them an assurance that they would be able to destroy as many lives as they wanted before police could respond. Once again, the perpetrators knew where they would be able to inflict a lot of casualties because there was little chance of being confronted with a law-abiding citizen with a gun.
Likewise, a year before a gunman claimed the lives of 33 students and faculty at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, the University had fought hard to keep the Virginia Legislature from allowing concealed weapon permit holders from taking their guns on campus (LaRosa, 2007). Larry Hincker, a University spokesman stated afterwards, “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” (LaRosa, 2007). One has to wonder how safe those people felt a year later after 33 of their own had been killed. Keeping guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens did little to protect those students and faculty on that fateful day in