Virtually every mass shooting in recent memory had one key feature in common: It happened in a so-called “gun-free” zone created by politicians. But after the massacre last week at the school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead, the push is on to ensure that children will no longer be sitting ducks for murderers.
Already, legislation at the state and federal level has been introduced to repeal the so-called “gun-free zones” that have made schools the target of so many killers. In Florida, lawmakers are taking up a bill this week that would designate certain teachers to arm and train in the use of firearms to protect their students.
“I don’t feel gun-free zones protect anyone but criminals, and there is no evidence that says otherwise,” explained State Senator Greg Steube, a Republican who is pushing the legislation. In Texas, Colorado, and other states, some schools and districts are already arming teachers.
In Congress, meanwhile, there is a fresh push to pass legislation that would repeal the 1990 “Gun-Free School Zones Act” that has been blamed by activists for contributing to the massacres of children. The bill, dubbed the ” “Safe Students Act,” or HR 34, would ensure that the feds are no longer complicit in making schools perfect targets for madmen.
Major organizations are also renewing the push to end the gun-free zones. The national group Gun Owners of America, for instance, which is widely viewed as more principled than the NRA, is helping to lead the charge.
“Killers continue targeting locations where guns are not allowed,” explained GOA Executive Director Erich Pratt in a column for USA Today, noting that almost every mass shooting in America has taken place in a “gun-free zone,” including last week’s attack in Florida.
“So what would work? Repealing gun-free zones,” said Pratt, adding that over 80 percent of police officers support arming teachers and principals so they can protect children. “Repealing gun-free zones and lifting the restrictions that keep good people from carrying guns for self-defense – that will make a huge difference.”
Establishment media organs and fringe anti-Constitution politicians have, unsurprisingly, tried to exploit the shooting to push for more gun control. Some have even claimed, falsely, that mass shootings are unique to America, implying that an alleged lack of gun control is to blame – and ignoring that thousands of gun laws and regulations already in place in America.
In reality, of course, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, two of the worst mass shootings in recent memory occurred in the gun-control utopias of Western Europe. In Norway, which has some of the strictest gun control on Earth, Anders Breivik slaughtered 77 children before being stopped by armed police.
In France, meanwhile, jihadists were free to shoot more than 500 people as disarmed and defenseless Frenchmen cowered while waiting for armed men to come save them. More than 130 people were killed at a concert in 2015, as unarmed victims, unable to legally defend themselves, shrieked and waited for police amid a hail of illegal gunfire.
Beyond the fact that almost all mass shootings happen in gun-free zones – 98 percent, to be precise – there is another common factor in virtually all of them. It seems that almost all the killers have been on various psychotropic drugs, and SSRIs in particular, that are linked to suicidal and homicidal acts. There ought to be a serious investigation.
If politicians were truly interested in keeping children safe, they never would have created a situation in which mass murderers – who obviously don’t obey murder laws, much less gun regulations – could massacre them with impunity. They also would not have taken God out of the schools.
Ending gun-free zones might not prevent every tragedy, but it would far better than giving killers free reign to slaughter kids unopposed. And inviting God back into the classroom – with all that implies, including an understanding of the value of human life – would undoubtedly help too.
