By Gary Morris
President Obama has chosen to by-pass the Constitution and Congress in his executive orders related to gun control. And his proposed legislation to ban some guns, the size of ammunition magazines, etc. was tried by President Clinton and over a 10 year period did nothing to reduce crime.
To be sure, the loss of lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut shook us all and we grieve deeply. One should note, however, that this despicable act of evil occurred in a state which already has VERY strong gun control laws. While we all seek a means to prevent reoccurrences, law makers should not rush to judgment, or violate the Constitutional Rights of law abiding citizens, or ignore the root cause of what happened at Sandy Hook. Additionally, ALL preventative measures should be considered.
The first principle in finding the most effective measures to prevent school shootings is one has to acknowledge the criminal never obeys the law – that’s why they’re criminals. Little proposed by the President will stop a determined killer from repeating another Sandy Hook. On the other hand, a number of approaches which have worked in the past were intentionally disregarded by the President.
The Second Amendment evolved from our God given right to self survival and self protection. Any Human Being faced with a life threatening emergency will naturally, by ingrained instinct, do all they can do to survive. Having a gun has been demonstrated repeatedly to dramatically increase their likelihood of surviving a life threatening event.
Additionally, the Right to bear fire arms was clearly affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 in Heller v. District of Columbia and reaffirmed in another case in 2010 in McDonald v. Chicago.
It is estimated that a gun is used as often as 2 million times a year in the United States by law abiding citizens to defend themselves, often during life threatening situations. Only a small percentage results in a shot being fired as most of these criminals flee. Thousands of lives have been saved.
Clearly, police officers cannot be at all criminal incidents that threaten citizen’s lives. Even in urban cities the best response time to get a police officer to a school or home exceeds 6 minutes. That’s a long time to wait for help when an armed criminal is kicking in the door with evil intent. We have to have a means to protect ourselves.
Schools have been protected by armed police officers on a small scale for at least two decades. So far, this author has been unable to find one case of a multiple victim shooting on a school campus where a police officer was on duty. Properly trained and armed civilian guards could also protect school campuses. School boards could specify qualification and training levels required in contracts.
School children can also be protected by teachers and school principles. In Pearl, Mississippi, when a student started
shooting the assistant principle ran to his car (he was not permitted to have a gun in a “gun free zone”) and retrieved his firearm. He was able the stop the shooting and held the shooter at gun point until the police arrived 5 minutes later.
Or Israel. With the threat of terrorist attacking school campuses, teachers have been armed for decades. It’s proven to be so effective in protecting school children the government announced in 2008 that they were issuing another 40,000 licenses to teachers and citizens and actually equipping them with more guns. Children are well protected.
There is no reason why properly trained and certified school teachers and school administration personnel could not carry a gun on school campuses.
Removing “Gun Free Zones” and allowing properly trained and permitted citizens to carry a concealed gun onto school campuses can also prevent mass killings. At the Appalachian School of Law, not too far from Virginia Tech (where 32 students were killed and another 17 wounded), a former student opened fire on campus killing two facility members and wounding four students (another “gun free zone”). Two fellow students, upon hearing gun shots, separately ran to their vehicles and retrieved their firearms. They then encountered the killer and ordered him to drop his weapon and he did so. These two students stopped further killing. Had they had their weapon on their person when the shooting started they may have been able to reduce the number of victims shot. Note that the suspect was stopped BEFORE police arrived!
In Arvada, Colorado, in 2007, (not far from the Aurora movie mass shooting where 12 were killed and 70 wounded) an armed concealed weapon permit holder, and member of the New Life Church, shot and killed an assailant who burst into the church armed with an AK 47 rifle, two handguns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He had killed two sisters outside the church seconds earlier and critically wounded their father. There were 7,000 people on the church campus. Had the assailant not been killed by the church member, the blood bath could have been in the hundreds. This is a clear example of the last line of defense where an armed civilian stopped a mass murder.
These cases demonstrate that law abiding gun owners do and can save lives. And in EVERY state that has enacted concealed weapons permit law the state has experienced a DROP in violent crime.
President Obama and many, many democrats out-right rejected these approaches in protecting schools. But they have proven to work. Had that brave principle who first confronted the killer at Sandy Hook been armed with a hand gun 20 beautiful children could be alive today.
Ultimately, even the most rabid gun control advocate, when faced with an evil person about to kill them will wish they had a gun to prevent there death. It goes to our natural instinct of self survival.
And finally, one should note that gun prosecutions during 2011 by the Obama Administration Justice Department were 35 percent BELOW the peak of gun prosecutions during the Bush Administration. It’s time Obama focus on the criminal and not the law abiding citizen.
Gary P. Morris;
Immediate Past 2nd Vice-Chair
Gila County Republican Party