Should Gun-Free School Zones Be Done Away With? [POLL]
December 18, 2012 6:00 AM 
Currently, federal law prohibits the carrying or storing of firearms in most schools. One national group says that needs to end.
The Libertarian political party says it’s time to allow school officials to defend themselves again. R. Lee Wrights, party vice-chair, had this comment in a press release Monday:
“We’ve created a ‘gun-free zone,’ a killing zone, for the sickest criminals on the face of the Earth, “We’ve given them an open killing field, and we’ve made the children of this country the victims.”
The Federal Gun Free Schools Zone Act is the measure that prohibits teachers, principals or other school officials who could legally procure a firearm, from carrying or having them at school. Lee-Wrights says most criminals or would-be mass shooters avoid police stations because they know that’s where the guns are. They tend to seek out places they know guns are not present.
The press release listed the following examples of how responsible use of a firearm helped to prevent or end quickly situations where someone was threatening others with a gun:
- A 1997 high school shooting in Pearl, Miss. was halted by the school’s vice principal after he retrieved the Colt .45 he kept in his truck.
- A 1998 middle school shooting ended when a man living next door heard gunfire and apprehended the shooter with his shotgun.
- A 2002 terrorist attack at an Israeli school was quickly stopped by an armed teacher and a school guard.
- A 2002 law school shooting in Grundy, Va., came to an abrupt conclusion when students carrying firearms confronted the shooter.
- A 2007 mall shooting in Ogden, Utah, ended when an armed off-duty police officer intervened.
- A 2009 workplace shooting in Houston, Texas, was halted by two coworkers who carried concealed handguns.
- A 2012 church shooting in Aurora, Colo., was stopped by a member of the congregation carrying a gun.
- At the recent Clackamas mall shooting in Portland, Ore., the gunman took his own life minutes after being confronted by a shopper carrying a concealed weapon.
Do you agree that having firearms carried by responsible, trusted educators would make a school safer, and prevent lives from being lost? Take our poll:
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