Apparently many politicians like to see dead bodies piled up after mass murderers attack in gun-free zones.
Why else do they continue to designate malls, schools, churches and other places as gun-free zones? It is in those very places that all but three of our public mass murders have occurred since 1950.
Similarly, Democrat-dominated jurisdictions such as Baltimore and Chicago are infamous for their high murder rates. These cities are hostile to private gun carriers and they have the murder counts to show for it.
The French terrorists who struck the Bacalan knew they were targeting a gun-free zone. Actually, all of France is such a zone, and it is a terrorist playground. Moreover, the guns used by the French dirt-bags were completely illegal. That further protected the terrorists from effective response since they knew they would have a monopoly of force. Not even the police were carrying guns.
The French terrorists who struck the Bacalan knew they were targeting a gun free zone.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (who went to jail on corruption charges after Hurricane Katrina) confiscated guns from the citizenry. The police were unable to keep order, so the looters had a field day.
During the Watts riots, it was Chinese merchants with their semi-automatic rifles with large magazines that warded off the looters and arsonists. They were the only armed resistance because the police were completely overwhelmed.
Can other armed citizens stop terrorists and mass murderers? Shortly after a court order required Chicago to issue concealed carry permits, an Uber driver stopped a mass murderer from carrying out his bloody plan in August of 2015. A gunman started shooting in a crowd of people, but he was stopped when the Uber driver got out of his car and shot and wounded the assailant, stopping the attack.
A good response time for the police is at least six minutes. A lot of carnage can result from an attack if all people can do is wait for the police – once 911 has been called.
Some politicians have argued that no one should be able to purchase a gun if their name is on the no-fly list. This list is so devoid of due process that the late Senator Edward Kennedy and current Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA) have had their names on these lists. It took both of them weeks to get their names off – even though they were members of Congress!
Clearly, the no-fly list is not going to protect anybody from terrorism or any other form of mass murder.
Background checks have proven to be equally ineffective in keeping guns out of terrorists’ and criminals’ hands.
Background checks have proven to be equally ineffective in keeping guns out of terrorists’ and criminals’ hands. Gun bans in France were useless, and background checks in the U.S. have been equally ineffective in stopping the large number of mass murderers who had no prior criminal record. Others steal their weapons, thus obviating a background check.
We would not (I hope!) tolerate a background check before an editorial could be printed or a sermon could be preached. By the same token we should reject the idea that background checks for the exercise of the Second Amendment are any more acceptable than they would be regarding the First.
In a recent year when 24 million background checks were carried out, some 40 prosecutions resulted from lying on the form filled out by purchasers. The gun-free zone is not a crime fighting tool any more than is the background check.
Armed citizens are the only way to protect life from terrorists and other criminals while waiting for the police.
Larry Pratt is Executive Director Emeritus of Gun Owners of America.