Gov. Jerry Brown…signed legislation to ban the concealed carry of handguns at colleges and schools, further tightening California firearms restrictions that are already among the strictest in the nation. Current California law makes it illegal to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school or on a college campus without permission from administrators, but it exempts those with concealed carry permits. Senate Bill 707, by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, expands the prohibition on school and college grounds to include concealed weapons, while keeping the same rules in place for the 1,000-foot zone surrounding schools. Active and retired law enforcement officers are not covered by the law.
In the wake of the tragic massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December, 2012, there was widespread hope and optimism that Congress and state legislatures might finally be spurred into action. Finally, American might see action that could possibly help put an end to the madness that allows the massacre of innocent children and civilians to occur regularly.
Yeah, about that. What actually happened in the wake of Sandy Hook was that several states actually WEAKENED their gun laws. In Georgia, for instance, it’s now legal to walk into an airport with a loaded AK-47 slung over your shoulder. Several other states now allow for similar ridiculousness, but this is now the state of Fortress America: a loud, vocal minority of Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © can demand the “right” to openly carry any weapon anywhere at any time…and be granted it. Those of us who believe in common sense and public safety are left to pound sand, because Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © have seized control of the levers of power (they bought them).
The idea that “MOR GUNZ!!!” equals more safety and that “The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” is the height of absurdity, immorality, and self-interest. An armed society isn’t a polite society, it’s a paranoid society with an itchy trigger finger. Despite no mass shooting within the past 30 years having been stopped by “a good guy with a gun,” Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © stick to the propaganda. It’s tough to argue with this strategy because it’s clearly worked. With Congress and state legislatures from coast to coast being wholly-owned subsidiaries of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the vast majority of Americans who favor common sense gun control have been rendered voiceless…because we’ve chosen to accept the status quo. Meanwhile, the killing and bloodshed continues unabated; it pumps up the profits of the gun industry and their NRA lobbying arm.
California’s law banning guns on college campuses is a step towards restoring sanity to our gun laws. The argument put forward by Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © that more guns can only keep students, faculty, and staff safer flies in the face of all available evidence. Of course, when Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © have no evidence to support their position, they simply fall back on the “MOR GUNZ!!!” argument, as they continue to insist, despite available facts, that an armed society is a polite society.
To assume that introducing guns onto college campuses will protect anyone, especially when you consider most of those carrying will very likely be at worst untrained and at best poorly trained, is beyond absurd. To assume in the face of all available evidence to the contrary that a gun owner will react promptly and appropriately to a shooting situation defies rational logic. There’s simply no evidence to support the contention that the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
This madness needs to end, and while California’s new ban on guns on college campuses is a start, much more needs to be done. We must come up with a sound, workable, evidence-based solution…or we risk a continuation of the parade of carnage that’s become tragically characteristic o Fortress America today.
