One thing that grinds my gears is the seemingly intentional misrepresentation of conservative’s position that gun-free zones should not exist on college campuses and other areas. The conservative position is that individuals who posses a concealed carry license should be allowed to carry on campus. Some conservatives go so far as to say that it should be mandated that Teachers be armed.
Liberals, such as Greg Sagan, misrepresent this position. They think that when I say gun-free zones shouldn’t exist that I mean all students and teachers should be issued a firearm for carrying on campus. If that were the case I would agree with the liberal assertion that campuses would be more dangers, but being that the liberal interpretation of my position is a falsehood I think my actual position would make the campus safer.
Persons with a concealed carry license, in Texas at least, are required to have 10 hours of training with the handling of firearms and Texas laws on concealed carry and use of deadly force. Whether or not that much training is adequate for people to be relied upon to act responsibly in high stress situation is debatable. I would say they need more training. This situation is kind of like how an individual can take a course and get their motorcycle license but they are not ready to be among the traffic, safely riding a motorcycle.
I believe, with adequate training, people should be able to carry almost anywhere they choose. I agree that some places should be off limits such as in the courtroom as Sagan suggested. I am undecided on whether or not to allow concealed carry in a 51% type place. I would imagine someone carrying concealed would be disallowed to consume alcohol, but how is a bartender to know?
Where I think the law should change would be to allow people with adequate training be allowed to carry their concealed firearms onto educational institutions. Texas law forbids this currently.
Mr. Sagan does need to bone up on his handgun laws, however. He asserts that Churches and hospitals should be a sanctuary and “must be free of everyone’s gun.” (Wasn’t VT a “sanctuary” before that terrible Monday last April? As I have asserted here and elsewhere, that kind of thinking gets people killed. Yes, those places will be sanctuaries from other law abiding citizens, but unless people are allowed to protect themselves lunatics will prey on sanctuaries) Anyway, Texas Law says people can carry concealed into a church, hospital, or amusement park unless a special sign is posted stating otherwise.
So not only does Sagan not want people with adequate training be responsible for themselves but also for handgun laws to be more restrictive than they already are.
Good post Bo and all almost all so true. See your E-mail
I didn’t get an e-mail from you yet.
This is one of those issues where the liberal position is so predictable as to be laughable. Either a zone is “gun-free,” or else everyone is carrying. It’s like stem cell research; to the liberal, being against federal funding of embryonic stem cell research means you’re against all stem cell research and you want people to suffer and die.
John Stossel had a very good segment on 20/20 last Friday about the myth of gun control reducing violent crime. It was the first time I ever heard anyone report the real story of the Appalachian School of Law shooting on a major media outlet.