Repealing One Bad Law Can Reduce Mass Shootings

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- Mass shooting events in America function much like the water cycle, except one is terrible and the other necessary for life.

With every tragedy, especially when children are involved, one side of the political spectrum shouts for changes to the laws and the implementation of new ones to keep our society safe, while the other hand spams the net with “thoughts and prayers” before retreating into a corner. The debate evaporates into the atmosphere only for a more intense storm to come next time around.

It is the opinion of this contributor that gun rights activists and supporters have to be proactive, rather than be defensive not only to secure our safety but our liberties as well.

Antidotes and platitudes about drugged up children and the heyday of school rifle teams don’t cut it. Gun control advocates are winning for their cause because they throw the punches. Gun rights activists can’t win fights by merely trying to weather the blows. Going on the offensive is the best strategy. But where to begin?

Reactionary politics abound these days. If an out-right “assault weapon” ban is out of the political possibility, platitudes about “common sense” gun laws take their place. No one goes into what such laws are and how they would be common sense. Simply putting the words “common sense” doesn’t make them common sense. Visible proposals that are put forward are merely reactions to recent events. The Las Vegas shooter used bump-fire stocks. Not soon after, with the backing of the NRA, legislation to ban such devices was put forward.

With the recent Parkland school shooting, there is talk about raising the age limit to purchase long guns from 18 to 21.

Most proposals are not only reactionary but also cheap. Cheap doesn’t necessarily mean effective. Banning inanimate objects and increased regulation is a cheap fix that works in some countries, assuming we laser beam focus on gun violence while ignoring everything else. This does not address violence at all, but the most visible manifestation of it. It is a cheap fix, far less expensive than dealing with societal problems.

Gun control regulations claim to have reduced gun violence in other civilized countries, granted we are ignoring and increasing other types of violence in doing so. But the US is very different from those nations. Nations like England and Australia are isolated with small homogenous populations with no ethnic tensions and a welfare system that is second to none. The best long-term fix is to fix the social welfare system in the United States. But that would cost the wrong people too much money. So cheap fixes abide. However, there is one reasonable fix that might solve our problem.

More guns in schools via armed teachers and having an armed detail on staff would increase our tax burden—something no American wants.

I propose that the root of the problem are “gun free zones.” I am not proposing we fill our newspaper editorials and social media comments pointing out that nearly all mass shooting situations occurred at on the site of “gun free zones.” The only people who disarm in good faith are law-abiding citizens who don’t want trouble. Criminals have no such compulsion.

Schools are designated as gun free zones, and it has been federal law since George HW Bush signed the Gun-Free Schools Zones Act into law in 1990.

Despite the Gun-Free School Zones Act’s complete failure at preventing school shootings since the law passed it has continued on the books, Instead of proposing new legislation, why not repeal one instead? It is my suggestion that the most efficient way to stop mass shootings, considering both economics and rights, that we contact our representatives relentlessly until a bill is drafted and the Gun-Free School Zones Act can be confined to the dustbin of bad ideas.

The opinions expressed in this work are that of the writer and are not to be construed as being the viewpoint of Ammoland or any of its associates.

About Terril Hebert:

Terril Hebert is a firearm writer native to south Louisiana. Under his motto-Guns, Never Politics-he tackles firearm and reloading topics both in print and on his Mark3smle YouTube channel, where he got his start. Terril has a soft spot for ballistics testing, pocket pistols, and French rifles. When he is not burning ammo, he is indulging his unhealthy wildlife photography obsession or working on his latest novel. Scourge of God, published in 2017. See more from Terril on youtube under Mark3smle.