Gun Free Zones – Page 4 – Fill Yer Hands

Recently, with all the increased media fever following the Newtown school shooting, the issue of concealed carry has been beaten back and forth like a really bad tennis match. More like a match between Venus Williams and Stephen Hawking. The left, thinking every concealed carry longs to get involved in a shootout, asks “What good is one lone good guy with a gun against a bad guy?”

Sadly, they are missing the point. The true power of concealed carry is that it puts doubt in the minds of potential criminals. If there is the possibility that the criminal will face opposition, they will go elsewhere.

You see, most of the lunatics who carry out these mass shootings are not only mentally ill, they are cowards. We know this because when they are confronted by real opposition they either kill themselves or surrender immediately. It’s also been shown that they pick their targets based on the knowledge that they will be unopposed.

But, if there is a chance there will be armed opposition, they choose to go elsewhere.

How do we know? Consider this case from my home town, Kennesaw, Georgia. Famously, every head of household in Kennesaw is required by city ordinance to possess a gun, and, as a result, the burglary and violent crime rates here are among the lowest in the nation. There are no mall shootings, no theater shootings. Why? Because the odds are pretty good that someone – many someones – will be present who are carrying concealed guns. And the bad guys just don’t like the odds, and they take their business

But specifically, there was an incident at a local Waffle House in 2010 where two patrons were open carrying, late at night. As it turns out, some thugs were looking to rob the restaurant, and sent in a scout first, who saw the two men sitting with guns.

Then,

Meanwhile, conscientious Cobb County Police Officer D. Lowe had noticed suspicious cars sitting behind the restaurant in the dark and decided to investigate. He caught men with masks and rifles who had been preparing to rob the Waffle House. The criminals informed the police that they had changed their mind upon discovering armed customer and were waiting for Matt and J.P. to leave. Ironically, the police car was pulling in to the parking lot just as Matt and J.P. were driving away. In other words, had Matt and J.P. not been armed, the robbery probably would have occurred before the police intervened.

And, if this is what’s visible and known, then what’s invisible, concealed, and not known? In that case, the bad guys, the coward nut jobs, don’t want to know. They go somewhere else.

And that is the real power of concealed carry.

Like most Americans, I was saddened and outraged by the shootings last week in Newtown, Connecticut. My heart goes out to the parents, children, and citizens of that town, and the responders and others involved.

As expected, the media and the President have completely avoided the true nature of this tragedy, and, in so doing, will avoid the best lasting actions we can take to prevent them in the future.

The real cause of this shooting wasn’t evil assault rifles, or high capacity clips, or lack of gun safes. It was the concept of the “gun free zone.”

The people in that school, as in schools across America, were completely at the mercy of anyone who decided to come in with the intent of doing them harm. The same goes for anyone at a venue that has been declared off limits to guns.

That’s because criminals and nutjobs don’t pay attention to the signs on the door. And it’s not because the penalties for violating the gun free zone are too lax, as someone from the CSGV once tried to argue with me. No amount of penalty will deter someone who is determined to break the law, especially since the threat of life in prison or execution isn’t going to deter them from murder.

So, how do we prevent this kind of incident in the future? Simply, do away with gun free zones.

Of course, the first argument that follows is that armed children, or teachers, or anyone, would not be expected to be able to prevail in a gun battle with someone so heavily armed. Unfortunately this argument misses the nature of these incidents as well.

You see, it isn’t the armed teacher or customer that wins this battle, so much as the threat of armed teachers or customers.

Just the possibility of the presence armed resistance will keep our children and shoppers and worshipers safe. Why? Because the people who perpetrate these horrific acts are cowards through and through. In every instance, when confronted by the first responder with a gun, they kill themselves.

If you need proof, look my home town of Kennesaw, Georgia. Famously, every homeowner is required by a city ordinance to own a gun. And the theaters and malls around allow guns to be carried. And, as a result, the crime rate here is among the lowest in the country, and, more to the point, there has never been a mall shooting or theater shooting here, ever.

In fact, even normal armed robbery has been prevented on at least one occasion, because of the presence of civilians, lawfully carrying guns.

So, the real course to take is two-fold. First, enhance the care we give to the mentally ill, and develop a system to integrate their treatment with the NICS background system. This is tricky ground, though, because of health privacy concerns, and I won’t offer anything beyond that.

But, regardless of what we do with the mentally ill, we must act to abolish government mandated gun free zones.

As gun owners and consumers, we can do our part by avoiding businesses that choose to prohibit lawful carry of firearms, and make sure the owners of those businesses know we are doing so.

And, in the meantime, we must continue the course, and remind those who want to latch on to an inanimate object as a cause of evil, that it is, instead, evil people who are at fault, and evil people, by their nature, will merely laugh at your attempts to take their guns. And, we must remind them that the end game of any gun confiscation scheme they may enact is that only the evil people will have guns, and that they will then be at the mercy of evil people. By then it will be too late.