Gun-free zones: protecting the innocent or a criminal’s free reign
Parents want to be assured that their children are safe at school, and as concerned citizens they also want to feel safe in public. Therefore, the purpose of passing laws to establish gun-free zones is to give people much needed security and safety. However, the creation of gun-free zones disarms those law-abiding citizens who have responsibly defended themselves for years stripping them of the ability to protect themselves. Complicating the issue is the lack of enforcement towards current gun laws and the sentencing of those convicted of crimes involving firearms. Instead of creating more gun-free zones in society, laws should be enforced and/or modified if necessary, to ensure the people who choose to carry guns know how to use them and have met all the mandatory requirements, including training and range practice before and after receiving a gun-carry permit, on how to handle a gun properly.
American society has been pacified into believing that gun-free zones will make us feel more safe. In reality, they provided the criminals a place where they can go without restrictions and carry out their plan to unleash anger and vengeance on the innocent before any law enforcement can arrive to stop the violence ensued (Jensen, 2011). As history has shown, from as far back as 1966 to as recent as 2013, America has witnessed a steady increase in the number of mass shootings ("Cable News Network", 2014) (Jensen, 2011). University of Texas, Austin, Texas, August 1966. Charles Whitman kills 16 and wounds at least 30 from one of the university towers ("Cable News Network", 2014). Whitman had also killed his wife and mother at home earlier that same day ("Cable News Network", 2014). Pearl High School, Pearl, Mississippi, 1997. Gunman, 16-year-old Luke Woodham, killed two students and wounded seven others at the school (“Cable News Network”, 2014). Before the shooting at the school began, Woodham had stabbed and bludgeoned his mother to death at home earlier that morning ("Cable News Network", 2014). Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, 1999. Where two gunmen, 18-year-old Eric Harris and his friend 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 fellow students and one teacher before taking their own lives in the school library ("Cable News Network", 2014), and Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia, 2007. Where gunman, 23-year-old university student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting rampage killing 32 people and wounds countless others in two locations on campus before committing suicide ("Cable News Network", 2014). These are just a few of the designated gun-free zones, areas where people are forbidden to carry a firearm, with the exception of security and law enforcement that was affected by devastation (Jensen, 2011). John Lott, an economist and gun rights advocate and author of the book "More Guns, Less Crime," recently examined mass shootings ("Times Free Press", 2013). What he discovered is that: "With just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people were killed, has taken place where citizens were not allowed to carry guns" ("Times Free Press", 2013). Before any one of these mass shootings occurred, the students and teachers should have felt safe on school grounds, but instead ended up either dead or running in fear for their lives, and those still alive will forever be scarred. For this reason, parents are more cautious when allowing their children to spend time with friends outside of the home unless chaperoned by an adult who can protect them, and are electing to enroll their kids in online education or home school. Even with extra precautions taken, how do parents explain to their kids that they might not be protected from harm in a compromised situation due to the continuing modifications of the gun control and gun-free zone
