U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “A bill that would prohibit people from openly carrying a gun within 500 feet of any K-12 school in Utah was defeated in committee Wednesday after complaints from gun lobbyists and Republican lawmakers,” The Salt Lake Tribune reports. “HB217 was rejected with a vote that fell along party lines. Six GOP members of the House Law Enforcement Committee opposed it while two Democrats supported it.”
The implication is clear: Democrats want “common sense gun safety” and Republicans are unreasonable, no doubt in the thrall of the NRA.
But is such a prohibition reasonable? Is maintaining a “gun-free” open carry perimeter “common sense”?
“Currently, Utah law blocks the open carry — but not concealed carry — of a gun inside any elementary, middle or high school. But outside, it’s allowed,” we’re told. “The state Legislature passed a measure in 2011 that removed the 1,000-foot gun-free zone around schools for people to carry a firearm openly.”
So what the demonstrable need for changing things? And would doing so likely change feared outcomes, or actually make them more likely since anyone intent on shooting up a school will hardly be deterred by such a “law”? All it would do is eliminate one deterrent capability from the “law-abiding.”
Bill sponsor Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, calls the ban a “compromise,” and says it is “reasonable.” The reason he feels (not thinks) this way is because he claims it “would make schools ‘psychologically more secure.’”
For the cud-chewers, no doubt. For those who have made note of the disastrous consequences when the right to keep and bear arms is infringed, the concern would be more than “psychological,” it would be corroborated by real-world experience.
One of the ideas promoted by the anti-gunners is that “we have a right to feel safe.” Since how we feel is subjective, and since two people can have different reactions to the same situation, there is no universal consensus. Hoplophobes have no right to impose their neuroses on the rest of us any more than narcissists have a right to expect us to agree with their self-assessment of wonderfulness.
Besides, no one who’s watching thinks this is all Briscoe and fellow House Democrat Caucus gun-grabbers want. Aside from taking full advantage of a media megaphone to repeat the intentional (Violence Policy-originated) deception about “an automatic rifle,” he and they will step over every incremental ceded to them and then press on for:
- Ending private sales.
- A “bump stock” ban.
- “Safe disposal of firearms.”
- Using tax money for anti-gun “research.”
- Lock up your safety mandates.
It’s all part of what national Democrats have characterized as “baby steps,” which ultimately end up at the bottom of Nancy Pelosi’s “slippery slope.”
Who thinks, if surrounded by circling jackals, it would be a good idea to throw them a scrap of flesh in the hopes that they’d then be satisfied and go away? Voracious predators that want it all know weakness when they see it. You don’t give the collectivist pack an inch.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.