PA Bill Number: HR541
Title: Recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Description: A Resolution recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Last Action:
Last Action Date: Sep 27, 2024
School gun bans just stop the law-abiding defenders, not attacks :: 10/26/2015
In the wake of the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., California Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 707, authored by state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, which prohibits those licensed to carry a concealed weapon from bringing their firearms onto college campuses. As a result, students are now less safe than they were before.
People stand outside Kronan school after Thursday's attack in Trollhattan, Sweden. A man with a sword killed a teacher and a student and wounded two at the school.
“People want action,” Sen. Wolk said in a statement. “Big steps or small steps, they want action. SB707 won’t prevent all campus shootings. But it will make our schools and campuses safer by working to ensure that the only people allowed to carry guns on campuses are law enforcement.”
But if someone is intent on breaking laws against murder, it is safe to assume that laws creating “gun-free zones” will not deter them. In fact, in many cases, it seems to attract them, as they can feel comforted knowing that they will be able to wreak their havoc upon a large number of helpless victims unable to fight back.
This is why the mayor of Jerusalem, whose city recently has been witness to a number of public stabbing attacks, had just the opposite reaction.
“In many cases, those who neutralize terrorists in times like these are citizens, not police officers,” Mayor Nir Barkat said. “I urge people who are allowed to carry weapons and are experienced in using them to carry their guns with them.”
While some fear average citizens carrying weapons in public, “Concealed handgun permit holders are extremely law-abiding,” according to a study this year by the Crime Prevention Research Center. It found that they commit only about one-sixth the rate of firearms violations as police.
As Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, argued during debate on SB707 on the Assembly Floor, concealed guns carried by law-abiding citizens can be a great equalizer, particularly for young women. “If I’m walking down the street at night, my Glock puts me on (an) even footing with anybody that would ever try to come and hurt me,” she said.
It is natural to want to “do something” to prevent tragedies like the Umpqua shooting, but depriving students, faculty and other school employees of their constitutional rights and the best means of defending themselves in such a horrific circumstance only increases the likelihood that even more lives will be needlessly lost.
http://www.lenconnect.com/article/20151025/OPINION/151029374
