Teacher Arrested in Kansas for Bearing Arms

Do we create a "safe" environment when we disarm teachers and force them to be defenseless?  Or worse - arrest them?  I think not.  Not only is it unconstitutional to disarm our teachers, it doesn't even enhance safety.  It isn't as if any person determined to do harm to our children would be deterred by a so-called "gun free zone".

I think this has been well proven.

Texas Senate Passes Campus Carry

From SCCC:

TEXAS SENATE PASSES “CAMPUS CARRY” BY VOTE OF 21 TO 10

On Monday, May 9, following months of parliamentary challenges, backroom negotiations, and public accusations, the Texas Senate finally passed legislation that would legalize licensed concealed carry (of handguns) at Texas public colleges. By a vote of 21 to 10, the Texas Senate agreed to add Senator Jeff Wentorth’s (R- San Antonio) “campus carry” amendment to SB 1581, a higher education finance bill authored by Senator Steve Ogden (R-Bryan). The bill itself passed by a vote of 19-12 and will now go to the Texas House. Texas Governor Rick Perry has repeatedly voiced his support for campus carry and promised to sign the legislation if it’s passed by the legislature.

W. Scott Lewis, Texas legislative director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, commented, “This has never been a question of securing majority support; it’s always been about overcoming the parliamentary hurdles laid out by a handful of Senators opposed to campus carry. Now that it’s gotten past the Senate’s infamous two-thirds rule, campus carry has more momentum than a runaway freight train.”

The language of Senator Wentworth’s amendment is very similar to his Senate Bill 354, which stalled in the Senate last month after two Senators abruptly withdrew support during a floor debate, dropping the number of supporters from 22 to 20. A longstanding tradition in the Texas Senate requires that two-thirds of the Senators present (21 of 31) agree to hear a bill.

After exploring various methods for getting his bill heard on the Senate floor, Senator Wentworth was finally able to attach his amendment to SB 1581 after an earlier amendment by Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) changed the overall subject matter of the bill, allowing Senator Wentworth’s amendment to meet the “germaneness” test laid out in the Senate rules. Senator Ogden supported the amendment despite having previously opposed SB 354. Lewis concluded, “Despite all of the media hype, all of the fear mongering, and all of the misinformation, a vast majority of the Texas Senators tasked with researching and voting on this issue opted for empirical evidence over emotional rhetoric.”

###

ABOUT STUDENTS FOR CONCEALED CARRY ON CAMPUS - Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) is a national, non-partisan, grassroots organization comprising over 44,000 college students, professors, college employees, parents of college students, and concerned citizens who believe that holders of state-issued concealed handgun licenses should be allowed the same measure of personal protection on college campuses that current laws afford them virtually everywhere else. SCCC has members in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. SCCC is not affiliated with the NRA or any other organization. SCCC extends an open invitation to publicly debate representatives from any organization or institution opposed to “campus carry.”

Governor Brewer Vetoes Campus Carry

In her veto letter yesterday afternoon, Governor Brewer claimed that she vetoed SB 1467 because she was concerned that the public right of way specified in the legislation was not properly defined within it. Is it just me, or does it seem fairly simple to you? If it's a sidewalk or a parking lot, and the public has the right to be there, then it is a public right of way area. If it's a place the general public is not allowed to be, it is not a public right of way area.

That is so simple even a 5th grader can understand it, but apparently it was too difficult for our Governor even with her entire staff to help her out. If they failed to help her figure it out, all she had to do was call me, and I would have been happy to give her a hand. I even happen to have a 6th grader here at home who could have helped her in a pinch if I was too busy at the moment.

She also gave a lame excuse about K-12 schools which were not even mentioned in the legislation at all.

Thanks to her Veto stamp, Students and Teachers will continue to be faced with the decision of getting an education in a defenseless victim zone here in Arizona, or moving to another state like Utah or Colorado where they are free to be prepared to defend their own life if they are threatened by an armed rapist or thug while they happen to be on the grounds of a University or College campus. The criminals either don't know how to read the gun free zone signs, or they simply have been choosing to ignore them. When you're in the dark, alone, and confronted by an armed thug, do you want to be armed with a gun or a cell phone? The gun would be right there at your side in your holster ready to go. The Police would be minutes away, likely to arrive in time only to draw outlines of chalk where they found the bodies of the disarmed victims at the scene of the crime.

The Gun Free Zone experiment is a dismal failure, which has turned competent individuals into helpless disarmed victims. It is well past time for us to stop treating our students and teachers like lab rats. They should be given back their natural right to choose whether or not they wish to be prepared to defend themselves, or to walk around with nothing but a cell phone in their pocket.

AZ: Ask Governor Brewer to Sign Campus Carry

From AZCDL:

Your Action Center letter to the Governor is waiting for you here:
http://capwiz.com/azcdl/issues/alert/?alertid=40883501 .

SB 1467, the AzCDL-requested Campus Carry bill passed out of the House on April 7, 2011 and was sent back to the Senate where it was forwarded to the Governor for her consideration.

SB 1467 simply prevents the governing boards of colleges and universities from prohibiting the “lawful possession or carrying of a weapon on a public right-of-way.” That covers streets, sidewalks, etc. open to public use.

We are already getting word that the anti-rights forces have begun contacting the Governor urging her to veto SB 1467 to make sure that campuses remain safe havens for criminals and dangerous places for students.

The anti-rights crowd has pulled out all the stops this year to prevent teachers, staff, and students in Arizona from having a safe learning environment. East Coast based national groups have beefed up their staff in Arizona. At the Capitol, they have spared no expense on lobbying, including holding a closed meeting with “freshmen” legislators (AzCDL tried to attend but we were stopped at the door). On college and university campuses, they have conducted a series of fear-mongering indoctrination sessions, disguised as “forums,” to stop Campus Carry. Sadly, they have also exploited the victims of the January Tucson shooting tragedy in order to intimidate nervous legislators.

Contact the Governor and let her know that you support the passage of SB 1467 and urge her to sign SB 1467 into law. Your Action Center letter to the Governor is waiting for you here:
http://capwiz.com/azcdl/issues/alert/?alertid=40883501 .

Stay tuned! When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts.

A list of the firearms and self-defense related bills, along with links, that AzCDL is monitoring can be found at our website: http://www.azcdl.org/html/2011_bills.html .

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Renew your membership today! http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html .

You can also follow AzCDL on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FacebookAzCDL , and during the legislative session, we send out updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/AzCDL_Alerts

AzCDL’s Political Action Committee (PAC) is also on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FacebookAzCDLPAC .

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html .

Copyright © 2011 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

John Lott on Campus Carry

John R Lott Jr hits it out of the park once again with another great article that describes why attempting to create a so-called "gun free zone" on our college campuses is a ridiculous idea.

AZ Campus Carry HB 2014

Representative Harper has filed Campus Carry HB 2014 for the 2011 Arizona Legislative Session.

Below is the key text of HB 2014:

NOTWITHSTANDING SUBSECTION D OF THIS SECTION, THE GOVERNING BOARD OF ANY UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE SHALL NOT ENACT OR ENFORCE ANY POLICY OR RULE THAT PROHIBITS THE POSSESSION OF A CONCEALED WEAPON BY A PERSON WHO POSSESSES A VALID PERMIT RECOGNIZED OR ISSUED PURSUANT TO SECTION 13-3112 OR THE TRANSPORTATION OR STORAGE OF A FIREARM PURSUANT TO SECTION 12‑781.

Optimally I'd rather not have the CCW permit requirement, but that provision may be required to get the bill passed. You could think of this as a football game that we're winning, and we're trying for another 1st down as we fight towards the ultimate goal of fully restoring our freedoms.

Be sure to contact your representatives to ask for their support. It is high time we eliminate the existing defenseless victim zones at Arizona Colleges and Universities. The so-called "Gun Free Zone" is now well proven to be a failed experiment which has been utilizing our students and faculty as defenseless lab rats, many of which have paid the ultimate price. Although Liberal Progressives dream of it, I have yet to hear of a single Rapist, Murderer, or Criminal Psychopath who has actually disarmed himself voluntarily simply because he saw a Gun Free Zone sign posted on a wall.

You can read some of Representative Harper's comments on the bill at verdenews.com

Another Shooting in a Gun Free Zone

How in the world could we have another shooting in a gun free school zone? Didn't that psychopath read the gun free zone sign? Perhaps it didn't have large enough letters.

Only a MORON would think a sign could deter crime. Morons & Progressives. Yet again, the only people disarmed by the gun free zone were the helpless victims. How many shootings need to take place in gun free zones before the Progressives will figure out that they don't work? Why are we using our children as lab rats in this experiment called gun free school zones? Why don't the Progressives post signs on their own front doors letting potential criminals know that they will find helpless victims inside? Why only do it to our children while they are in our institutions of learning?

Self Defense in Chicago?

An Elderly man in Chicago defended his family from an intruder with a handgun, which is rare in Chicago since handguns are currently banned there. Hopefully the Supreme Court will decide to incorporate the 2nd Amendment this summer and declare the Chicago Gun Ban unconstitutional, so that we can have more happy endings like this in the windy city going forward.

To the NRA: I Propose We Celebrate our Rights Where we can Actually Exercise Them!

While I'm sure Charlotte, NC was a beautiful location for the 2010 NRA Convention, the 2010 NRA Annual Meeting attendees who recently traveled there to celebrate the very freedom our Second Amendment protects were not actually free to exercise them. That's right, due to NC State law, convention attendees were met with Gun Free Zone signs at the doors, forcing them to either leave their guns in their hotel room if they were not unfortunate enough to have been staying at a Marriott, or leave them hidden away in their vehicles.

NC State law defines at least 10 different types of so-called "gun free zones" - places only criminals will be armed. In such government created gun free zones, all law abiding citizens are forced to become disarmed sheep ready for slaughter by any criminal armed with a knife, sword, gun, sling shot, broken bottle, or box cutters. In addition to preventing attendees from exercising their basic rights, the choice in location also provided unfortunate fodder for the anti-gun Violence Policy Center who never misses an opportunity to stretch anything they can into a far fetched lie.

Due to the fact that our freedoms are being restored throughout the United States at a rapid pace, would it be too much to ask the NRA to choose only locations for conventions where we can actually exercise our freedoms while we celebrate them? Why not reward the States with our tourist dollars that actually respect our rights? I believe the absolute minimum freedoms we should require at any location for an NRA Convention would be the freedom to bear arms openly & concealed in areas not serving alcohol, and either openly or concealed in areas where alcohol is served. I make that distinction only because some states require open carry where alcohol is served, while other states may require concealed carry in such locations.

Next year, the convention will be held in Pittsburgh, PA, a state with laws that do not create any gun free zones other than in court houses and elementary schools, which wouldn't directly impact an NRA Convention. I'm looking forward to my visit to Pittsburgh PA in 2011.

I'm a little worried however about the 2012 convention planned to take place in St. Louis, MO, as MO law defines 18 different gun free zones including bars, as well as Arenas and Stadiums seating over 5,000 people. Does a Convention Center count as an Arena if more than 5,000 people can walk in?

May I be so bold as to suggest Arizona for a return visit by a future NRA Convention? Starting on the 28th of July 2010 you won't even need a permit here to exercise your right to bear arms either concealed or openly, so long as no alcohol is served at the venue. If alcohol is served for on-site consumption, you can still carry concealed if you have a valid CCW permit issued by any State in our Country, so long as you don't drink while you carry, thanks to our restaurant carry bill that was signed into law last year.

Now that my friends, is freedom worth celebrating!

NH: Bad Solutions to Problems that Don't Exist

It is ludicrous to believe that the action of placing a gun free zone sign on a building could ever hope to prevent a criminal from breaking the law by walking past it and continuing on to far worse deeds. Protesters in NH agree.

We still need to get rid of a few victim rich zones here in our own State of Arizona, our Capitol buildings among them.

Gun free zones disarm the law abiding, not the criminals.

David Griffith: Unarmed Victim Zones

David Griffith wrote an article in Policemag with the title: Unarmed Victim Zones - When the only person in the room with a gun is the bad guy, lots of good people are going to die.

I agree 100%

CSU Becomes a Defenseless Victim Zone

Colorado State University has decided to end a 6 year policy of not prohibiting concealed carry on campus by 21 and older adult students for their personal defense, becoming yet another so-called "Gun Free Zone" where nut jobs are able to rack up high body counts as easily as shooting fish in a barrel, where rapists easily find defenseless women, and thugs mug with impunity.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said his office would "not hold or detain a valid permit holder who violates that policy, nor would his department have anything to do with enforcing that policy."

Update 1: NRA-ILA response.

Why Do Regulations Disarm our Military?

My sincere condolences to the victims and family members impacted by Yesterday's Fort Hood mass shooting. I'm sure I stand with many when I say thank you to brave hero Police Sergeant Kimberly Munley (and her partner) who confronted the killer, shooting him 4 times and bringing an early halt to his attack. Luckily she was close to the incident directing traffic and was able to respond within 3 minutes of the first 911 call.

I believe 3 minutes is the fastest Police response I've ever heard of to a mass shooting incident. Once she arrived she went straight in and confronted the shooter. She didn't waste any time waiting around for a swat team to arrive, which I believe saved many lives.

There remains however an urgent question in my mind: Why does Military policy disarm our trained military men and women while they are on base? I'm sure many of the 13 dead and 30 wounded would have wanted to fight back and defend themselves had they not all been disarmed by bad military base policy.

Did the gun free zone created by base regulations which ban weapon carry by anyone other than on duty Military Police prevent the madman from bringing both of his handguns to his attack? Of course not. Anybody willing to break the law in such a gruesome attack is not going to worry about a gun free zone policy. I imagine that the three minutes, while very fast for a Police response, seemed like an eternity to the defenseless victims who were stuck in the gun free zone while being shot at by the mad man.

I believe that the military gun free zone policy was probably created by a group of brain dead bureaucrats without any basis in fact. It is high time such idiotic policies be stricken down, as it is immoral to victimize the very men and women who have fought and died off shore protecting our freedoms by denying them the fundamental right of self protection while on US soil on our US military bases.

Update 1: Stephanie Gutmann, The Armorer, Dave Workman, Daniel White, Kurt Hofmann, and Howard Nemerov ask the same question. It is also being discussed on defensivecarry.com and glocktalk.com.

Guns on Campus One Year Later

The Harrold Texas School District made it through its first year with the partial removal of the gun ban without any incidents to report. There were not any accidental shootings, none of the guns carried by teachers were used in crime, and no mass shooters were dumb enough to attack. None of the dire predictions of blood running in the streets came to pass.

Related SAF News Release.

National Park Carry Amendment Passed by the House

The National Park Carry Coburn Amendment to the Credit Card bill was approved by the House yesterday.  Next stop will be the President's desk where Obama is expected to sign the bill, not because of the Amendment, but in spite of it.

The NRA, GOA, & CCRKBA have all issued related press releases.  The Brady folks are not happy - apparently they think law abiding citizens who already carry guns in rush hour traffic & crowded shopping malls without incident will suddenly loose their heads when the "self defense prohibited" signs are removed from our National Parks.

More Proof that Gun Free Zones Disarm Victims, Not Criminals

John R Lott wrote a great article with yet more proof that Gun Free Zones disarm victims, not criminals: "Gun-Free Zones are a Magnet for Attacks like the tragedy in Binghamton"

If a criminal is unwilling to obey critical laws against criminal activities such as assault or murder, why would they bother to obey a gun free zone law?

Update 1: How to quickly stop mass shootings like Binghamton NY

Heavenly

Article Author Cathrine Grace was trying to paint a scary picture about the removal of gun free zones, but all I got out of it was heaven:

Imagine life at PUC with no gun ban. Picture a campus on which students, faculty, and visitors could all carry a concealed weapon, whether in the parking lot or the classroom.
This scenario could soon be reality should State Senator Johnny Nugent of Lawrenceburg find three times a charm in a possible January, 2010 revival of his controversial gun legislation.

I'd only make a few modifications to reach complete nirvana:

Imagine life at Purdue University with no civil rights violations. Picture a campus on which adult students, faculty, and visitors were all free to defend themselves from armed thugs & rapists.
Imagine freedom restored. Imagine America as it was meant to be.

AZ: Concealed Carry on Campus HB 2607

HB 2607 if enacted would prohibit Arizona Educational Governing Boards from prohibiting the carry of concealed weapons by adults who have valid CCW permits. Full text of bill here. Look for the changes to existing law in blue text. Be sure to contact your representatives to ask for their support. I have not yet talked to SCCC or the ASU chapter of SCCC, but I imagine they will probably come out in support of this bill as a good first step. I have contacted them & will update this post with what I hear back.

More from AZCDL:

HB 2607, the AzCDL-requested Campus Carry bill, was filed on Monday, February 9, 2009, the last day for bills to be filed this session. HB 2607 removes the authority of a governing board to prohibit a person who possesses a CCW permit from carrying a concealed firearm on the property of an educational institution (i.e., College or University).

It was touch-and-go for awhile. This legislation was drafted and sponsorship was obtained, but the bill was not filed by the Senate deadline. To keep the bill alive, Dave Kopp and John Wentling, AzCDL's president and vice-president, successfully lobbied for Campus Carry to be filed in the House before the House deadline.

All AzCDL-requested bills for this session have now been filed (Constitutional Carry, Defensive Display, Campus Carry, and CCW Reform). Plus there are a number of other pro-rights bills we are supporting. As they begin to move through the legislative process we will notify you via these Alerts. Stay tuned.

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today!

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html

Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

More on Gun Free Zones

Great article discussing the impact of concealed carry on multiple victim crimes:

. . . Abhijeet Singh, founder of Indians for Guns, told CNSNews.com Tuesday that if the citizens of Mumbai had been allowed to carry guns, terrorists would not have killed as many people as they did--and might have been deterred from attacking in the first place . . .

Lott, author of “More Guns Less Crime,” said that multiple-victim public shootings are much less likely to happen in places where people are allowed to carry concealed handguns . . .

Police are easily identified,” Lott said. “Terrorists either kill police first or wait until they leave the scene to attack.” . . .

When states change their laws to allow people to carry concealed handguns, these attacks decrease by 60 percent, and the number of people injured or killed in them drops 78 percent, Lott said . . .

Every single multiple-victim public shooting in the United States, in which more than three people were killed, has taken place in an area where concealed handguns are not allowed . . .

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest," Gandhi wrote in his autobiography, “Gandhi: An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth.”

Check out the full article.

AZ: U of A Student Alive Because he Lives Off Campus

If he had lived on campus it would have been illegal for him to have the gun that he used to save his own life early this morning when two thugs broke into his home. The headline likely would have instead been "Student found dead, Police asking for any information that could help them identify the suspects." Can anyone tell me why adults who live or attend school at an educational institution should not have the same freedom to defend themselves on campus that they already enjoy outside of the so-called Gun Free School Zones? No? I thought not.

Luckily this story had a happy ending because the student happened to be off campus when the attack took place early this morning, and he was smart enough to be prepared with a good tool for his own self defense. He would not have had time to wait for a response to a 911 call, so he took care of the immediate problem himself, and then called the Police to have them help clean up the mess. Let us all work together during the next legislative session to fix the unconstitutional laws in Arizona that currently create these so-called "Gun Free School Zones." With a little effort in the future we can hear more happy endings like this and less of the rapes, assaults, or murders of defenseless adults currently forced to live, work, or attend school inside Defenseless Victim Zones.

Also covered here.

Update 1: Smallest Minority Has Mugshots.