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Fighting chance?

Posted by Richard on December 19, 2012

In the wake of the Newtown school massacre, Rep. Diana DeGette (SD-CO1) is again pushing a bill to ban magazines (they’re not “clips”) that hold more than 10 rounds. Her argument for this legislation is interesting:

DeGette says banning high-capacity clips would go a long way toward limiting the number of shots that can be fired by a gunman in the event of future mass shootings.

“We can probably never stop a disturbed individual completely from taking a gun and going into a school or a shopping mall or a store parking lot and trying to shoot people, but we can give those victims a fighting chance,” she said. …

A “fighting chance”?? DeGette’s idea of a “fighting chance” is a chance to be the 11th or 12th person targeted by some homicidal maniac — the person who might be able to escape (or maybe risk trying to tackle the shooter?) during the two seconds it takes the shooter with a 10-round magazine to drop the empty mag and slam home a fresh one.

My idea of a “fighting chance” is a chance to actually fight back. To shoot back. How about legislation to ban so-called gun-free zones? Schools, colleges, shopping malls, and theaters where guns are banned are also known as “target-rich environments” because all the good guys are disarmed and helpless. And that’s the real problem — in these places, there are no guns in the hands of the decent, peaceful, and law-abiding.

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4 Responses to “Fighting chance?”

  1. Rick Shultz said

    Well Richard, apparently we don’t disagree on everything in this particular subject area. I too would love to see legislation to ban “gun free” zones. It makes no sense at all to give people the right to carry a gun and then turn around and tell them “Oh by the way, there are certain areas where you can’t carry it.” But I’d bet real money that the owners of the malls and theatres and the school boards will all scream bloody murder if somebody introduces a bill like that.

    • Richard said

      The owners of malls and theaters — private property — have every right to disallow firearms, and I shouldn’t have left the impression that I’d want to abrogate their rights legislatively. Although I think doing so is terribly misguided, I respect their right to set the policies governing my access to their property. When I encounter such a place, if circumstances allow, I leave them a card provided by Rocky Mountain Gun Owners that explains why their policy is a bad idea and why I won’t be doing business with them because of it.

      Government schools, on the other hand, are not private property. The Constitution doesn’t grant the federal government the power to control access to public schools (or the power to do anything regarding education, for that matter). And I’d argue that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment prohibits state governments and school boards from imposing restrictions regarding lawfully carried firearms. In any case, I’d rather have this argument on a state-by-state or, better yet, school-district-by-school-district level than on a federal level, where it has absolutely no business.

      • Rick Shultz said

        Richard, when you have time could you perhaps post a link to Rocky Mountain Gun Owers? I would like to look into the possibliity of obtaining a few of those cards and others might be interested as well.

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