Columbine Survivor Turned Legislator Introduces Bill to End Gun-Free School Zones
Patrick Neville was a student at Columbine High School in 1999 when two young men killed 12 fellow students and one teacher. Now Mr. Neville is a Republican member of the Colorado State House representing Castle Rock.
Unlike many of the squeaky wheels covered by the mainstream media, Neville offers a common sense solution for combating the possibility of future tragedies. Neville is proposing that concealed carry permit holders be allowed to carry their firearms into Colorado’s gun free school zones.
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How many lives might have been spared at Sandy Hook and Columbine if a teacher, administrator, or other staff member would have been carrying a gun?
It is impossible to answer that question, but common sense would dictate that it certainly increases the odds of more students surviving, as well as minimizing the possibility of the event ever happening in the first place. Of all recorded mass shootings since the 1950s, only two were committed in areas where guns were allowed. Only two.
On Monday The Denver Post reported:
Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock, was a student at Columbine in 1999 in Jefferson County when two seniors went on a rampage, killing 12 fellow students and a teacher.
“This bill will allow honest law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed firearm for protection if they choose to,” Neville said in a news release. “But most importantly, it will give them the right to be equipped to defend our children from the most dangerous situations.”
He is sponsoring the bill with his father, Sen. Tim Neville, R-Littleton. The family is known for its support for fewer gun restrictions.
Townhall’s Christine Rousselle observes:
Currently, thanks to the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, otherwise law-abiding gun owners and concealed-carry permit holders are unable to carry in a school zone. Since the act was passed, nine of the top ten deadliest school shootings have occurred.
Rather than act unconstitutionally to ban guns, leaving them only in the hands of criminals, many prefer a sensible approach to arm more law-abiding citizens in more public venues which are traditionally ripe targets for mass shooters.
A Denver Post commenter, going by the handle of AGR2014, summed it up very well in saying, “Every day, teachers and staff members who have concealed carry permits carry in malls, grocery stores, parks, movie theaters, public colleges and universities, and many other public places, and the sky hasn’t fallen. There’s no reason they shouldn’t also be able to carry in K-12 schools if they choose to do so.”
More concealed carry permit holders are proven to equal a decrease in violent crime. In fact, according to a July article in The Blaze:
The Crime Prevention Research Center released its Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United States report Wednesday, revealing that 11.1 million Americans now hold concealed carry permits, while about 4.6 million carried them in 2007.
With the last concealed carry report from the Government Accountability Office three years ago indicating that about 8 million Americans held permits, the research center said its data analysis shows concealed carry permitting is “growing at faster and faster rates.”
The report also notes that based on data from 2007 and estimates from 2013 murder rates have fallen about 22 percent and violent crime rates have fallen by the same percentage as well.
Not only does a good guy with a gun often neutralize a bad guy with a gun, it should be noted that the prospect of an armed good guy might keep the bad guy from showing up in the first place. Again, since the 1950s, only two of these mass shootings have occurred where guns were permitted.
To the contrary, banning guns doesn’t ever seem to stop the bad guys from finding ways to get them.
Kudos to Tim and Patrick Neville. Hopefully the socialist gun grabbers in Colorado will not find a way to stop this proposed legislation.
