Here is a Washington Times article on our research regarding gun-free zones. The Times’ article starts this way, and some of our comments are shown below this extended quote.
Led by President Trump, gun rights backers are increasingly on the offensive, pushing to roll back the general policy consensus, enshrined in federal law, that guns and schools generally don’t mix.
A study by John R. Lott Jr., a gun crimes researcher, said close to 98 percent of mass shootings happen in gun-free zones, suggesting that they do little to stop, and may even invite, rampages.
Having access to guns limited to security officers doesn’t help much, he said.
“Even if they’re not in uniform but their job is to guard — and everybody knows their job is to guard — they are a target,” Mr. Lott said. “If you’re going to have an attack, they’re going to be the first guys taken out.”
But gun control advocates say ending gun-free zones would turn schools into the Wild West, with people who lack training or permits carrying weapons into classrooms, complicating matters for already overstretched and on-edge authorities.
Plus, they say, Mr. Lott’s data points just get it wrong, stretching definitions to shoehorn the numbers into a pro-gun narrative.
“Everytown believes that only law enforcement and other security officers should be armed in K-12 high schools,” said Adam Sege, spokesman for Everytown for Gun Safety.
Mr. Lott, who runs the Crime Prevention Research Center, has long been at the forefront of gun research, with pioneering work on the spread of concealed-carry permits and the resulting changes in crime rates
His latest study looked at mass shootings from 1950 through May of this year and concluded that 97.8 percent of the attacks took place in areas that he defined as gun-free zones — areas where the average citizen can’t carry guns.
Mr. Lott uses an FBI definition of “mass public shooting” as an event in which four or more people are killed, not counting the shooter, and one that does not involve gang- or drug-related violence.
He said this year’s shooting at a Waffle House in Tennessee qualifies because the restaurant has a policy prohibiting concealed handguns. He also includes entire counties where obtaining a concealed-carry permit is severely restricted.
Everytown points to researchers who say those definitions distort the issue. If a more specific definition of gun-free zones is used, the group says, just 10 percent of mass shootings from 2009 to 2016 occurred in one of the restricted areas.
The group’s study also defines “mass shooting” as an incident in which four or more people are killed, but it included shootings in private homes — which comprised nearly two-thirds of the incidents during that period.
Perhaps most important is that Everytown discounts places where an armed law enforcement officer is on patrol. That would exclude places like Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a sheriff’s deputy was on site at the time of the shooting but didn’t engage the rampaging gunman, who killed 17 people.
If a federal law that generally bans guns around schools is repealed, Mr. Sege said, then “schools could be forced by state legislatures to allow concealed or open carry by people with no permits whatsoever, in some cases including people with no training or with violent criminal records.”
Federal law generally prohibits people from carrying guns within 1,000 feet of schools if they don’t have a state-issued carry permit. Enacted in 1990, the Gun-Free School Zones Act was amended after the Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that it exceeded Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce.
‘A magnet for mass shooters’
Most states also have passed their own restrictions. Almost all states prohibit guns in schools, and 40 states plus the District of Columbia extend that ban to people even if they do have concealed carry permits, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
That means eight states — Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wyoming — either allow concealed-carry permit holders to carry at schools or don’t otherwise prohibit them from doing so, the Giffords Center said. . . .
The rest of the piece is available here.
There were many problems with the article. Despite conversations that Dr. Lott had with the reporter, he insisted on using false claims from places such as the Giffords Center and Everytown. For example, the piece states:
“That means eight states — Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Wyoming — either allow concealed-carry permit holders to carry at schools or don’t otherwise prohibit them from doing so, the Giffords Center said.”
Yet, we have a page with links in it to the schools in different states that allow teachers and staff to carry. There are many examples with links of schools within states like Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, and many others. It really isn’t a question that is open to debate. Either there are school districts in those states that allow teachers and staff to carry or there aren’t. We list the schools and provide links to support the claim.
As to the Waffle House example, the business actually posted signs (as required by law) notifying patrons that they were prohibited from carrying to the restaurant’s property.
Our post on our research also explains why it is misleading to have places such as private residences included in the Everytown list. Unfortunately, the reporter also ignored the list of academics that we had suggested that he contact, with him only contacting an academic on the other side of the debate.
0 Comments