Finally, a president who understands the danger of gun-free zones. President Trump on the mass public shooting at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue.

Oct 27, 2018 | Featured

With at least 8 people killed at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, Americans want something done that would actually make a difference. President Trump is actually offering useful advice.

President Donald Trump: “If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better . . . If they had some kind of protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation. They didn’t.

Trump understands something most economists and criminologists who have published peer-reviewed research on guns: that gun-free zones attract criminals. For a survey of economists and criminologists see this study.

Could you imagine either of the Bushes or Clinton or Obama ever saying something like this? Obviously, they could have done so, but they never made statements like this. Indeed, Clinton and Obama would call for more gun-free zones.

Just a few days ago, a mass public shooter was stopped at a grocery store in Louisville. Here is a list of church shootings that have been stopped by concealed handgun permit holders. Our list of mass public shootings stopped by permit holders is available here. The fact that the US has a much lower rate of mass public shootings than the rest of the world is available here.

UPDATE: Statement from CPRC President John Lott:

“Finally, we have a president who understands what most economists and criminologists who have done peer-reviewed empirical research understand. These gun-free zones serve as magnets for these attacks. Killers go to where victims are defenseless. When are we ever going to learn that virtually all these mass public shootings occur in places where people aren’t allowed to protect themselves. We should have signs up in front of all these synagogues that say the there are people who have concealed handguns there to protect others. This is so much more important than an armed guard who can be readily identified by a terrorist.  The synagogue also said that they were limited in what they could do security wise because of finances. Allowing people to have permitted concealed handguns is very inexpensive.”

UPDATE: Many Democrats quickly called for more gun control.

From the New York Times

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, offering prayers for the victims and calling for an overhaul of gun legislation.

“But thoughts and prayers are not enough,” she said. “Congress must finally act on common sense, bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation.”

and

“Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harm’s way,” said [Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf], adding that people should resist accepting “this violence as normal.”

 

Shira Goodman, who is the executive director of CeaseFirePA, called for these regulations in an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

 

johnrlott

6 Comments

  1. Bryant

    Agreed!

  2. Howard

    Why are you already politicizing this horrible event???

    Isn’t this what the anti-gunners always do , not the CPRC?

    We don’t even know names of the dead.

    • Scm

      Unfortunately, the politicians have already politicized it. Chris Murphy and Richard blumenthal of CT jumped on that bandwagon before we knew the body count(as usual). The fact that mass shootings occur in gun free zones needs to be made known the non gun owning population. Every time they bring their families into these soft target locations they are unwittingly endangering their families. Be well, just my .02

    • Joanne

      I know it might seem that way Howard but it may also be that people are so SICKENED by this happening repeatedly that their way of ‘handling it’ is to point out something that could have helped immensely. And I don’t know if the names have been released by now or not… it’s 1am CST (I do know 11 died). People all handle things differently and speaking the obvious (or not so obvious to many) can be helpful to some.
      “Dear God Bless and COMFORT all those who’s loved ones were so needlessly taken from them yesterday (and we pray those police injured will recover 100% also Lord).”

    • Bob Robertson

      Yes. One would think Jews would know better than to be disarmed.

  3. HRColey

    How many “horrible events” does it take before Liberals equip themselves for self protection? Every time some psycho attacks a crowd the only thing that Liberals can come up with is disarming law abiding citizens which accomplishes one thing – it makes murder easier and safer for psychopaths.

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