CPRC in the News: San Diego Union-Tribune, San Antonio Express, Daily Caller, Forbes, Columbus Dispatch, Breitbart (2), Yahoo! News, and The Week

May 12, 2023 | Media Coverage

“94 percent of public mass shooting occurred in a gun-free zone,” Breitbart News’s AWR Hawkins cites a study by the Crime Prevention Research Center.

AWR Hawkins, “America Has a Gun-Free-Zone Problem,” Breitbart News, May 6, 2023.

Following the Texas shooting, Republican Texas Rep. Pat Fallon said law-abiding Americans should conceal carry to protect themselves against active shooters. The FBI reported armed citizens stopped six active shooters in 2021 and a Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) study reported that 34.4% of active shooters were stopped by armed citizens.

Nicole Silverio, “One Dead, Two Injured After Miami Beach Nightclub Shooting,” Daily Caller, May 7, 2023.

The Second Amendment and gun ownership are about defending life and empowering people. Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Crime Prevention Research Center have shown that someone in America is protected from or stops a violent crime thanks to owning a gun between 500,000 and 3.6 million times a year. Access to effective self-defense tools like firearms helps the meek and vulnerable in society have a chance against those who seek to do them harm. It is the protection of victims that makes the Second Amendment a crucial tool when discussing ways to prevent violent crime.

Because of the fact that hundreds of thousands and maybe millions of people use a firearm in self-defense every year, and the fact that the vast majority of “mass public shootings” occur in “gun-free zones,” I encourage everyone to support organizations that support your Second Amendment rights. . . .

Cynthia Kaui, “People, not guns, are responsible for otings. Here’s why gun rights must be tected,” San Diego Union Tribune, April 27, 2023.

. . . In addition to affording citizens a way to protect themselves, “stand your ground” laws also “make it easier for would-be victims to protect themselves when the police can’t arrive fast enough,” John Lott wrote for the Chicago Tribune in 2013. Lott, like Gaetz, believes that “requiring people to retreat sometimes prevented people from defending themselves,” adding that “allowing people to protect themselves should be an issue that crosses both racial and political lines.” . . .

Justin Klawans, “Do ‘stand your ground’ laws protect victims or promote violence?,” Yahoo! News UK, April 21, 2023.

Armed citizens stopped six active shooters in 2021, according to an FBI report. A Crime Prevention Research Center study noted that 34.4 percent of active shooters were stopped by armed citizens. . . .

Harold Hutchison, “Texas Rep. Responds to Mall Shooting: ‘Law-Abiding Citizens Should Carry … Know How to Defend Yourself’,” The Western Journal, May 7, 2023

“Gun-free zones are ineffective and make our schools less safe. Since 1950, 94 percent of mass public shootings have occurred in places where citizens are banned from having guns,” Massie said in the release, citing an op-ed from pro-gun Crime Prevention Research Center. “Banks, churches, sports stadiums, and many of my colleagues in Congress are protected with firearms. Yet children inside the classroom are too frequently left vulnerable.” . . .

Ana Rocío Álvarez Bríñez, “Rep. Thomas Massie reintroduces bill to let governments allow guns in school zones,” Louisville Courier Journal, April 7, 2023.

While various leftists continue to fight against allowing teachers to be armed for classroom defense, John R. Lott, Jr. reports there has never been a shooting during a school day in a school where teachers are armed.

The tension between the views of the left and right regarding arming teachers played out in the United States Capitol on March 30, 2023, when Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat, began screaming in the face of Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican, when Massie pointed out the effectiveness of arming teachers.

Massie said, “Did you know there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry?” and Bowman went apoplectic.

Lott, Jr. used an April 24 Townhall column to report that “Twenty states already allow teachers and staff to carry concealed handguns.” In two of those states, Utah and New Hampshire, “any teacher with a concealed handgun permit can carry.” In the other 18, school boards at the districts in each state make the decision.

But throughout those 20 states where teachers are allowed to be armed attacks have not occurred.

“In the thousands of schools where teachers are permitted to carry, no one has been wounded or killed in an attack during school hours,” he wrote.

Other reasons cited to keep teachers disarmed, “such as students getting a hold of the weapons or teachers losing their tempers,” have “never actually occurred” in schools were teachers are armed for classroom defense, he noted.

Sadly, there have been a few instances where armed resource officers were not able to stop a school shooting.

For example, Scot Peterson, the Broward sheriff’s deputy assigned the role of resource officer at the Parkland high school on February 14, 2018, allegedly waited outside the building in which the attack occurred instead of going in to confront the shooter.

Lott suggests not only that armed resource officers are not enough, but that their uniforms make them stand out as targets to be eliminated so an attack can continue smoothly. However, if teachers in plain clothes are armed–and students do not know which teachers are or are not armed–then would-be attackers have a completely new level of security they must breach before an attack can be carried out.

AWR Hawkins, “Report: No Attacks Have Occurred in Schools Where Teachers Are Armed for Classroom Defense,” Breitbart, April 26, 2023.

In addition to affording citizens a way to protect themselves, “stand your ground” laws also “make it easier for would-be victims to protect themselves when the police can’t arrive fast enough,” John Lott wrote for the Chicago Tribune in 2013. Lott, like Gaetz, believes that “requiring people to retreat sometimes prevented people from defending themselves,” adding that “allowing people to protect themselves should be an issue that crosses both racial and political lines.” . . .

Justin Klawans, “Do ‘stand your ground’ laws protect victims or promote violence?,” The Week, April 21, 2023.

If stopping an attack isn’t successful, the Crime Prevention Research Center analyses show since January 2000, not a single shooting-related death or injury has occurred during class hours on the property of a school that allows teachers to be armed.

Parents, rather than that “Gun Free Zone” sign outside the school as you drop your child off, wouldn’t you prefer a sign that says: “The staff at this school is armed and will use whatever force is necessary to protect our students?” . . .

Al Koppen, “A way to protect students,” San Antonio Express-News, May 9, 2023.

However, another analysis focused on mass public shootings between 1998 and 2018 and reported that a WHOPPING 97.8 percent of incidents took place in gun-free zones (Crime Prevention Research Center, 2018a). . . .

Alan Forbes, “Deadly force more of a deterrent than more gun laws,” Sea Coast Online, May 9, 2023

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