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Gun-free zones invite mass shootings
Letter to the editor
lettereditor

Editor, Bring your gun to church. Bring your gun to the movie theater. Teachers, take your gun to school. Don’t leave home without it.

When are people going to learn that gun-free zones are really kill zones? It’s like hanging a sign out front that says, “Hey, crazy person. We’re sitting ducks.”

Most mass shootings have occurred in gun-free zones — Century Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado; Columbine; Fort Hood; Oak Creek (Sikh Temple); Sandy Hook Elementary; Virginia Tech; Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; and many more.

An actual mass murderer could care less about the gun-free rule. And, what’s more, he will gravitate to such venues for his massacre because he knows that’s where he’s likely to encounter the least resistance, with no one shooting back.

A mass murderer shot and killed two people in a parking lot before he burst into New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Before he could pull the trigger again, the 24-year-old shooter was gunned down by a volunteer security guard with a concealed-carry permit. Yet a dozen states continue to restrict the carrying of concealed firearms in churches — including South Carolina and Georgia.

A 1631 law in Virginia required citizens to own firearms, to engage in practice with them, and to do so publicly on holy days. It demanded that the people “bring their pieces to the church.”

A law like this today could prevent some of the mass shootings.

Taking guns from honest citizens only endangers more of us.

Remember Prohibition?

When the liquor was taken away from honest citizens, the criminals had all of the liquor they could sell.

Let’s keep the criminals guessing whether their targets might shoot back and do away with gun-free zones.

If you were a gunman bent on doing harm, wouldn’t you choose a “pretend” gun-free zone?

Len Calderone
Midway

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