Constituent Mail: SB1214~Concealed Weapons, School Grounds

Letter to the Editor, Tucson Citizen: My Opinion Regarding LEGAL Guns on Campus.

In reply to your 06-Feb-08 OpEd condemning Sen. Karen Johnson and her co-sponsorship of SB1214, I see that you are reciting the same old disingenuous anti personal rights and responsibilities chorus of the Brady-Bloomberg-Feinstein-Schumer-Soros clan.

To borrow your words, “Let’s be straight and upfront about it” – legally owned firearms in the hands of trained, screened, licensed adults (21 years old minimum) duly motivated to provide security and protection for themselves and their charges (if any) always have been, are today, and will remain, a serious deterrent to most violent criminal activity.

While many violent criminals and murderers are mentally deficient – few are so stupid as to plan an attack on an armed target. Your claim that such persons don’t “think clearly or logically, so he would not reason through the possibility of confrontation with an armed teacher” (a.k.a. victim) lacks credibility and logic. Why do these same attackers target schools (‘gun free zones’) instead of police stations, National Guard Armories, Military Installations, or even sportsmen at the local gun club/range? Is your logic so skewed by your anti-gun owner fervor that you refuse to see truth in front of your nose?

Your assertion that despite passing law enforcement investigation, finger print searches, classroom training, legal deadly force briefings, range safety, and live-firing exercises – CCW holders lack “the judgment, training and emotional stability to bring guns onto school campuses” is a sham at best.

Have you taken the CCW course? Could you pass the intensive background investigation? Could you pass the exams and practical exercises? I’d guess the answer to most, if not all of these questions is “no”; not that this stops you from slamming those who have.

You paint with the broadest possible brush to obscure your real fear of citizens standing up for themselves and/or others – versus being helpless dependants of the ever (not so) present government. Where were the “law enforcement officers who have the training, judgment and experience” while victims were being slaughtered at Columbine, West Nickel Mines School, Virginia Tech, SuccessTech Academy, etc.? Law enforcement wasn’t inside these schools until the carnage was already over – but qualified adult CCW holders (actual or potential) were present throughout. However, they were as helpless as the rest of the victims – thanks to your idea that the 2nd Amendment is geographically applicable.

I wonder how loud you would scream if the government decided your beloved 1st Amendment was null and void on a geographical basis?

Do not distort my words or miss my point; I am not blaming or casting aspersions at any LEO, office, or agency for any of these murders. I am pointing out the blatantly obvious truth that police/law enforcement cannot be everywhere all the time. What a pity, if they could – as in your panacea – we would have no robbery, no car-jacking, no mugging, no rape, no crime… Ah what a dream world – but not a reality!

Does SB1214 require anyone to carry a weapon – anywhere? Does SB1214 demand, under penalty of law, that anyone use a weapon – in any circumstance? Again, the answer to these questions is “no”. Sen. Johnson’s bill proposes that individuals, meeting rigid state-sanctioned requirements, be permitted (not required or obligated) to carry a weapon in the heretofore ‘gun free school zones’ should they wish. Whereas, you propose to deny self defense rights to all persons regardless of ability or legality – based simply on your unsubstantiated fear. Also, please note the obvious fact that school zones are only ‘gun free’ to law abiding citizens – criminals and gang-bangers carry weapons wherever they want.

In closing, your fear-based attack against Sen. Johnson and SB1214 lacks reason, logic, and recognition of fact. Arizona did not turn into a Wild West shooting gallery when the CCW law passed some years ago, despite the Chicken Little-like cries of the anti-gun press. Nor did Texas, Florida, Georgia, or any other state that dutifully recognizes the rights of law abiding qualified citizens to bear arms, fall into chaos with scenarios you are trying to paint.

If you have any moral honestly and/or civic integrity, you will consider these points of fact and reassess your slam against Sen. Johnson, her co-sponsors, SB1214, and perhaps even (though I sincerely doubt it) – your anti-gun owner fervor.

SB1214 is a good idea – one which gets the full support of citizens like myself that are willing, able, and fully qualified to protect myself, my charges, and even you.

Respectfully,
Joe Walker
Nationally Certified Firearms Instructor
AZ State Certified Firearms Instructor
Former US Army Ranger