Columbine.
Virginia Tech.
Fort Hood.
What do all of these shootings have in common?
The answer is they all occurred in government facilities where the private possession of firearms was prohibited.
In Washington, unconstitutional legislation is commonplace. But sometimes unconstitutional laws can have deadly consequences. The so-called “gun free school zones act,” written by radical anti-gun Senator Heb Kohl, is one such law.
Slammed through in 1996 as an amendment to a giant last-minute must-pass appropriations bill, the legislation disarmed school staff and other adults – leaving elementary and secondary school children defenseless to serial killers.
It also made it virtually impossible to drive your car down the street with your gun inside without violating the law by creating a 1000-foot so-called “gun-free zone” around every public and private school in the country.
“Gun free,” that is, except for the criminals.
No one – including politicians, the police, or the individual citizen – can predict where the next deranged serial killer will attack. And yet politicians continue to create “criminal safe zones” such as schools, churches, parks, restaurants that serve alcohol, etc., where the law-abiding are disarmed.
The net impact of turning schools, in particular, into defenseless targets for serial killers has been dramatic.
When many people over the age of 40 were growing up, ROTC students would march up-and-down high school campuses with their semi-automatic M1’s – and no one would think anything of it. Shooting clubs on school grounds were also not uncommon.
But within a couple a years of the enactment of the Kohl amendment, two disaffected teenagers walked into Columbine High School secure in the knowledge that they would be the only ones in the school who were armed.
And, of course, Columbine triggered a slew of copycat episodes – laying a mounting string of innocent casualties at the feet of Herb Kohl and his misbegotten legislation.
It’s time to say NO to criminal safe zones. And a great place to start is the blatantly unconstitutional gun free school zones act.
Thankfully, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) agrees and has introduced legislation to do just that.
Rep. Paul recently introduced the “Citizens Protection Act of 2011” (H.R. 2613), which will repeal the Kohl amendment and thus remove the federally created criminal safety zones.
Rep. Paul is one of the few members of Congress who respects the Constitution and who actually introduces legislation to restore federalism. And, unlike some legislators, Paul has a history of forcing the House to vote on his pro-gun proposals, thus putting other congressmen on record.
GOA is proud to stand with Rep. Paul in the effort to repeal the unconstitutional gun free zones law. For anyone who cares about liberty, now is the time to work on getting the 218 votes we need to pass this important piece of legislation.
ACTION: Contact you congressman. Urge him or her to cosponsor Ron Paul’s Citizens Protection Act of 2011, H.R. 2613.
Click here to contact your congressman.