[TamThompson]

I was reading on the handgunfree.org site (it's good to keep an eye on what the anti's are up to) that the state of Utah passed a bill that removed restrictions on carrying at schools and workplaces. They didn't have a date on their story.

Was this some time ago? If so, have any stats come in from Utah on how that's affected the violent crime rate? I'm guessing it will go down.

[TheOtherOne]

It was just recently (within the last few months) that they cleared up the confusion in the law. There were two conflicting laws: one said you couldn't have weapons on school property and another one said that CCW holders could have weapons on school property. The just fixed it so they jived. CCW holders can have concealed weapons on school property.

But anyways, here's some stats comparing the first six months of last year to this year:

http://bci.utah.gov/Stats/StatsHome.html

- During the first six months of 2003 a total of 46,623 index crimes were reported. This is a 7.0% increase over the same period in 2002, in which there were 43,572 index crimes reported.

- Violent crime increased 7.94%. Murder increased 50.0%, robbery increased 29.23%, aggravated assault increased 7.60%, while rape decreased 14.48%.



As far as that article (http://handgunfree.org/HFAMain/newsletter/newsdetail.asp?ref=199) on handgunfree.org, what a bunch of lies and deceit! I love how the author tries to make it sound like everyone will now be legally carrying a gun at school (not just CCW holders -- in fact he conveniently forgots to even mention that). I love in this part how he's implying that schools are now government sanctioned killing fields:
Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, said that allowing people to carry their weapons to these places "makes the playing field even." In other words, he means that since people will come in with firearms, law-abiding citizens should have the right equipment to fight back. Schools are not a "playing field," Senator – they are a place for learning. :barf:

I want to write the guy and tell him where to shove it, but just can't think of how to say it in a nice way right now.

[Standing Wolf]

I want to write the guy and tell him where to shove it, but just can't think of how to say it in a nice way right now.

Attempting to reason with leftist extremists is a lot like wrestling with pigs: you just get all muddy, and the pigs love it.