Utah: "No to Guns in Schools"

[cuchulainn]

Oh, I just don't feel like commenting on the inanity in this beyond that little rolleyes guy.

editorial in Salt Lake Tribune

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Feb/02052003/opinion/26337.asp

No to Guns in Schools
Sen. Mike Waddoups is sponsoring a bill in the Legislature that would make it clear that Utahns with permits to carry concealed weapons are allowed by law to take guns into public schools.

This bill is a dangerous mistake. Rather than adopting it, legislators should write a law clarifying that holders of concealed-carry permits are forbidden to bring guns into schools.

Sen. Waddoups, the Republican majority leader from Taylorsville, fervently believes that law-abiding citizens who hold concealed-carry permits pose no threat to public safety, whether in schools or elsewhere. Many gun-rights advocates believe that permit-holders make schools and other places safer because their presence deters crime.

We believe, however, that introducing guns into schools in the possession of permit-holders makes schools more dangerous rather than safer. If a loaded gun were left unattended or a permit-holder somehow lost control of it in other circumstances, that weapon in the wrong hands could produce a tragedy.

Frankly, this risk outweighs the possibility that criminals will be deterred by the knowledge that permit-holders may be present in a school. The chance of something going wrong because of guns brought into schools by permit-holders is more likely than the chance that permit-holders would be able to stop a Columbine-style attack or some other crime.

Parents, teachers and administrators who get into heated arguments are safer if no one is armed, and for that reason alone the law should forbid anyone other than a peace officer from bringing a weapon into a school.

Some argue that this line of reasoning leaves law-abiding citizens defenseless against a criminal who would defy the law. We are not convinced, however, that an arms race is the answer to this problem.

In this context, someone who is under demonstrable threat and carries a gun for self-defense would be the strongest candidate, other than a police officer, for an exception to a no-guns-in-schools law. Consider, for example, a woman who has a protective order against a dangerous, violent spouse.

If Utah's concealed-carry law were to require that woman to show good cause that she is under threat as a condition for receiving a permit, it might be reasonable to grant her permission to carry a gun in a school. But Utah lawmakers abandoned that kind of law in 1995 in favor of one which allows anyone who can pass a criminal background check and a minimal training course to hold a concealed-carry permit. Reasonable cause is no longer part of the equation.

As a result, it is unreasonable for the law to permit all of Utah's 52,000 holders of concealed-carry permits to pack heat in the public schools. Legislators should clarify the law to reflect that fact.
© Copyright 2003, The Salt Lake Tribune.

 

[Gray Peterson]

If Utah's concealed-carry law were to require that woman to show good cause that she is under threat as a condition for receiving a permit, it might be reasonable to grant her permission to carry a gun in a school.

Tell that to the battered woman who live in places like LA County, CA, or New York City, or New Jersey, or Maryland.

These people are idiots to even suggest this. As soon as their discretion, they'd demand they carry pepper spray...