There is a funny scene in the movie: “The Jerk”.    A psychopathic killer with a gun is chasing after Steve Martin.  That’s not the funny part.   Martin makes his escape by running behind a fence that holds a sign that reads: Carnival Personnel Only.  The killer reaches the fence, stops, looks at the sign, throws his hat down in disgust and yells out: “Hey, you can’t go back there, only Carnival Personnel is allowed back there.”  Unable to disobey the sign, he aborts the homicide attempt and simply walks away in frustration.   It’s a funny scene because it would never happen.   Somebody should explain this joke to the inventers of the “Gun Free Zone” because they clearly don’t get it.

Have you ever been in a “Gun Free Zone”?  They’re pretty nice, actually.  They are clean, bright and completely unsafe.  Why?  Because nobody has a gun to defend themselves against psychopathic killers.   You see, psychopathic killers don’t respect the rules of the “Gun Free Zone”.   They’re just quirky that way.   Besides, they’ve got other things to worry about, like capital murder charges.  They simply don’t have time to worry about the three strikes and you’re out policy of the “Gun Free Zone”.  So, why do we have “Gun Free Zones” then?  That’s easy.  The Left would rather blame guns than the people who use them.  In their minds, its guns, not people that kill people.  So, logically, establishing a “Gun Free Zone” will make everyone in that area safer.   Of course, this leads us to:

Todd’s Truism #1:  Leftist policies and regulations always accomplish the exact opposite of what they intend to.

The fact is: when you take guns away from good law-abiding citizens, only the criminals have guns.  Ergo, when you establish a “Gun Free Zone”, only good law-abiding citizens respect the policy.  In fact, it can be safely assumed that your garden variety psychopathic killer actually prefers to attack a “Gun Free Zone” over say…an NRA convention… because he/she is confident that nobody is going to shoot back.   As a result the “Gun Free Zone” is actually less safe than a “Gun Zone”.

Just look at what happened at Virginia Tech University last year and Northern Illinois University a couple of weeks ago.  Policy makers thought they could curb gun violence by making their campuses “Gun Free Zones”.   Tragically, all that did was guarantee the gunmen that no one would have the means to defend themselves.   

What is the alternative you ask?  Simply allow good, law-abiding citizens the rights that are guaranteed under the Second Amendment (novel concept, huh).  I know, you’re skeptical.   That’s okay; you’ve been conditioned to think that way.  The story of Jeanne Assam should help.  Jeanne is a Security Guard at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs and a real American heroine.  On December 9, 2007, Matthew Murray showed up at the 10,000 member mega-church armed with an automatic rifle, two hand guns and over 1000 rounds of ammunition. Murray entered the Church and began firing.  Jeanne Assam, a former police officer licensed to carry a gun, heard the gunshots, drew her weapon and fired at Murray multiple times.  Not expecting retaliation, Murry turned his weapon on himself and ended the assault.  There were 7,000 people in attendance that Sunday.   Tragically, two were killed.  It is estimated that Jeanne’s action saved the lives of between 50-100 people.   Larry Bourbonais, a combat tested Vietnam Veteran who was among those shot that day, described Jeanne Assam’s actions as the “bravest thing I’ve ever seen…she just started walking toward the gunman firing the whole way…she was just yelling: ‘Surrender’ walking and shooting the whole time.”   Thank God that the church wasn’t a “Gun Free Zone”.  If it was, this had the potential to be one of the worst mass murders in our country’s history.

Surprised you didn’t hear about this story.  Don’t be.  The fact is good people with licensed firearms defend themselves and their families against would be murderers everyday.  Studies have shown that firearms are used more than 2 million times per year for personal protection and that just the presence of a firearm prevents crime in many instances.  We don’t hear about them of course because such stories discredit the anti-gun agenda that the Left and the media push on us.  Their answer to all gun related crimes is to first blame gun manufacturers and then call for tighter regulation and stricter laws.   The truth is that we have plenty of gun laws on the books and that the people who commit the majority of violent gun crimes simply choose to ignore them.  They are criminals after all.  Stricter laws only prevent the good guys from getting guns and defending themselves.   Just consider Washington, D.C, the entire city has been a “Gun Free Zone” for decades, and yet it has one of the highest murder rates in the country.  Their gun ban has not curbed violent crime.  All that it has done is turn law-abiding citizens into sitting ducks.  Want another example; look at London.  It banned guns in 1987.  It now has a higher violent crime rate than New York City and is currently facing an inexplicable gun crime wave (see Todd’s Truism #1).

There is hope.  This year, the Supreme Court is set to review the Constitutionality of the D.C. gun ban.  This should rid us of the “Gun Free Zones” once and for all. 

We must be vigilant because Americans have the right to defend themselves and failed Leftist policies should not trump our right of self-preservation.  (In a related story, the City Council of Berkeley California, in an attempt to prevent shark attacks, has voted to declare their beaches “Shark Free Zones.”   P.E.T.A is expected to challenge the ruling.)  


...more columns by Todd A. Carges