Your Freedom, Your Rights, Your Guns.
K THOMPSON
1/12/13
OPINION EDITORIAL 1ST DRAFT
YOUR FREEDOM, YOUR RIGHTS AND YOUR GUNS
On December 14th, 2012; 20 year old Adam Lanza, entered Sandy Hook Elementary School to carry out the mass murder of innocent staff and children of the school. This shooting as well as others, such as the "Batman" shooting in Colorado, have sparked the emotions of almost everyone in our local communities. Members of the media as well as government have been left asking how did this happen in our schools? Some have proposed that guns are the problem. Upon studying this issue as well as listening to different points of views from opposing sides I’ve come to believe that guns are not so much the problem, Gun free zones are.
Brigham Young University, has given their stance very boldly and clearly on their website byu.edu; stating that firearms, knifes, and other weapons are strictly prohibited on campus, or in approved BYU housing such as the dorms. The question I would like to pose is; are gun free zones really safer? This as well as other ideas from organizations just seem to fall short when it comes to fully protecting ourselves. Metal detectors, Random bag checks, beefing up security as well as banning magazines with more than ten rounds have all been proposed. While these ideas make some sense, I still don’t see how these measures would stop a shooting in our schools. While looking at the statistics from mass shootings that have taken place since 1982, 62 total shootings have taken place while shockingly 16 of those were in gun free zones. Former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack recently stated in an interview with John Fund from the National Review "schools are a helpless victim zone" adding later "that preventing any adults at a school from having access to a firearm eliminates any chance the killer can be stopped. Mr. La Pierre, president of the NRA, declared in a recent press conference following the Sandy Hook shooting, “the
1/12/13
OPINION EDITORIAL 1ST DRAFT
YOUR FREEDOM, YOUR RIGHTS AND YOUR GUNS
On December 14th, 2012; 20 year old Adam Lanza, entered Sandy Hook Elementary School to carry out the mass murder of innocent staff and children of the school. This shooting as well as others, such as the "Batman" shooting in Colorado, have sparked the emotions of almost everyone in our local communities. Members of the media as well as government have been left asking how did this happen in our schools? Some have proposed that guns are the problem. Upon studying this issue as well as listening to different points of views from opposing sides I’ve come to believe that guns are not so much the problem, Gun free zones are.
Brigham Young University, has given their stance very boldly and clearly on their website byu.edu; stating that firearms, knifes, and other weapons are strictly prohibited on campus, or in approved BYU housing such as the dorms. The question I would like to pose is; are gun free zones really safer? This as well as other ideas from organizations just seem to fall short when it comes to fully protecting ourselves. Metal detectors, Random bag checks, beefing up security as well as banning magazines with more than ten rounds have all been proposed. While these ideas make some sense, I still don’t see how these measures would stop a shooting in our schools. While looking at the statistics from mass shootings that have taken place since 1982, 62 total shootings have taken place while shockingly 16 of those were in gun free zones. Former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack recently stated in an interview with John Fund from the National Review "schools are a helpless victim zone" adding later "that preventing any adults at a school from having access to a firearm eliminates any chance the killer can be stopped. Mr. La Pierre, president of the NRA, declared in a recent press conference following the Sandy Hook shooting, “the