Gun-Free Zones

But that's unpossible!

Robb Allen — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:21:11 GMT

Man Brought Gun Into the Lackawanna County Courthouse

The district attorney's office said Monday a man who was brought in on a suspected DUI in Jermyn had a small gun tucked into his underwear.

How could this happen? The courthouse was a gun free zone. Those signs aren't kidding! When they mean gun-free, buddy they mean GUN FREE!

I'm having a hard time comprehending this. The guy pointed the gun at some officers (who luckily wrestled the gun away from him before shots were fired). I mean, killing a cop, yeah sure. Life in prison, possible execution, yadda yadda yadda. No big deal. But how in the hell did the threat of an increased penalty for carrying a gun into a gun-free zone NOT stop this guy? Isn't that what gun free zones are all about? Increased penalties for just having the gun should stop these guys?

Or it is a lot like this sign?

Someone asks a question

Robb Allen — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:25:09 GMT

Brain Blogger

I’m curious to hear what people think. Would you not see a doctor if you knew he had a gun in his office? Do you feel that physicians are similar to the Red Cross and that they should be neutral and conflict avoiding?

Someone needs guidance and you guys and gals are the perfect ones to help.

They should have just given him what he wanted

Robb Allen — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:01:07 GMT

Don't resist. Don't agitate. Don't fight back. Otherwise you might end up killing the bastard

At 1:10 p.m., a male suspect came through the courthouse's west entrance. As he approached a walkthrough electronic screening device, two bailiffs told him to go through it.
He produced a handgun and fired at them, Pinellas County sheriff's spokesman Jim Bordner said. The two bailiffs shot and killed him.
One of the bailiffs was shot, suffering a nonlife-threatening injury, Bordner said. Further details on the bailiff's condition were not disclosed.

How many more stories like this do we need to read before everyone realizes it's simply better to not resist, to just give the ~~criminal~~ misunderstood individual what he asks for, even if that happens to be your life?

The sheep were really startled, too

"I knew when I looked in his eyes. It was something," she said. "I can tell a lot by a person's gestures, his eyes. I made eye contact, and his eyes told me to run, run for my life, and that's what I did."

Now, I'm not going to make too much fun of this woman because yeah, run. That's actually a good idea when the option is available. I mean, I like you and all that, but in a situation like this, you're on your own bud. Had she screamed that she saw his gun (which she did), he may have shot her instead.

But this lady, on the other hand

Shara Ellis, a property manager in the courthouse taking care of some civil matters, said everybody ran for cover following the shooting.
"I didn't see much. I heard," Ellis said. "I was standing in front of the elevator to go to the law library. … In that moment, I heard an explosion. … I was just riveted to the spot. I didn't move right away. When I did, I went to the detector. A man was on the floor in a ball. He had a backpack on."

Sounds like a standard case of being in condition white and switching too fast to red. Now, I can't speak too well on firearm reports in buildings, but one would suspect you could at least get a North / South bearing on where the shot came from... and go the OTHER way.

Luckily, the bailiff that was shot is fine. The shooter is in good condition too (room temperature is perfect for crazy killers) so it at least turned out ok in the end. It especially turned out much better for the hundreds of unarmed people in the building who could have done nothing had the perp managed to take out the bailiffs and then wandered through the halls.

But, the Gun Free-ness keeps them safe!

Unpossible - Gun siege in London?

Robb Allen — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:20:57 GMT

I thought they were illegal there?

Here's your sign

Robb Allen — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:05:46 GMT

David has his Gun Free Zone sign, I have mine.

Unhappy recipe

Robb Allen — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:23:17 GMT

Sear and Hammer nails this one.

To Rustmeister's point

Robb Allen — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:33:49 GMT

Rusty speaks true

Will this solve the problem? No. Nothing will ever solve the problem. There has been, and always will be, evil in the world.

I've not written about the NIU shootings because every time I sit down to do so, I get angry. Instead of focusing on what I want to say, the blogger in me that's been fighting this fight for so long wants to argue every point again like I do each time this happens and I know it will be to no avail. But Rustmeister brings up a valid point that many people are missing.

Nothing will ever solve the problem.

The other day, a man threw his children off a bridge. A woman puts her 3 daughters in a closet, douses them with gasoline, and sets them on fire. A 19 year old boy beat a doctor to death. Another doctor is killed by a meat cleaver.

In none of these cases was a gun to blame. Also to note, in these cases a gun in the victims' hands would have more than likely not made much of a difference. The one thing that is the same with all these cases (and there are hundreds more that you've not heard about) is that they involve crazy people.

I know crazy. I'm one of those people who take medication to keep his brain chemistry working properly. For every story you hear about some whack-job going off his meds, there are hundreds of thousands of people like me for whom the medication works fine and, if we were to stop, would simply be uncomfortable or depressed. Not suicidal, not psychotic, just depressed.

Just like for every mass murder you hear about with guns, hundreds of thousands of other people have defended their lives with one sans a shot fired.

We also need to instill in our children that it is OK to fight back. We’ve neutered our kids into thinking that all violence is bad when in reality, only predatory violence is bad. A mother who shoots a goblin intent on harming her and her kids does nothing wrong. A cop who uses his baton to subdue a violent drug addict with a knife is doing the right thing. The will to fight back will lower the amount of damage these idiots can do. How many of those kids simply laid down and waited to die?

Will this stop these things? Nope. But it will give idiots like the NIU shooter pause if they’re looking to go out killing as many people as they can since they’re not going to be assured their victims won’t fight back.

Security theater

Robb Allen — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:42:44 GMT

So I took the family to Busch Gardens yesterday. Before you go in, they have tables to go through your bags and backpacks with a stick. They ask you to take cameras out of their cases.

Never was my hip checked for the pistol I carry*. So much for security...

Now, there are no signs anywhere that indicate you are not allowed to carry into the park. There are no metal detectors that I am aware of. I looked online and saw no rules against CCW. But to go through everyone's purses does exactly what then?

*And no, I didn't carry into the park. There are too many people, the seats on the rides are too tight, and it could fall out during a loop-dee-loop. Unlikely, but not a chance I wanted to take. In case of emergency, well I'd have had to make do. Again, I am no less lethal without my firearm, just less efficient.

How about the opposite tack?

Robb Allen — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:29:20 GMT

Insty links to this

A GUN-FREE ZONE LIABILITY ACT: "If you create a gun-free zone, you're liable for any harm it causes."

Maybe instead of making it a penalty thing, we reward them instead?

"Unless you create an environment that prevents self defense, you are not liable for any damages caused by other's violent actions"

Seriously. If I'm in Macy's and some guy comes in shooting everyone, why should Macy's be held responsible? Businesses generally have "no gun" policies simply to cover their asses. If we made it to where there was no need for them to do so, I'd suspect they'd happily remove those restrictions from their employees as well as customers.