If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have them

Editor,

Each mass shooting grieves my soul, be it at a school, a theater, a church or a night club. Life is precious. Loss of life is a tragedy.

It is time to just say no to gun-free zones and restrictions on Second Amendment rights. Evil has always existed in the human heart, and currently the popular way for those lacking restraint against evil express their hatred toward life by committing mass shootings.

Does not the anti-gun lobby know that those jurisdictions with the strongest gun laws have the highest gun crime, such as California, Chicago and, for shame, our nation’s capitol, according to FBI statistics. Do they not know that criminals normally seek easy targets?

From the Columbine to the Orlando shootings, 74 percent have occurred in gun-free zones, according to “Countering the Mass Shooter Threat” by Michael Martin. A gun-free zone sign informs a perpetrator that he will not be met with lethal resistance.

Moreover, does not the anti-gun lobby know that property owners of gun-free zones are liable for injuries on their unprotected property? In the case of the Virginia Tech shooting, the parents of the victims successfully sued the school for damages. The judge ruled that a special relationship existed between the university officials and the victims and that the officials had the responsibility to keep those on campus safe.

In 2013, the Kansas State Legislature chose a proactive response to the risk of mass shooters by passing the Conceal Carry Law HB 2052.

This act states that public institutions cannot restrict the rights of conceal carry license holders from carrying in their buildings unless these institutions provide “adequate security measures” to ensure no weapon enters the premises.

As Kansas state Sen. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona, is quoted as saying, “In America our right to keep and bear arms is guaranteed and we must not allow this to be denied any place that we have a right to be. The only exception to this is in the rare instances when special security provided to the general public as a whole.

Elected officials and Kansas citizens are figuring out, a sign [gun-free zone sign] is not adequate security.”

It is the duty of public officials to protect people in their buildings if they don’t allow the people to protect themselves.

Our state should outlaw gun-free zones and require armed protection for those institutions who insist on being gun-free zones. It is time to fortify the schools with secure buildings. It is time to allow faculty and staff, who have already trained with firearms or are willing to learn, to conceal carry in schools, or the schools need to hire trained guards.

Citizens of Washington, don’t let the anti-gun lobbyists strip you and your children of protection. If guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have them.

Some evil people seek to kill unarmed citizens. This is not the time to restrict firearms. Now is the time to fortify against this evil.

Lorinda Newton

Clinton