The Republican-controlled Arizona House of Representatives has voted to repeal the state’s gun-free school zone laws, setting up a potential battle that only Gov. Jan Brewer (R) may be able to stop.
The House on Tuesday night passed a bill to end the prohibition of guns within 1,000 feet of schools. The measure would allow anyone licensed to carry a concealed weapon to have a gun within the buffer.
Garbage! First the 1,000 ft “Buffer zone” is bullshit. First there are no magical lines. Its easy to see a school building, and if you walk into one its understandable that you know what you’re walking into. (Not that somebody who’s sane and lawful on the sidewalk will become Death Incarnate as soon as they step into school grounds!) But where is the 1,000 ft line? That’s almost 1/4 mile, that’s not a short distance. Even the furthest parking spot at the Mall isn’t 1,000 Ft from the nearest entrance. Think of that distance and note that there will be houses and buildings between you and the school. Certainly if you want to park for a school function you can’t park in any of the School parking lots.
Also I’m curious if you live near a school. Can you suddenly not carry? Do you need to disarm to back out of your driveway?
Pure bullshit.
And of course there’s the logistics. Rather than bring a gun in a holster onto school grounds the Nannies think its safer to lock your gun in a glass box. Also they think its safer to force somebody to handle a loaded gun inside the cramped confines of a car?
No anti-rights person even knows what that entails, let alone THINK about it. They just know its shittier for lawful gun owners and that makes them happy.
Still it isn’t all bad!
States that have been or are considering bills in current legislative sessions include Colorado, Iowa, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota and Virgina, according to the NRA.
South Dakota could be the fifth state to join the ranks of permit-less carry states. Lawmakers last week passed a measure allowing anyone 18 and older with a valid state driver’s license to carry a concealed weapon, as long as they don’t have a background that would otherwise prohibit them from getting a permit. The bill awaits action from Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard.
I have my doubts about Maine, as their Carry laws are reasonable in practice, but there is a LOT of vestigial anti-gun writing in the law that might come to light in a Constitutional carry discussion. But New Hampshire I see NO reason why it clings to its permits. Open carry is 100% legal without permits, no special training is required, the waiting period is inside of a week, even the card is a cheap peice of crap that doesn’t even have a photo, and residents fees are $10. At that point why even bother?
Further carry permits are just foolish. Jay mentioned in an article (that I can’t find…Jay, drop it in the comments, please), that S&W ships J-frame revolvers to Illinois. My PM45 is the only gun I regularly carry that I bought AFTER I was lawfully allowed to carry. Back in the 80s when so many states legally banned carry it wasn’t like Walther PPKs and little pocket .25s and .32s weren’t still in the gun shops.
If you can legally buy a gun, the only thing that is going to make you wait before you get your permit is respect for the law.
If the person has respect for the law what is there to fear? I mean if I don’t want to break the law by carrying into a post office, or an Elementary school, won’t have have as much respect (if not more!) for not robbing and murdering people?
Of course if anti-gun people were logical they’d be pro gun. Good luck to all of these states with their Constitutional carry fight, its been a wonderful law in Vermont, Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming, and most of Montana, it would be a shame for you other states not to enjoy it!
Awesome! Someone else using the “car = glass box” analogy!
Interesting note: If I were to be attacked in my yard, and took a single step off of my own property to avoid an attacker (say, into the neighbor’s yard, or into the street), it would at that point be a federal felony for me to actually fire my gun in self-defense if needed, because my house is well within 1000′ from a school. A single step back on to my property, and it would be legal.
A few inches in either direction could mean the difference between lawful self-defense and 5 years in federal PMITA prison, because while the federal GFSZA has an exemption for CCW holders to carry within the mythical “buffer zone”, there is no exemption for self-defense. Yet it is somehow allowable for an “only one” to fire his weapon in the exact same location and direction – or even actually on school grounds – when “acting in his or her official capacity”. If it were truly a safety issue, the prohibition would apply to LEO’s as well as everyone else.
Unfortunately, VA’s Constitutional Carry bill was strangled at birth by the Republican leadership – it never even got scheduled for a committee hearing. I wish all the other states luck, and I guess we’ll try again next year.
D’oh! Edit to above. It should read:
Also, after re-reading the GFSZA, it would be legal on my neighbor’s property (since it’s private property), but not in the street. I had mistakenly thought the private property exemption was restricted to property owners.
Prufreeding iz gud.
That 1000′ law is another one that needs to see the light of constitutional scrutany. It is incredibly easy to be within 1000′ of a school and not even know it is there. How is that reasonable?
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The gun-free zone in AZ isn’t completely gun-free as it is. You can CCW into a school if you unload first.
Colorado’s was killed on arrival. Democrat Senate.
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GA already allows Weapons Carry Permit holders to drop off and pick up students at school while armed … it’s only when you are going to be at the school that you must lock your firearm in your car.
Now, I haven’t checked with the local DA, but I read that as I can carry as I walk my daughter to her classroom, as long as I don’t dilly dally.
In Arkansas, I’m legal with my handgun so long as I don’t go inside any college building or event. Stand in the parking lot, walk on the lawn, fornicate on the benches, and having a gun is no crime. Step through the doors, though, and by magic, a crime occurs.
Of course, I’m still waiting for my murder license. I mean, I send in the paperwork and fee–what’s the holdup on that?
Heh, the old “License to Murder” has been put to bed for a while….could be it’ll be dug back up like “Bullet Hose” and “Finger Twitch” keep being exhumed.
Still it reminds me of this Meme
http://s696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/stuckma09/?action=view¤t=gunners.jpg