Gun Free Zone Facts

The Gun-Free School Zones Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate in October 1990 by Joe Biden then signed in November 1990 by George W Bush.  The Supreme Court soon ruled it was unconstitutional and it was revised in late 1996.  Since that time, the number of mass public shootings have increased steadily (bar graph below) according to page 8 of a study starting 4 years later (2000) by the FBI titled A Study of Active Shooters.

INCIDENTS WITH THE HIGHEST CASUALTY COUNTS:

1. Cinemark Century 16 Theater in Aurora, Colorado: 70 (12 killed, 58 wounded), July 20, 2012.
2. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia: 49 (32 killed, 17 wounded), April 16, 2007.12
3. Ft. Hood Soldier Readiness Processing Center in Ft. Hood, Texas: 45 (13 killed, 32 wounded), November 5, 2009.
4. Sandy Hook Elementary School and a residence in Newtown, Connecticut: 29 (27 killed, 2 wounded), December 14, 2012.

ALL IN GUN FREE ZONES. Had one of the many law abiding victims in these shootings been armed, the casualties would likely have been much lower. Unfortunately, someone in a position of authority was responsible for making these locations a Gun Free zone, or more accurately, an Easy Victim zone.  To date, none of these decision makers have been held accountable.

In fact, if you look at the locations of the 160 shootings (pie graph below), about 86% are typically "Gun Free" zones.  

Note the comments in red were added for clarity and the link to the original report is included above.

The FBI has an educational video of an Active Shooter incident titled "Run. Hide. Fight. Surviving an Active Shooter Event."  If you watch it, 58 seconds into the video, there is an official "No Guns" notice on the door.  

That is most likely why shooters chose these easy locations.  The report does not mention any mass shootings in a gun store, and I've never heard of one.  On top of this, there are many documented cases of armed citizens preventing crime and far more that are undocumented, which makes sense because the crime never occurred.

So 5 years after Gun Free zones were approved, the frequency of mass public shootings begin to increase.  Most were in  Gun Free zones, especially ALL the ones with the highest casualty count.

From all of this, it seems obvious that Gun Free zones are dangerous places.  So what should we do? Avoid Gun Free zones as much as possible, get proper fire arm training/permits and carry a gun with you.   

It is better to be armed and not need it, than to need a gun and not have one.  Granted the chances are small, but most police officers never fire a gun in the line of duty, yet they still wear a bullet proof vest.... just in case; because the consequences are too severe if they need one and don't have it. 

We also need to start holding Decision Makers responsible. Civil suits can achieve this or perhaps amending the Gun Free Zone law to stipulate that Decision Makers are responsible for providing adequate security to ensure our safety when they create or enforce a Gun Free Zone.

For more information:

Blog Table of Contents 
FBI GUIDE ON ACTIVE SHOOTERS
NRA Gun Safety Rules 
The Best Gun
Terrorist Attack - Best Preparations 
Why I avoid doing business in Gun Free Zones

Terrorist Attacks are not just a US problem; see this Video:
Graphic Video of Paris Terrorist Shootings