BonYogi wrote:
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Myrick is as much of a hero as the law would allow. He was only seconds away from the shootings, yet the law had him far away from his gun. Federal law precludes anyone but a cop from having a weapon in or near a school. The modern spree of school shootings began sometime shortly after this law was enacted. In most places, state and local laws needlessly duplicate the federal law, serving only to accommodate political grandstanding.
Is any mention of him
gbaji wrote:
sprinting up to a quarter mile away from the school to their car where they could legally store their weapons, then sprinting back and engaging and stopping a shooter
So, do you have a link for your quarter mile statement or will you just gloss over that? Because you said there have been cases.
Um... Because the law in question prohibits firearm possession by anyone but on duty law enforcement within a "school zone". A school zone is defined as anywhere within 1000 feet of the property line of the school. So depending on where one is within the school at the time a shooting begins (and where their car is parked), they might need to run "up to a quarter mile" to get to where they have legally stored their firearm.
Now, the federal law does allow a number of exceptions and one is if the weapon is unloaded and locked in a secure container or gun rack on/in a motor vehicle, but this exception is generally for people driving a vehicle in the area (so you don't get charged with a federal crime just happening to drive within 1000 feet of a school that you may not have known about). Most states have laws which mirror that law and are more strict in this regard, typically prohibiting storage of firearms on school property no matter how stored (so no parking your car in the school lot with a gun inside). My statement about needing to run "up to a quarter mile away" was a general statement (and made before the example). I don't know how far that particular car was parked away from the school in the case I mentioned.
But that's still irrelevant. He had to go farther to get his gun than he might otherwise have had to because of the laws in place. It's not about exactly how far he specifically had to go, but the fact that we arbitrarily decide that we can't have guns within reasonable reach of law abiding citizens in the event something like this happens. As I've said repeatedly, anything that's "farther" means it takes longer to get there, which means it takes longer to attempt to intervene in the shooting. Everything else being the same, we're increasing the statistical number of deaths from shootings like this by having these laws in place.
I'm also not sure what point you're trying to make. It would seem like the fact that very few people are able to run a great distance away to get a firearm in time to end a mass shooting would be a great argument for not requiring them to keep their guns so far away. I'm not sure how you think this constitutes any sort of argument in favor of continuing to restrict firearm possession within school zones at the federal/state level. Makes no sense at all.
Edited, Jan 22nd 2013 4:50pm by gbaji