One of the biggest problems with having a carry permit is ensuring you don’t enter so-called “gun-free zones” while carrying your means of self-defense. If I were to accidentally walk onto property owned by a high-school I could be in some deep shit should my Glock 30SF be in its holster. Proponents of “gun-free zones” seem to be under the belief that bad people will choose to leave weapons behind when they enter these zones as well. Those proponents also exist in a world of make believe that they’ve traveled to on a trolly and to seek the wisdom of puppets.
Gun bloggers have been making the states that criminals are law breakers by definition for a while now. It’s really a simple concept, somebody willing to commit a violent crime isn’t going to be deterred by a law that says they can’t bring a weapon into a zone. “Gun-free zones” only serve to disarm the law-abiding and put them at the mercy of violent criminals. Sadly this is something that Amanda Collins had to experience first hand:
Amanda Collins, 25, is a wife and new mom, and a concealed weapon permit holder for years. At her father’s law office in Reno, she showed us the 9-mm Glock she carries for her safety.
“It’s got a pretty standard magazine,” she said, “and night sights so you can see in the dark when you’re aiming.”
However, Collins couldn’t aim her gun at the serial rapist who attacked her at the University of Nevada at Reno, where she was a student. That’s because, like most public colleges outside of Utah and Colorado, UNR is a “gun free” zone. The rule required her to leave her gun at home, leaving her defenseless the one time she needed its protection most.
Because she followed the law and left her firearm behind when entering a “gun-free zone” she was unable to defend herself against a scumbag piece of shit who preyed upon victims he could be reasonably assured were unarmed. This type of bullshit needs to end. Thankfully in Minnesota no legal restriction exists against a permit holder carrying a firearm onto a college campus. A campus can make rules against students and faculty doing this but should such a rule be violated the college can’t bring any legal actions against the violator (they can expel or fire them though, which is why a law should be passed preventing public colleges from enacting such rules). Sadly many other states have such legal restrictions.
Mrs. Collins’s story is an example of the dangers of established “gun-free zones.” If your state bars the lawful carrying of firearms onto college campuses you should be working diligently to get these restrictions lifted. After all there have been no cases of a person lawfully carrying a firearm shooting up a college campus but there have been many cases where violent criminals have been on college campuses and couldn’t be stopped quickly as mere peasants like you and me were unable to carry our means of self-defense.