The Answer Is Always More Guns In More Places

In the wake of the massacre in Las Vegas where 58 people were killed and 851 others were injured, David Frum pointed out that the idea that nothing ever changes with respect to gun laws is a critical misconception. He wrote, “The five years since a gunman killed 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have seen one of the most intense bursts of gun legislation in U.S. history—almost all of it intended to ensure that more guns can be carried into more places…Since Newtown, more than two dozen states have expanded the right to carry into previously unknown places: bars, churches, schools, college campuses, and so on”. One study that covered the 25 year period from 1989 to 2014 showed that the usual response to gun massacres was actually a loosening of gun restrictions.

Thankfully, in the wake of Parkland and the phenomenal efforts of its survivors, we actually have finally seen some possible movement toward real gun restrictions. The DOJ began a process to ban bump stocks and Florida, an NRA stronghold, actually did ban those bump stocks as well as raising the age to buy a gun to 21. That same Florida legislation  includes a “red flag” provision that allows guns to be taken away from those who show signs of violent behavior. Similar provisions have been passed in Rhode Island and Vermont. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is pushing a ban on armor-piercing bullets and further restrictions on getting a gun permit.

More importantly, we have finally seen some corporations take baby steps in support of gun restrictions. Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault weapons as well as high-capacity magazines and, along with Walmart, raised the age to buy a gun at those stores to 21. Airlines, car rental agencies, life insurance companies, and even a major bank took steps to sever or limit their relationship with the NRA and with gun manufacturers and sellers.

Despite these signs of progress, the pattern that Frum identified also continues but, so far, with less success. In Florida, the new restrictions were also accompanied by the establishment of a “school guardian” that would allow individual school districts to decide whether they wanted to arm certain teachers. In Kansas, there is a proposal to not only allow teachers to carry concealed weapons but also that a school district could be declared negligent if a school shooting happened and the district had not armed its teachers. Although the proposal’s chances for passage are not seen as good because of the latter provision, there is stronger support for arming teachers alone.

In South Carolina, legislators are proposing a 7% tax on firearms in order to fund putting a trained police officer in every school. This proposal also faces significant opposition primarily because it is seen as a tax increase. The efficacy of police officers in schools, euphemistically called “school resource officers”, is debatable, At Parkland, the officer never even entered the school and the officer who reportedly stopped the shooter at the Great Mills school in Maryland actually confronted the gunman as he was seemingly in the process of committing suicide. What we do know about having police officers in schools is that it exacerbates the school-to-prison/deportation pipeline, especially in minority communities. Studies have also shown that the presence of police officers in schools increase the criminalization of what would normally be considered childish behavior.

The Parkland students and the March for Our Lives has without a doubt changed the dynamic around gun control, hopefully permanently. It has certainly put the NRA on the back foot. But that will still not stop the NRA from pursuing policies that will lead to more guns in more places, such as schools, especially in those state legislatures where the NRA still holds sway.