Following the recent shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which resulted in two children dead and 17 others injured, a U.S. congressman is proposing to abolish the law that allows only criminals to be armed near public schools.
On August 29, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, introduced the “Safe Students Act,” H.R. 5066, which would repeal the “Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990,” (GFSZA) and eliminate that law’s one-size-fits-all federal ban on guns in school zones.
According to Rep. Massie, enactment of the “Safe Students Act” would make it easier for state and local governments and school boards to set their own firearms policies unambiguously.
“Gun-free zones are ineffective and make our schools less safe,” Rep. Massie said in a news release announcing the measure. “Since 1950, 94% of mass public shootings have occurred in places where citizens are banned from having guns. Banks, churches, sports stadiums and many of my colleagues in Congress are protected with firearms. Yet children inside the classroom are too frequently left vulnerable.”
In fact, statistics support Rep. Massie’s argument. Recent data shows a 200% increase in targeted school shootings in the United States since the act was enacted, and a 327% rise in shootings on or near school campuses during the same period.
Rep. Massie’s bill, originally introduced by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, in 2007, repeals GFSZA, a law that makes it “unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.” In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court held the GFSZA unconstitutional, which prompted Congress to amend the bill in 1996. The Supreme Court has not ruled on the constitutionality of the amended act.
Several gun-rights groups, including Gun Owners of America (GOA), were quick to embrace Rep. Massie’s school/firearms legislation.
“GOA staunchly advocates for the repeal of the Gun-Free School Zones Act, which disarms parents and staff, and more importantly, leaves schools significantly less protected as soft targets for those looking to commit violence,” said Aidan Johnston, GOA director of federal affairs. “The government has no business dictating where law-abiding citizens carry arms in public, and prohibiting firearms in schools has certainly not yielded the outcome anti-gun politicians thought it would. We must harden schools to protect teachers and students, and to do that, we must end Gun-Free Zones.”
Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), also spoke out in favor of the measure.
“So-called ‘gun-free’ school zones have left our children utterly defenseless,” Brown said. “Instead of ‘protecting’ our kids with a tin sign, let’s defend them with something that makes a difference: a good guy with a gun. We’re proud to support the Safe Students Act, and we’re lobbying everyone in Congress to join as a co-sponsor. It’s time to protect America’s most precious resource: our kids.”
Original cosponsors of the measure, all Republicans, include Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, Reps. Andrew Clyde and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Reps. Eli Crane and Paul Gosar of Arizona, Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.
