Ron Paul, Thomas Massie, and Jim Bovard: Armed School is a Safe School

A tragedy was avoided last month when an armed shooter in a Texas Church was stopped by armed parishioners. This reinforces the fact that the best way to stop bad people with guns is good people with guns. That’s why it is so wonderful that Thomas Massie (KY-04) has reintroduced the Safe Schools Act (H.R. 3200). The bill repeals the unconstitutional federal law prohibiting law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms in “school zones,” thus leaving school personnel and schoolchildren defenseless against mass shooters. Campaign for Liberty members should call their Representatives and tell them to cosponsor H.R. 3200. Here and below is Congressman Massie’s press release on the bill: Congressman Massie Introduces Bill to Repeal Federal Gun-Free School Zones Act Jun 11, 2019 Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2019
Laura Lington, (202) 225-3465
[email protected]
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) re-introduced the “Safe Students Act,” H.R. 3200. The Safe Students Act would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act, eliminating the one-size-fits-all federal ban on guns in school zones, making it easier for state and local governments and school boards to unambiguously set their own firearms policies. “Gun-free zones are ineffective and make our schools less safe. 98 percent of mass public shootings since 1950 have occurred in places where citizens are banned from having guns,” Rep. Massie said. “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.”
  
“The only thing gun-free zones do is disarm law-abiding citizens and take away their ability to protect themselves and others. We shouldn’t leave our most vulnerable – our children – in an unsafe environment like gun-free zones where acts of violence cannot be stopped,” Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) said.
 
This bill, originally introduced by Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) in 2007, repeals the Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) of 1990, which 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 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. 
 
H.R. 3200 cosponsors include Representatives Justin Amash (R-MI), Jody Hice (R-GA), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), James Comer (R-KY), and Brian Babin (R-TX).
 
Rep. Massie is Chairman of the Congressional Second Amendment Caucus in the 116th Congress. Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul championed similar legislation when he was in Congress. Read more about that here. Finally, read the great James Bovard on Why Banning Guns Won’t Make Schools Safer here.