The 'armed citizen deterrent' goes to work in Chicago, Toppenish :: 09/03/2014

Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) is today reporting on what appears to be a deterrent effect concealed carry in Illinois that has been followed by lower crime rates in Chicago, and KIRO Eyewitness News reported that the Toppenish School District over in eastern Washington's Yakima Valley is arming 11 of its administrators to be first responders in the event of a school attack.

What makes both stories important is that they underscore the deterrent value of highly publicizing the potential that intended victims of crime just might shoot back. Yesterday, Examiner learned from the Washington Department of Licensing that the Evergreen State now has 466,594 active concealed pistol licenses on the books, up 1,862 from the 464,732 reported last month.

According to guidelines created by Toppenish school officials, anyone authorized to carry a firearm on a district campus must undergo an extensive background check, and non-law enforcement staffers need a concealed pistol license. Will this news prevent a school attack? The odds of that may be higher than a "universal background check" law preventing a criminal from getting a gun, or prosecuting such an individual if he tries.

A letter in today’s Washington Post from Dan Gross, president of the anti-gun Brady Campaign, underscores the problem. Gross boasts that the Brady Law "has blocked about 2.1 million gun sales to prohibited purchasers, including more than 1 million to convicted felons, 291,000 to domestic abusers and 118,000 to fugitives, according to the Brady Campaign's calcalutions." But where are the criminal prosecutions to match those numbers and make the law truly effective?

Gross then reveals the true nature of his organization's push for expanded check laws. "Of course we need more records in the system. But let's give credit to the majority of states that have enacted laws that require agencies to report records  -  including mental health records  -  into NICS. According to the reporting, the number has tripled since 2011. That is a good thing.

"It's simple," Gross continues, "we need both to both get more records into NICS and expand background checks to all gun sales to ensure that prohibited people, including those who are a danger to themselves or others, don't have easy access to guns."

Notice, he's talking about building a database on guns, not prosecuting criminals. Arguing that another law will prevent bad guys from getting guns is a flimsy sham, and gun prohibitionists know it.

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-armed-citizen-deterrent-goes-to-work-chicago-toppenish