FACT: The benefits of concealed guns are not limited just to those who carry them for self-defense. "Citizens who never intend to ever carrying concealed handguns get...a 'free ride' from [armed law-abiding adults]... " This is illustrated by the drop in murders of children which follows the adoption of "right-to-carry" concealed-handgun laws. ("Right-to-carry" laws require the issuance of a concealed-carry license to all qualified applicants.) "Arming older people not only may provide direct protection to these children, but also causes criminals to leave the area." (1)

"ARM ALL THE TEACHERS?
HOW STUPID!"

That, from the mainstream media and many of our politicians. But this is an emotional response, wholly unsupported by the facts. The point is NOT that ALL adults should carry guns in school, but rather that all responsible adults in our schools who wish to do so, be allowed to do just that!

"...the recent rash of public school shootings ...raise[s] questions about the unintentional consequences of laws...The possibility exists that attempts to outlaw guns from schools, no matter how well meaning, may have produced perverse effects." (2)

FACT: Between 1977 and 1995, 15 shootings took place in schools in states without right-to-carry concealed-handgun laws, and only one took place in a state which had such a law. There were 19 deaths and 97 injuries in states without right-to-carry laws, but only 1 death and 2 injuries in states with such laws. (2)

FACT: The 5 school shootings that occurred during the '97-98 school year took place after the 1995 Gun-Free School Zones law was enacted, banning guns (including lawfully possessed concealed handguns) within 1000 feet of a school. (2)

FACT: Deaths and injuries from mass public shootings (like Jonesboro AR and Littleton CO) fall dramatically after right-to-carry concealed handgun laws are enacted. Between 1977 and 1995, the average death rate from mass shootings plummeted by up to 91% after such laws went into effect, and injuries dropped by over 80%! (2)

"People who engage in mass public shootings are deterred by the possibility that law-abiding citizens may be carrying guns. Such people may be deranged, but they still appear to care whether they will themselves be shot as they attempt to kill others." (1)

Armed adults save lives!! That's how it worked before "gun-free" school zones disarmed those adults, and marked schools as easy targets for criminals.

Example: Armed with a hunting rifle, 16 year old Luke Woodham killed his ex-girlfriend and her friend, then wounded 7 other students, in 1997 at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi. Assistant Principal Joel Myrick retrieved a handgun from his car, which he had forgotten to remove from the weekend, and interrupted Woodham's shooting spree, holding him at bay until police arrived. Earlier that morning, Woodham had stabbed his mother to death. (3)

Example: A similar script played out in 1998 in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, when local merchant James Strand used his shotgun to "coax" 14-year old Andrew Wurst into dropping his gun, and surrendering to police. Wurst had just killed one teacher, wounded another and two classmates. (3)

Instead of dredging up the emotionally charged picture of a child killed with a gun, let the anti-self-defense lobby show us pictures of all those children saved by the presence of a gun when needed the most! They'll need

LOTS more room to do that: "Thousands of children are protected each year by parents or other adults using guns to defend themselves and their families". (4)

GUNS AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Today's "easy accessibility" of guns is a myth. There are more gun laws now than ever before, yet the prevalence of firearms in America - guns are present in about 1 out of 2 households - has remained constant since 1959. (5)

FACT: A July 1993 U.S. Department of Justice study found that "boys who own legal firearms...have much lower rates of delinquency and drug use [than those who obtained them illegally] and are even slightly less delinquent than non-owners of guns." It concluded that, "for legal gunowners, socialization appears to take place in the family; for illegal gunowners, it appears to take place 'on the street' ". (6) The study also found that:

FACT: Children who get guns from their parents don't commit gun crimes (0%); children who get illegal guns are likely to do so (24%).

FACT: Children who get guns from parents are less likely to commit any kind of street crime (14%) than children who have no gun in the house (24%), and are dramatically less likely to do so than children who acquire an illegal gun (74%).

FACT: Children who get guns from parents are less likely to use drugs (13%) than children who get illegal guns (41%), or have no gun in the house 15%).

ACCIDENTS & SUICIDES

FACT: in 1994, fatal gun accidents reached the lowest annual level since record keeping began in 1903. They dropped again in 1995, were lower still in 1996, and even lower in 1997. In 1997, with an estimated 240 million guns in America, there were 22 fatal gun accidents among children aged up to 5. That same year, 600 children aged up to 5 also drowned. Motor vehicle accidents, falls, fires, drownings, poisonings, suffocation, and other accidents all accounted for more deaths than did firearm accidents. (7,8)

FACT: California has a "trigger-lock" law and saw a 12% increase in fatal firearm accidents in 1994. Texas doesn't, and yet fatal gun accidents dropped 28% that year. (7) Gun-owning parents must be doing something right, despite the absence of "trigger-lock" laws!

FACT: "Trigger-lock" laws don't equal safety - education does! (9)

"Trigger-locks" do render guns inaccessible for self-defense.

FACT: Accident and suicide rates are unaffected by the passage of right-to-carry handgun laws. (1)

FACT: Suicide rates fluctuate independently of gun laws and gun ownership. Banning guns will not affect the suicide rate - other equally deadly implements will be substituted in their place. (10)

FACT: "Every day, 15 American children are killed with guns" is the claim made by Cease-Fire and other anti-self-defense groups and politicians. But this is true ONLY if one includes 20-year-old armed robbers shot by the police and 19-year-old drug dealers shot by rivals as "children"! (7)

CRIME & (NO) PUNISHMENT

The "politically-correct" assumption that crime is a function of the "easy" availability of guns is not borne out by the facts. Unbiased researchers tell us that just the opposite is true - more guns in the hands of ordinary law-abiding citizens equals less crime.(1) Criminologists also tell us that rapid and certain punishment drives the crime rate down.

FACT: Federal prosecution of felons who used guns in the commission of crimes is down 47% since President Clinton took office. (11)

FACT: Of the 6,000 students caught at school with guns in the past 2 years, the Clinton administration prosecuted only 13. (11)

FACT: During the last 2 years, the Clinton administration has prosecuted only 11 juveniles for illegal possession of handguns, 11 people for illegally transferring handguns to juveniles, and 37 people for illegally providing firearms to felons. (11)

FACT: It is a crime for a felon to buy a gun. Yet, despite President Clinton's claim that 250,000 prohibited buyers have been turned away by the Brady Act, 3 years after its 1994 enactment, only 4 people had gone to jail for Brady violations. ZERO Brady rejects were prosecuted by the Clinton administration in 1996, ZERO in 1997, and ZERO in 1998. (11)

If young adults are not made to face the consequences of their actions, and if those who have committed no crime are scapegoated and punished instead, we can only expect an escalation of problems now facing our society.