Arizona considers doing the right thing

The Dowager Viscountess sent this link:

PHEONIX (AP) ― A committee of the Arizona Legislature is weighing arguments made today over a proposal to let people with permits to carry concealed weapons bring guns to K-12 schools, community colleges and universities.

The Senate's Judiciary Committee listened to more than two hours of testimony about the proposal, but didn't take a vote.

The testimony came four days after a gunman opened fire during a lecture at Northern Illinois University, killing five young people before turning a gun on himself.

Supporters say the permit-holders should be allowed to carry guns at schools so they can defend themselves and others if a gunman starts shooting people and police haven't yet arrived at the scene.

Opponents say police officers urgently responding to a school shooting might have difficulty distinguishing innocent permit-holders from the gunman.

We will ignore the fact that the AP report misspells Phoenix and comment upon the substance of the story.

This a good idea and is long overdue. Yes the police will have to exercise some care when entering a school in response to a shooting incident. However the fact that they will have to respond as they would if there were, for example, undercover officers on the scene is not a reason to deny responsible adults who work in or are visiting or, in the case of colleges, are attending a school to be unarmed and helpless in the face of an insane gunman.

What the police are saying is that they would rather have any number of children killed by a mass murderer than have any of their officers face the marginally greater risk of entering a situation in which there are potentially armed friendlies on the scene.

You know I really want to respect the police and be grateful for what they do. But when you see the way that soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines go into war zones without complaint and then see the boys in blue whining and pissing themselves because an honest citizen might have a firearm with which to protect himself and those he cares for it can be very hard.

Of course one thing to keep in mind is that these statements of how scared police are of armed citizens usually come from top level administrators who are serving a political agenda having little to do with officer safety. The real cops out on the beat or riding in radio cars tend to have a much more positive view of honest people arming themselves.

Now on the political side of things I note that this is taking place in Arizona. Since everyone is talking about what John McCain needs to do to get conservatives on his side I'll throw this in. As a citizen of Arizona McCain needs to issue a statement firmly and forcefully supporting this law. He needs to make a speech at his next campaign event stating as clearly and stridently as possible that concealed weapons in the hands of honest citizens are a positive social good and that school shootings happen precisely because schools are, by law, "disarmed victim zones".

He needs to say in so many words that the people responsible for creating disarmed victim zones have the blood of the innocent on their hands and demand that the Arizona legislature enact this law and that the governor sign it and that every other state in the Union do the same.

Then, because words are cheap while actions count, the minute that the Senate is back in session he needs to introduce legislation cutting off all federal funds for any law enforcement of anti-terrorism purpose to any state which does not have "shall issue" concealed carry and which does not allow lawfully armed citizens to carry their firearms anywhere a police officer is not allowed to go armed.

If McCain did this and two other things he would turn me into his most enthusiastic supporter.