(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Once again in South Carolina, Governor Sanford and the state legislature proves that being “Pro-Gun Rights” equates into being “Pro-Dangerously Stupid”. Of course, once again, the media let down the residents, as well.
The story follows in my letter to the editor and legislature…
While The State newspaper was giving Sen. Lindsey Graham a forum to further his racism charged agenda against Supreme Court nominee Judge Sotomayor and reported how Gov. Sanford vetoed the payday-lending bill, it missed one of the most egregious moves made by the Governor; he signed a change into law allowing guns on school property.
This issue has been discussed since the Spring of 2007, as reported by the USA Today. After numerous incidents of school shootings, the need for laws banning the carrying of guns on school grounds were imperative. From fiscal years 2002-2006, South Carolina had a higher average violent crime and property crime rate per 100,000 population than the regional and national averages. In 2006, South Carolina’s property crimes rate was 27% higher and for violent crimes 62% higher than the national rate. South Carolina had gun-related incidents occur twice in March 2007 and one incident in August 2007. This is a very real issue in South Carolina and why we now have police officers in our schools.
As a practical matter, this school exemption for concealed weapons can only increase the number of incidents. Teachers or visitors can only store the weapon in their vehicle, not carry the weapon into the school, so there is absolutely no ability for the person to prevent, or defend themselves, during a shooting. However, the students now know that there is the possibility that a weapon will be accessible to them on school grounds, and, that makes our students, our teachers, safer how? As the Spartanburg Spark’s Steve Shanafelt reported and opined, there was absolutely no outcry for this change beyond right-winger NRA gun nuts who found it “inconvenient” that they couldn’t take their guns onto school property. And, as Mr. Shanafelt asks, do we really need to have PTA meetings where every person attending could have loaded guns in their cars? Because, we’ve never seen a PTA meeting where participants got into an argument. Now, the parking lot can be the wild west where the people can go out and “settle it like men”! The true idiocy of this change is in the fact that a person still cannot carry the little three-inch pocket knife they own onto school grounds, but, they can carry their Desert Eagle’s with a hoard of ammunition, then, store them in their vehicle.
Our state is facing budget cuts that may well increase class sizes due to teacher lay-offs. We are in an economy where South Carolina already ranks 3rd in unemployment nationally. Being “Pro-Gun Rights” doesn’t mean people have to be “Pro-Dangerously Stupid”, but, that is what has happened in South Carolina politics. The first time there is a shooting in a South Carolina school where the weapon used was obtained from a parked vehicle, our Governor and Legislature will see just how wrong to play politics with people’s lives.
Unfortunately, it will now take a foreseeable tragedy of that magnitude to repeal this change. When that day occurs, and it will occur as some point, I’m sure we count on The State newspaper to print the name of every politician who voted in favor of putting every families child at risk. It wasn’t like The State was following this issue so closely that parents had the chance speak out against it to our Legislature and Governor before it become law.
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