letters to the editor
Inconvenient facts about ‘gun-free’ zones
• Bad guys don’t obey “guns prohibited” signs.
• The police can’t be everywhere at the same time.
• When seconds count in a life-and-death situation, the police are usually only minutes away.
With regard to posted “gun free” zones, their most important function is to create zones in which the only people who have guns are the bad guys. Indeed they should more appropriately be labeled “Bad Guys With Guns Zone.”
When considered in conjunction with [above points] 2 and 3, the unavoidable outcome is that all others [including law-abiding carry permit holders who choose to obey the signs] who enter these zones are placing themselves at higher levels of risk than they should.
The logical approach to this is that carry permit holders [that’s about 1 in 10 people in Tennessee] should simply walk away from such locations and leave the locations to the bad guys and those who have illogically deluded themselves into somehow feeling “safer.”
The new Tennessee statute that requires owners of public businesses who post “no guns” signs to install metal detectors and post law officers present at all entrances to a building are logical and common sense steps. But they are not perfect protections.
Carry permit holders: when
you see the “no guns” sign, take the safest path – just turn and walk away. Don’t risk your safety and the safety of those you love
on a silly, illogical and ineffective delusion.
Sherrell Greene
Farragut
