Safe Students Act: Gun-Free Zone Signs May Soon Be Banned At All Schools In America

Gun-free zone signs may soon be a thing of the past in American public schools. A group of Republican representatives have proposed the Safe Students Act in an effort to overturn gun ban policies on school grounds across the country.

Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie is the sponsor of the Safe Students Act. He is leading the charge to ban gun-free zone policies at public schools throughout the United States. The Safe Students Act is also known as H.R. 34.

“Gun-free school zones are ineffective. They make people less safe by inviting criminals into target-rich, no-risk environments,” Representative Massie said. “Gun-free zones prevent law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves, and create vulnerable populations that are targeted by criminals.”

The Safe Students Act is co-sponsored by Texas Representatives Louie Gohmert and Brian Babin, fellow Kentucky Representative James Comer, and Georgia Representative Jody Hice. If passed, the Safe Students Act will repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, and all amendments related to that piece of legislation.

Over the past seven years a total of 92 percent of mass shootings which have taken place in the United States occurred in gun-free zones, the Blaze noted. Some public schools have begun the process to allow armed teachers and staff on their campuses. The staffers who are armed must have passed a firearms background check, possess a concealed carry permit, and store their handguns as mandated by the school district.

“A bigger federal government can’t solve this problem. Weapons bans and gun-free zones are unconstitutional. They do not and cannot prevent criminals or the mentally ill from committing acts of violence,” Representative Massie added. “But they often prevent victims of such violence from protecting themselves.”

The Safe Students Act gun-free zone policy reversal legislation is being heralded by the three largest Second Amendment rights organizations in America. The National Association for Gun Rights, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America, all wholeheartedly the bill.

Representative Massie is also credited with relaunching the Congressional Second Amendment Caucus, Reason noted. The Safe Students Act is reportedly a revamped version of a gun-free zones in schools opposition bill once sponsored by Ron Paul.

Thomas Massie stated in a press release that the 2016 election has presented a “new opportunity to advance pro-gun legislation and reverse the erosion of the Second Amendment that’s occurred over the last few decades,” according to another a Reason report.

Representative Massie’s office has revealed the Kentucky lawmaker is also hoping to introduce a 2015 proposed bill known as the Hearing Protection Act. The bill would reportedly require firearms laws to treat silences the same way it currently monitors long guns, for the purpose of sales and oversight.

A Crime Prevention Research Center report on mass shootings in the America states from January of 2009 through July of 2014, stated there were 25 mass public shootings in the country. The research center considered every incidence where at least four people were killed with a gun in a public space for the purpose of their report.

The crime research report found the average mass shooter was a 36-year-old male. The same report indicates that in half the American mass shootings there was a “clear indication” of mental illness in the shooter prior to the attack. The crime prevention report also investigated the type of weapons used by mass shooters in their violent attacks.

In mass shootings where semi-automatic rifles were used, often referred to as “assault weapons” or “assault rifles,” about 10 victims were killed on average during attacks. When handguns were used, which are also semi-automatic unless the shooter is carrying a revolver, about six victims were killed on average during such attacks.

With the noted exception of the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, slightly fewer fatalities occurred when a mass shooter used a semi-automatic rifle, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center report.

What do you think about the Safe Students Act and efforts to ban gun-free zone policies from American schools?

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