Tom Taylor: Constitutional Concealed Carry is what we need

Laws based on emotions, make bad laws. The uproar of emotions concerning the recent school massacre are understandable, but basing legislation on that emotion will not solve the terrible problem of school killers.

I use killers, because those who are intent to kill will find a tool to do the deed, whether it is an AR-15, a machete, or an SUV; killers are going to kill.

Preventing killing is not done by the institution of more laws, murder is already illegal — been so for a long, long time. Bringing guns to school has been illegal — been so for a long, long time.  

Banning one tool will only lead to killers acquiring another, it may not be as efficient or evil looking, but there are many ways to kill when one is intent on doing so.

I am saddened to see future leaders of this great nation, demanding actions of their representatives to ban guns, when it is that action that has contributed to the high number of casualties in “Gun Free Zones,” casualties that could have been minimized by the presence of one teacher, one custodian, one principal, one student, with a tool that could have ended the killing rampage.

“More guns is not the answer” is the usual argument of the emotional, but it has been successfully proven when tried — in Israeli schools.

The National Rifle Association has been demonized and ridiculed more so than the evil gunman that stalked his unarmed victims. The NRA, one of the oldest civil rights organizations in this country, one that helped oppressed blacks repel the terror of the Ku Klux Klan; one that fights for the civil rights of millions of Americans, every day, is called evil, but emotional arguments tend not to deal in facts.

The law of the land says: “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” And it is a good law, one that should be allowed to stand without interference, and if so, the frequency of these occurrences will decrease — they will.

It is great to see students take an active role in the freedoms they enjoy, it is disheartening when they do not realize that what they call for is the loss of freedom for themselves and for others.

Freedom is not free.

We need to allow the true first responders to this type of crisis, those immediately affected, to have the tools they need to end the carnage and protect their lives, instead of hiding in closets, expecting others to protect them.

Constitutional Concealed Carry is what we need. Speak up now in defense of your rights, because an emotionally charged movement can turn hearts against individual freedoms.

And when freedoms are lost, they are only regained with much more bloodshed.

Tom Taylor lives in Salisbury. Contact him at taylortok@yahoo.com.