NH Senator Pushes For School Boards To Have Ability to 'Ban' Guns

P. Gardner Goldsmith | February 23, 2018
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There’s an old proverb, variously attributed to Albert Einstein, the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, and Lao Tsu, that says, “The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We’ve probably all been guilty at some brief period of this kind of behavior, but individual self-interest has a way of helping us learn from our mistakes and gives examples to others on how to avoid them.

Not so with government. In fact, since the mistakes of politicians repeatedly doing the same bad things over and over don’t just hurt those individual politicians, but also harm the people they tax and people on whom they apply their mandates, perhaps one could say their actions are criminally insane.

Take this important story from New Hampshire. On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that Democrat NH State Senator Martha Hennessy introduced a bill that would give school boards explicit authority to ban guns in designated safe school zones (currently NH's legislature reserves the right to regulate guns). It would have NH comply with the fanciful and unconstitutional federal “Gun-Free School Zones Act”. That act was passed by Congress in 1990, signed into law by George H. W. Bush, and subsequently revised after the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional.

This has been an issue of debate in NH for a few months, as evidenced in the January news video below.

 

The Gun-Free Zones Act stipulates that no one other than agents of the government can come within 1,000 feet of a school with a loaded firearm or ammunition, unless that person is a civilian hired by the local government, or is a private, licensed individual who has the gun locked in a container, or is a hunter crossing school grounds with permission from the school authorities.

None of which would deter -- nor has it ever deterred -- a person with murderous criminal intent from bringing a loaded firearm into a school and killing unarmed prey with absolute impunity until an armed person stops him or her.

Not only is the esteemed and illustrious Senator Hennessy seemingly oblivious to this fact, she is upset that her bill was not given a blitzkrieg-fast vote to pass, but was, instead, referred to the Education Committee for a public hearing.

Because, you know, politicians have to repeat the behavior of the past, pass more gun laws that don’t deter criminals and simply confuse and disarm law-abiding citizens, and do it quickly!

Besides the fact that it would have pixie dust "protect" schools, this NH bill is even more confusing because it would allow separate school districts to decide whether the Act applied in their own communities.

Pay no attention to that dusty old Constitution, the Second Amendment of which is clear: “… The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

And pay no attention to the fact that gun-free zones are consistently associated with some of the worst mass-killings in history -- not only here, but in foreign nations. (For some perspective on the connection, please check out the work of John Lott. As Lott laid out in an excellent 2015 piece for National Review)

It seems that Senator Hennessy not only supports the idea of creating pretend barriers to bad guys, she wants to make criminals out of those who want to defend themselves against such malefactors, and spread the pain to 1,000 feet around schools.

Supporters of the unconstitutional measure argue that it’s not a problem for people who live nearby. After all, they say, the federal law gives exceptions to people on private property within the 1,000 foot zone. But this is a Twilight Zone, because the “Public Accommodations” portion of the federal 1964 Civil Rights Act defined any privately owned commercial enterprise open to customers as a “public space”, so try to figure that one out.

Senator Hennessy appears to be oblivious to the facts, just as she is oblivious to the actual wording of the Bill of Rights. But what is one to expect of a person who supports the one-size-fits-all government school system that has consistently dumbed-down content and failed to educate students in much more than obedient servitude to the state?

Not only has the public school system failed kids and parents in education, because it is not privately run, such a system can’t address the security preferences of parents, kids, and teachers who work there. Instead, it has to apply mandates, so everyone in a town fights one another over what to do.

This is, of course, how government always operates, pitting people against each other.

And the politicians continue to do it, while putting lives and rights in jeopardy.

Sounds pretty bonkers to me.

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