guest post by Patrice Johnson at 100percentfedup.com
Our hearts ache for the victims of the senseless Feb. 13 shootings on the MSU campus. With three dead and two of the five who were injured still hospitalized, emotions are running high. President Biden is calling for anti-gun legislation, and Michigan’s Democrat-controlled legislature has dusted off anti-gun bills in an attempt to turn election and drop-box locations into gun-free zones.
However, it is rarely wise to make decisions in the heat of the moment. Now is a time to examine the facts and come to reasonable and rational conclusions.
Assess the situation
The FBI’s 30-year definition of a mass shooting involves the fatal shooting of four or more people in a public place and unrelated to a gang, drug or other crime shooting. Given this definition, a stunning 96% of all mass shootings between 1998 and 2015 occurred in gun-free zones.
In 2013, the FBI reduced its mass shooting qualifier to “three or more killings,” though the majority of academics are said to continue to use the four or more definition. Changing the qualifier changes the percentages. Per the New York Times, “There is no official consensus on what constitutes a mass shooting,” so for consistency’s sake, Crime Search used the FBI’s pre-2013 definition.
As the heart-wrenching message on the rock on the MSU campus stated after the horrendous shootings, “Allow us to defend ourselves & carry on campus.” Who can wonder at students’ frustration at being denied their constitutional right to bear arms and defend themselves?
The “Rock” on the MSU campus was painted with a powerful message that described the way many students felt following the mass shooting that took place on the MSU campus. “Allow us to defend ourselves & carry on campus,” the “rock” read.