There was an absolutely ridiculous public forum article published in the Salt Lake Tribune last week, so ridiculous that I just had to respond. I sent in the following reply, though since I haven’t heard back from the Tribune yet, I assume that it’s not going to be published (probably due to the length). I figured I’d post it here so the 15 minutes it took me to type it wouldn’t go to waste:
In response to Barbara Nash’s Public Forum article (March 13), I must say that she has taken extreme liberties in stretching the truth regarding not only what Senator Waddoups has said, but also regarding the supposed 850 concealed weapon permit holders who have been convicted of felonies.
I don’t believe Senate Bill 108 was necessarily intended to arm the public in order to “provide additional protection” to Utah’s school children. Rather, it was designed to allow concealed weapon permit holders, who wish to legally protect themselves from others who might do them harm, to continue to do so no matter if they are on school property, or driving their children to and from school.
Although I do feel that law enforcement personnel, with their limited numbers, do the best job possible in protecting the public, I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving it to chance that a police officer would be at my side when confronted by somebody intent on taking my life. Senator Waddoups’ logic makes perfect sense in that, if you can’t keep criminals from possessing dangerous weapons on school grounds, then law-abiding citizens should be allowed to at least protect themselves in such places. If schools had armed guards and metal detectors, such as airports, jails, and courtrooms do, then checking weapons at the door shouldn’t be a problem for permit holders.
As to the number of convicted felons who currently hold concealed weapon permits issued by the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI), I would put that number closer to zero. The BCI conducts daily checks on each and every concealed weapon permit holder to verify that no permit holders have violated the conditions of their permits. Any individual who is in violation of the terms of his or her permit has that permit instantly suspended or revoked.
Besides that, do you really believe that anybody convicted of a felony is going to avoid carrying a weapon on school grounds because it is against the law? It’s already against the law for a convicted felon to own or possess a firearm, and prohibiting permit holders from carrying firearms just serves to limit those who would only use their firearm to lawfully defend their life or the life of another.