CHICAGO (Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day) — A 2-year-old Chicago toddler was shot and killed in a “gang hit” against a man in the car with her.
A few days earlier two little girls, one 11, the other 12, were shot in the head. The 11-year-old died; the 12-year-old is in critical condition.
Last year homicides in Chicago spiked: 762 were killed, virtually all by gunshots. That’s nearly 300 more than in 2015. Through Jan. 31 this year 51 more were killed, the most for a January since 55 in 1999.
Many of the deaths have occurred in an area of Chicago known to be rife with drugs and gang activity. Regardless, each life is precious and when one is snuffed out in the innocence of youth it is all the more distressing.
IN WEDNESDAY’S Register a Kansas City Star editorial implored Kansas legislators to embrace a bill that would exempt the University of Kansas Medical Center campus from people carrying concealed weapons into buildings. If the bill fails, the only recourse would be hugely expensive: Place armed guards and metal detectors at 100 doors leading into its various buildings.
An earlier effort by legislators afflicted with reason — sometimes in short supply in Topeka — to keep concealed guns out of schools and hospitals was derailed in the more conservative Senate.
We wrote then that whenever there is a shooting in a public venue, such as a school or hospital, and having well-meaning citizens return fire only exacerbates the chaos. “When officers arrive they don’t ask the good guys to raise their hands,” Sheriff Bryan Murphy said.
TUESDAY an email arrived from the National Rifle Association.
“House Bill 2150 is currently being worked on by the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs. HB 2150 would make it unlawful for individuals to carry a firearm for self-defense into the Kansas University Hospital.
“This bill is a solution in search of a problem, and it places an arbitrary boundary on your rights to self-defense. Please contact members of the House committee … and urge them to OPPOSE House Bill 2150 and any amendment that would expand gun-free zones.”
What in God’s name are NRA leaders thinking? Are they afraid someone will be attacked by a surgeon holding a scalpel, or a nurse’s aide with a bedpan?
In some ways the NRA is a wonderful organization, but this obsession with ensuring everyone who wants to carry a gun under their jacket can go wherever they want has gone too far —much to the delight of gun manufacturers.
When it was founded in 1871, the NRA’s primary goal was to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis.” In February 1872 a committee to lobby for legislation was formed.
Lobbyists represent a multitude of groups and causes, probably even ones to extol virtues of consuming sauerkraut. We think the NRA needs to reassess its priorities and quit being a bully by preying on fear and unwavering claims of need for self-defense.
The vast majority of Kansans own guns. All but a few are upstanding folks who would never think of committing a felony, and would be devastated if they accidentally harmed or killed a person with their gun. They are target shooters and hunters; nothing wrong with that.
However, permitting concealed guns in heavily populated places — schools, medical facilities, shopping centers, etc. — invites catastrophic repercussions. Panic, which frequently occurs with a gun incident, discombobulates most good, well-meaning folks.
WHAT TO DO?
Surveys unerringly reveal school and hospital administrative teams and many, many others want exemptions from concealed carry.
Unless legislators respond, the alternative is expensive — guards and metal detectors — which takes us to another grave concern for those who roam the halls and offices of the Kansas Capitol.
Education funding has been gutted to accommodate the failed experiment in supply-side economics. Hospital budgets have been ravaged by Gov. Sam Brownback’s unfounded reluctance to accept more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding from the federal government.
Our recommendation is for legislators to make a concession — a tiny one at that — and keep concealed guns out of schools and hospitals. Tell the governor “enough is enough” with the income tax cuts of 2012-13 and vigorously attack the $320 million shortfall in fiscal year 2017’s budget, which ends June 30. Then follow up by whaling away at the $1 billion deficit projected for the next two years.
That’s not asking too much of those elected to make our lives, and those of our children and grandchildren, better.
— Bob Johnson
