As a result of the passage of SB 554, schools in Oregon now have the authority to prevent licensed adults from being anywhere on their property while armed.

In the wake of the Texas school murders, more and more school districts are implementing this policy or are considering it, and the full court press by the media is rattling formerly pro-gun candidates.

While the details of the Texas murders are ever “evolving” most reports now agree that there was no police officer on the scene when the killer arrived, he entered through an unlocked door, and when the police did respond they waited between 40 minutes and one hour to make entry into the room where the killer had barricaded himself with his victims.

What no reports we have seen have mentioned, is that Texas has in place, the very rule that Oregon School Boards are attempting to enact here. Adults with concealed handgun licenses are banned from being armed in Texas elementary schools.

So, while for whatever reason police did not act quickly and neutralize the killer, no one inside the school could have lawfully had the means to take action themselves.

It's not hard to recognize that this is a policy for future massacres. Especially at a time when liberals in Oregon are making every effort to make sure that even what little police protection a school might have, is eliminated. In Portland, the public schools have removed school resource officers so that students could feel more comfortable.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

One school board member, Julia Brim-Edwards, in an effort to justify this policy pointed out “that in the absence of SROs, PPS is spending millions on school safety improvements, like installing more cameras, hiring more campus safety associates, and installing automatic door locks in schools.” The events in Texas demonstrate the pointlessness of those feeble and purely symbolic efforts. And so children die.

The Portland schools are now working on a ban of armed CHL holders on their property. According to school board member Julia Brim-Edwards, “There’s been an accidental discharge of a weapon somebody brought onto campus, not in a threatening way, but in a purse and just going off” What Brim Edwards did not say was the person whose gun “went off” was not a CHL holder and was charged with a felony along with other charges and there were apparently no witnesses to the gun “just going off”

KGW TV reported “Director of Risk Management for PPS Joe Crelier said he thought prohibiting responsible CHL holders from carrying on campuses would leave schools defenseless. He said he was especially worried about this since there are no School Resource Officers on PPS campuses. “Without any perception of armed defense, what is stopping someone who is evil or out of their mind?

This is not complicated. Under no circumstances can the police be expected to be everywhere all the time. Even schools that have resource officers can’t expect them to cover every inch of every school at every moment. And, as we have learned, the arrival of police to a murderous event does not guarantee that they will take timely action. None of this is debatable.

So, the efforts of school boards across the state to assure unimpeded access to our schools by killers is nothing short of criminal.

School boards, and their importance, have long been overlooked by many voters and even activists. But what is becoming clear is that the decisions and policies of school boards are not only critical, they could well be deadly.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Meanwhile, with wall to wall media propaganda, the most vocally pro-gun candidate for governor is starting to fold. Unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson has been the strongest advocate for gun rights in spite of her long affiliation with the Democrat Party. But now she is beginning to parrot the talking points of the left. KGW TV reports Johnson as saying:

"As governor, I will support and enforce stronger background checks for gun purchases and raising the age to purchase certain firearms from eighteen to twenty-one. These are both practical ideas to help keep guns away from people who could be a danger to themselves or others.”

One of the left’s most prominent supporters of restrictions on the Second Amendment, former House Rep. Jennifer Williamson, has testified that 95% of background check delays are in error. And we see over and over that criminals often pass background checks. Given how long many “delays” are, even “delays” are really denials. So it is hard to imagine what Johnson means by “stronger background checks.”

Criminal acts will always be exploited at election time. Each new restriction will fail and be a call for more restrictions. But the real losers will always be the people who are legally denied the ability to protect themselves and others by the dictates of those who work behind metal detectors and a phalanx of State Police guarding them.

Editor's note: Kevin Starrett is the Executive Director of Oregon Firearms Federation


--Kevin Starrett

Post Date: 2022-06-03 08:58:29

Last Update: 2022-06-03 09:41:49