I'd support a ban on automatic weapons, assault weapons (military style weapons), bump stocks, and any device that turns a weapon into essentially an automatic weapon.
But... I have a caveat. A kind of compromise.
I think any arms ban should expire in 5-10 years, after a national study on its effectiveness.
I'd also support the following:
- Schools, churches, businesses, and agencies able to opt out of being “gun free zones” so that they can allow “staff” with concealed weapons permits to carry.
- Better security and screening to enter schools.
- Escape doors in every classroom. In our security briefings one thing brought up was if an intruder were to go room to room breaching doors, the occupants of every room (or classroom if in a school) are sitting ducks. There should be a way of escape. That way if an intruder does happen to get beyond security and starts to open fire, rooms can lock down and staff and students can begin evacuation.
We armed pilots and enhanced screening at airports… and we’ve not had another hijacking. If we have armed security and enhanced security measures in schools, maybe we’ll not see anything of this magnitude again.
And… if we allow any proposed ban to expire in 5 to 10 years, we’ll have a study on if the ban worked (which if it be proven to have had little effect it can be allowed to expire). We could then celebrate having not only worked together to make the country safer… but we will have expanded gun rights significantly.
Ideally, schools should have proper screening and security. This requires treating the areas of the school wherein students are in attendance as secured areas. The entrance of schools should contain screening measures. There should be separate entrances for students and visitors. Screening measures should include metal detectors and wands. I also wouldn't be against a limited armed security presence. I believe that if possible, there should be emergency escape doors and procedures so that students and staff aren't cornered as sitting ducks in their classrooms. I'd support arming teachers with tasers. I don't agree with arming teachers with guns because I've known teachers I'd never want armed in a classroom with my kids. However, a compromise, to me, would be tasers. I also believe there should be breach doors that seal off different sections of the building in the event of a security breach. All visitors should have a staged screening. They enter, they are screened. Screening should be before a sealed security door. Should someone begin shooting in screening, they still should not be able to proceed into the secured area. But once visitors are screened, they are considered sterile, and can be buzzed into the secured area through an electronically locked breach door.
The only problem is... it sounds like a prison.
But such measures would probably do more to secure the safety of students than banning weapons and doing nothing to secure their safety from handguns, etc..
Another problem with this is that this would cost money most conservatives wouldn't want to lay down. It would take money to construct certain security doors, barriers, and electronic access points. It would also cost money to hire or contract armed security.
If we aren't able to get the guns out of the hands of lunatics... we have to be proactive on the security side. That's if we want to greatly reduce mass school shootings.