Those Most Impacted by ‘Gun-Free’ Transit Systems

The Firearms Policy Coalition is taking on the Illinois ban on carrying firearms on public transit. This is a good and necessary thing, and we know it’s important if for no other reason than what happened on a bus in Charlotte, North Carolina, not all that long ago, when a Ukrainian refugee was brutally stabbed to death, the attack coming out of the blue, and literally no one was in a position to respond with any degree of force necessary to stop it.

It was awful, but it was far from the first brutal attack we’ve seen on mass transit in this country.

But we also need to understand that gun bans on public transportation don’t just impact people while they’re on that public transportation. It’s a complete denial of their Second Amendment rights.

Are we there yet? Have we finally reached the point where we can stop pretending that gun-free zones are actually free of guns — or that they keep anyone safer?

In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Time and again both mass shooters and armed criminals alike have shown their preference in selecting gun-free zones as their target of choice.

Why then, in a pro-gun state like ours, does Missouri’s General Assembly continue to fail to repeal these state mandated vulnerable victim zones from our state statutes? Especially when it comes to the one that Missouri ladies of Women for Gun Rights find to be the most dangerous and egregious one of all: the carry ban on public transit.

This law doesn’t just disarm riders — it disproportionately punishes the working poor, who depend on public transportation and often live in higher-crime neighborhoods, arguably making their need for adequate self-defense tools even more necessary and desired.

Not being allowed to carry on public transit forces them to go unarmed throughout their entire day simply because they must hop on a bus or train. This is wrong. The state is violating the Second Amendment rights of an entire class of people — those who must rely on transit.

And because they rely on public transportation to get around their communities, and they can’t carry lawfully on public transportation, then they can’t actually carry a firearm anywhere they need or want to go.

Essentially, even if they have a carry permit, they’re still living as if they don’t have one. 

Some people might tolerate it if there were some reason to believe that they wouldn’t be assaulted while using public transit. Unfortunately, as previously noted, that’s simply not the case. This particular piece notes a couple being stabbed on a Saint Louis bus, which is yet another example of how the bad guys aren’t interested in playing nice while everyone around them is unarmed.

That means those who might be accepting of such a restriction are less likely to tolerate it because it puts them at a disadvantage.

Plus, as they go about their lives, getting on and off buses or other forms of public transportation, they’re disarmed everywhere else they go, including their potentially high-crime home neighborhoods.

Gun-free zones, as a whole, aren’t just prohibiting guns in that particular point in space and time. They also prohibit people from carrying to and from that gun-free zone. It’s bad enough if you have to leave a gun in the car, but when the issue is your form of transportation that prohibits you from carrying, then you might as well not have any Second Amendment rights to speak of.

And yes, the working poor are the hardest hit by this. They’re the ones most likely to be forced to ride public transportation, who won’t have any choice, and who likely live and potentially work in high-crime areas. They’re left defenseless, all so that wealthier city lawmakers can pretend to care about them by making them more vulnerable to being attacked.

There’s nothing about that which is right.

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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