Sorry, but it doesn't work that way! You can't just leave your fear at the door and be oblivious to potential dangers in a gun free zone. In fact, the locations where US Adults fear a mass shooting the most are:
54% at a public event
50% at a shopping mall
42% at a school or university
38% at a movie theater
Three of the four most feared locations are gun free zones and depending on the definition of public event, such as a sporting event, that would equate to four out of four.
No matter what a person’s beliefs are, the one thing that everyone can agree on is that senseless mass shootings need to end. The Gun-Free Zone Definition is "a designated area where the use or possession of firearms is a crime."
There’s the school of thought that mass shooters choose gun-free zones because they are easy targets where they can do maximum damage in the least amount of time. A study by the Crime Prevention Research center (CPRC) says that 97.8% of public mass shootings happen in gun-free zones.
However, you have organizations like Everytown for Gun Safety that manipulate the term of Mass Shootings to shape the statistics, claiming that only 30% of mass shootings happen in gun free zones. What they don't take into account is the shooter's intent. So in their view, gang related shootings constitute a mass shooting when there are multiple victims, even though the intent was not mass casualties of unknown people. But that is not what the majority of the public considers a real mass shooting.
The FBI defines a mass shooting as when one or more people engage in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. The bureau’s definition excludes shootings motivated by gang violence, drug violence, domestic disputes or hostage situations, or resulting from another criminal act, like a bank robbery. So it is imperative that you know the definition so you are not mislead by stats from anti-gun organizations.
And the fact remains that law abiding gun owners don't use their guns for mass shootings, but rather to stop them. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun. Such as the case of 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, who stopped a man who opened fire in a mall food court in Indiana. The first thing the news did was point out he was conceal carrying a handgun in a gun free zone, and NOT that he saved countless lives by stopping this criminal. I am not advising to ignore gun free zones as that is a personal choice and you will need to deal with the consequences should you get caught.
What I am saying is that criminals who seek to harm others (intent) don't follow the laws. I'm not trying to make light of a serious subject, but how many mass shooters do you think stopped and chose a different location because they recognized they were entering a gun free zone? Yea, you have a better chance of the Lions winning the super bowl.
It seems that some states are getting wise to the circumstance that gun free zones only make soft targets. Take Wyoming for example which currently has a bill (heading to the Governor at the time of this post) to allow concealed carry in schools and government meetings.
In this bill, concealed firearms would become permissible with a permit at the University of Wyoming and community colleges in areas not serving alcohol. They also would be allowed without a permit in government meetings including those of the Legislature. As with previous gun debates in Wyoming, lawmakers interpreted the Second Amendment's right to bear arms permissively.
And closer to home, some politicians are recognizing the results as well. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has said he isn't sure gun-free zones makes much progress on the gun violence issue in Detroit's River Walk area. “I don’t see the gun-free zones being particularly helpful. All a gun-free zone does is take the people with a concealed carry permit out. And I’m not sure there’s any great advantage to that.”
Kudos Mike Duggan for using common sense.