Connecticut’s two U.S. Senators are asking retail stores to ban people from carrying guns into their stores. A gun rights advocate says those policies would make people less safe.
U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal made the call following the release of an FBI report last week on 160 active shooter incidents from 2000 to 2013 that killed more than a thousand victims.
The report defines active shooter incidents as “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.” Murphy notes the report said in the last two years, the U.S. averaged about 19 active shooter incidents a year.
“That means that almost every three weeks there is an active shooting in a public place,” Murphy said.
Blumenthal says retailers can improve safety by following example of Target, Panera Bread, and other companies in banning guns in their stores.
“Retailers in the U.S. have a special responsibility," said Blumenthal. "It’s a place where people go and expect to be safe.”
Scott Wilson is president of the gun rights advocacy group the Connecticut Citizens Defense League. He points out the incidents in the FBI report with highest casualty counts were in places where guns were banned.
“If criminals are aware and cognizant of the fact that law abiding citizens cannot carry their firearms in public locations anymore, they will know that they have easy prey essentially to feed upon.”
Wilson says there’s no evidence to indicate law abiding citizens carrying firearms in public pose any threat to general public.
Murphy and Blumenthal say Congress won’t vote again on gun control until next year at the earliest.
