Let's add gun screenings to gun-free-zone signs

The Aug. 13th edition of the Journal featured a cover story titled “Differing views on detectors.” It’s a compelling and well-written article contrasting APS’ reluctance to embrace metal/weapons detectors and RRPS’ embrace of the same.

I believe most everyone does not want weapons in schools. The only essential fact missing from the article is state law already bans possession of firearms on school campuses. Yet last year APS recovered 17 guns from students on campuses — see Aug. 13 Journal.

And everyone remembers the Century Rio 24 shooting from June 25. In reviewing the articles published in the Journal, it’s interesting that none of the articles mentioned the bright white stencil on the entry doors to Rio 24 that have been there for years: “No guns.” Yet there was a shooting.

What these and other incidents should tell everyone is that laws have limits. If the prohibition against firearms had been followed, there wouldn’t have been a shooting at Rio 24; if RRPS had confidence that state law alone would prevent the introduction of firearms into their schools, they would have not installed metal detectors; and if TSA believed signs alone would deter criminals, there wouldn’t be screening points at airports. Gun-free zone laws and signs won’t stop criminals from carrying firearms in designated gun-free zones, but screening points will.

If our legislators, both those pro- and anti-gun, are committed to preventing weapons casualty events in sensitive locations, they should amend New Mexico law to require that any public or private establishment either designated by the state as “gun free” or self-designated by that establishment’s owner/operator as “gun fee” is required to implement a weapons screening point at the entrance to their facility.

The legislation should include the requirement for state-uniform signage posted on every exterior door that the establishment is weapons-free and that a screening point is in use, easily readable from any access road or 200 feet from each exterior door, whichever is less. This is because legally armed citizens sometimes find themselves in locations where it is unclear if weapons are permitted: we owe it to everyone to be clear where weapons are prohibited.

Further, each establishment must provide on-site secure storage for legally armed citizens’ firearms while they are in the establishment. Securing firearms in vehicles is a dicey proposition given crime rates, so on-site storage is necessary. The establishment assumes all liability for stored firearms.

Finally, when a “gun-free zone” sign goes up at a theater, a school, or wherever, it should not be read only as a command to the visitor that firearms are prohibited; it should also be read as a guarantee there are no firearms in the zone. If there is a firearm found in the zone, then the zone operator should be held liable for failing to enforce what is both a command and a guarantee to its visitors, customers, students, and patients.

Establishing the requirement for a screening and weapons storage point at any designated gun-free zone is an opportunity for New Mexico to lead the country.