Gun Range Moves in Next Door to School, Boundless Hysteria Ensues

Rancho Cordova, California, students are up in
arms—so to speak—about a gun range moving in next door to their
high school. The range is indoor—no stray bullets will be pelting
classroom windows—but students, teachers, and administrators all
believe the mere presence of a gun club so close to a school is
inherently dangerous.

Why? I have no earthly idea.

The community’s explanation is an insistent it just
is! From
cbslocal.com:

Students from George Washington Carver High protested what is
already on its way.

“Even though it’s legal, it’s still wrong. you shouldn’t mix
schools with guns,” said student Damon Kalerkorinos.

He helped organized the protest of students against the new
shooting range being developed just about 250 feet away from their
campus.

“It’s just not safe to have a gun club so close to a
school,” he said.

Principal Allegra Allesandri says a new gun club so close is
wrong, citing weapon-free zones designed to keep schools safe.

But weapons-free zones don’t make schools any
safer than they already are; people who intend to commit violence
in schools won’t be deterred by felony weapons charges. Instead,
Allesandri and Kalerkorinos must have some unfounded belief that
mere proximity to a gun causes otherwise healthy people to lose
their minds and resort to violence. There isn’t any merit to that
argument, either.

At least city authorities recognize that since the area is zoned
as an industrial district, the gun range has every right to set up
shop next to George Washington Carver High. Case closed? Not
quite:

While the project goes forward, protesters’ concerns haven’t
fallen on deaf ears as the city announced it will likely review its
planning codes.

“We’ll be looking at the gun-related uses as well as well as
other uses and compatibilities related to schools,” he said.

For the students and neighbors against the project, the hope is
that planning codes change statewide.

It looks like the city will consider restricting future gun
ranges, if not the one next to George Washington Carver High. The
local news story spins this as a beneficial lesson in participatory
democracy for the high schoolers. True enough, I suppose. If
nothing else, they learned that when it comes to politics and
governance, think-of-the-children paranoia trumps property rights
every single time.