Without a doubt, one of the most common reoccurrences seen on televised news is the outbreak of a shooter, whether that be in an airport, a mall, movie theater, or even schools and college campuses. What do these locations have in common one may ask; more times than not, locations such as these are marked as gun-free zones. A gun-free zone is a location where guns are simply not allowed. In theory, gun-free zones sound like fantastic idea in such locations to keep citizens safe, however this seems not to be the care in many instances. Most gun-free zones have minimal gun security or many times no security to protect unarmed citizens from an unforeseen attack. For example, in 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, mass shooter James Holmes targeted the only …show more content…
Within a twenty-mile range of Holmes’ home location, there were seven movie theaters in his vicinity; of the seven theaters only one theater had a restriction on concealed carry (Frosch). That theater was the one Holmes targeted. This devastating attack led to the death of twelve victims and left over seventy more severely wounded (Truesdale). In Even though the gunman fired at an unsuspecting crowd, with over 400 individuals the possibility of one citizen having a concealed carry weapon and neutralizing the suspect are much greater. In Holmes’s diary he states that he would not target an airport due to “substantial security” (Frosch). However, this security presence doesn’t seem to be a heightened as one may seem as in early 2017, suspected shooter Esteban Santiago opened fire in a baggage claim area claiming the lives of five and injuring a number others (Mascia). This location was also noted as being a gun-free zone. The likeliness of minimalizing the severity of these scene would have been greatly increase if it weren’t for these gun-free ones restricting citizens from carrying a weapon to potentially neutralize the