Locals Respond to D.C. Shooting

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Created on Thursday, 26 September 2013 00:00

Written by Kevin Kelleher

St. Johnsbury-After the Navy Yard shootings that took place in Washington D.C. on August 16 of last month, both federal and state government are still trying to decide how to respond and what actions they should take. Where, or what exactly is the issue, and what could be done in response? Last month shortly after the shootings, St. Johnsbury resident and Chief Range Safety Officer, Stephen Jeffrey, shared his thoughts.

Jeffrey believes that half the problem comes from the way our government's judicial system carries out their cases and sentencing decisions. He feels government might not be keeping criminals in jail long enough.

"It's not the firearm, it's the issue with criminals. They have a revolving door system, they come in, they get right back out."

Despite gun laws being different for every state, Jeffrey points out that statistics can prove that stricter gun control laws may not be the best solution.

"More guns less crime, you know you look at the places that have the highest control, Chicago is [one of] the main ones on the news right now. They have the highest rate of murder and the most restrictive gun controls."

In direct reguards to the D.C. shooting Jeffery commented, "The shipyard murders in D.C. last week. You know, other than civilian security guards at the gate, nobody on military installation is armed anymore. Very few military, law enforcement, or security military police are actually armed on post anymore. All your security is civilians, and you can't carry [a weapon] on a military installation, really, our military is trained to use firearms and they can't carry them in the performance of their jobs? It doesn't make sense."

Jeffrey also says that cracking down on crimes that may lead up to these larger, more fatal crimes could potentially reduce the odds. One specific crime he feels state and federal officials should be taking a closer look at is illegal gun trafficking.

"It's not just the final act that's a criminal act, they've done all these other things that are illegal to lead up to that."

"Better safe than sorry," Jeffrey says that he always has, and always will, carry a concealed weapon anywhere that he can.