Tennessee bus hijacking shows need for 50-state concealed-carry gun laws

WASHINGTON, DC -- In the wake of the Tennessee bus hijacking yesterday that left six people dead, every state should immediately pass Vermont-style concealed-carry gun laws so Americans can defend themselves against terrorists or deranged murderers, the Libertarian Party said today.

"Let's put the Second Amendment to work to protect Americans," said the party's national director, Steve Dasbach. "The best defense against hijackers -- or run-of-the-mill copycat madmen -- is to give every American the legal right to own a gun and carry it everywhere."

Early Wednesday, a Croatian man used a box cutter to slash the throat of a Greyhound bus driver just outside Manchester, Tennessee.

The man then grabbed the steering wheel and attempted to drive the bus into oncoming traffic. The bus tipped over, killing at least six people including the hijacker, and injuring 34 others.

Greyhound temporarily suspended bus service following the attack, but the U.S. Justice Department said the hijacking was probably not related to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Police speculated that the hijacker was a mentally unbalanced copycat criminal.

Whatever the man's motivation, the attack points out that no form of transportation is safe from potential attack, said Dasbach -- which is why every law-abiding American needs the right to carry a concealed weapon.

"After terrorists hijacked four airliners on September 11, the consensus was that greater airport security could stymie such attacks," he said. "That may be true, but a similar solution won't protect Americans who use buses, trains, taxicabs, or other forms of travel. There are simply too many modes of public transportation.

"The only way to keep Americans safe is to decentralize protection: Give every law-abiding citizen the right to carry a weapon at all times.

"No, that won't stop every attempted hijacking -- and may not even have stopped the tragedy in Tennessee -- but criminals and terrorists will be far less likely to attack if they know they'll be staring down the business end of a dozen American guns."

Currently, 31 states have "shall-issue" concealed-carry laws, which require the state government to issue a gun permit to any resident who is not disqualified by a felony conviction, mental illness, or similar objection.

Tennessee has a "shall-issue" law, but its permit is reciprocally honored in only 12 other states, and Tennessee honors only nine other states' permits.

That's a problem, said Dasbach, because the bus that was hijacked in Tennessee originated in Chicago, Illinois and was heading for Atlanta, Georgia. Only one of those states (Georgia) had a reciprocal permit agreement with Tennessee -- making it impossible for passengers to legally carry a weapon for the duration of the trip.

"America needs 50-state reciprocity," he said. "A gun permit valid in one state should be equally valid in all 50 states. That's the only way to protect people on interstate trips."

To make that protection as easy as possible to acquire, every state should pass gun permit legislation modeled after Vermont's gun law, said Dasbach.

In Vermont, any citizen can carry a firearm without getting a permit, without paying a fee, and without any government-mandated waiting period.

Despite the ease with which people can acquire guns -- or perhaps because of it -- Vermont enjoys the 49th lowest crime rate in America, noted Dasbach.

"The conventional wisdom is that more guns equal more crime," he said. "But Vermont is stark proof that more guns, and easier access to guns, are the best possible deterrent to crime."

However, evidence of the "More Guns/Less Crime" principle extends beyond Vermont, said Dasbach.

In October 2000, the FBI released a report showing that gunshot wounds inflicted during crimes decreased by 40% from 1992 and 1997 -- falling from 64,100 to 39,400 nationwide.

During the same five years, the number of guns in America increased by 12% -- surging from 205 million to 230 million, according to the National Association of Federally Licensed Firearms Dealers.

Also, according to a study by John Lott and David Mustard at the University of Chicago, concealed-carry handgun laws reduced murder rates by 8.5% in those states that passed such laws, compared to states which make gun ownership difficult or impossible. Had such right-to-carry laws been in effect all 50 states, there would be 1,600 fewer murders every year, they reported.

Given all this evidence, Job #1 in the war against terrorism should be to give Americans the right to own and carry a firearm, said Dasbach.

"In memory of the victims of the Tennessee bus hijacking, every state should immediately pass a Vermont-style gun law, and make it reciprocal with every other state," he said.

"Politicians need to make it as easy for every American to buy and carry a gun as it is to buy a bus ticket. By doing so, they'll make it easier for the next would-be terrorist to buy a one-way ticket to an early grave."

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