For those who have been following this petition, the latest mass shooting drawing media attention from Thousand Oaks, CA may drive my point home.

Of course, my condolences to the families of those killed, and prayers to those injured. I just want to comment on one portion of this horrific event. Reports from the Ventura County Sheriff indicated that 6 unarmed off-duty police officers were in the bar at the time of the shooting. If even one of these officers were armed it might have made a difference. The question as to why they were unarmed will likely come out during the investigation. 

They may have gone unarmed voluntarily, knowing they were going to consume alcohol. They may have been prohibited from going armed to a bar and consuming alcohol by their various department regulations. Or they could have been prohibited from carrying their firearms by the venue owners because LEOSA as currently written allows owners of private property to refuse entry to anyone with firearms, and that includes off-duty active officers as well as retired officers. It is this last scenario that the current proposed legislation to amend LEOSA is meant to address.

I urge those who have an interest in seeing this legislation pass to contact their local Congressmen/women and/or Senators and urge them to get on board.

You may also notice that I mention the latest mass shooting to draw media attention. That is because between the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh on 10/27 and this shooting there were 11 other mass shootings that took place in almost every quadrant of America. In these shootings 56 people were shot and of those 10 were killed. I don't recall any of these other shootings making it to the national headlines though.