Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) last week reintroduced a bill that would repeal the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act, which he says jeopardizes student and teacher safety by prohibiting armed defense against violent intruders. As I explain in my new book “Beyond Control,” that law is also problematic for two constitutional reasons.
The GFSZA, which Congress originally enacted in 1990, makes it a felony to possess a gun within 1,000 feet of an elementary or secondary school. In 1995, the Supreme Court said the law was not a valid exercise of the federal government’s power to regulate interstate commerce.
“The Act neither regulates a commercial activity nor contains a requirement that the possession be connected in any way to interstate commerce,” Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote. “If we