Residents weigh in on gun control

CLOVIS — A better system for screening prospective gun owners and armed staff at public schools — just a few ideas on the minds of area residents in the wake of the country’s most recent mass shooting.

Better screening echoed an announcement Monday from the White House that President Donald Trump was supportive of bi-partisan efforts to improve the federal background check system, multiple agencies reported.

The shooter accused of killing 17 last week at a Florida high school legally purchased the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack, reported BBC, in spite of being examined in 2016 by state mental health workers.

“I agree that there are some gaping holes (in the federal background check system) that need to be addressed,” said State Rep. Randy Crowder, R-Clovis, referring specifically to discontinuity in reporting from state and federal entities to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

But would that solve this issue? Crowder and others suggested that restricted rules on gun ownership could only go so far.

“I don’t know. It’s a hard thing for sure, because anyone can go off,” said Frank Lynn, of Clovis.

“Criminals are always going to be able to get a hold of a gun or a bomb, it seems like. It’s tragic what happened, but I expect it could happen again.”

Specific to safety in public schools, Crowder ventured the idea to do away with gun-free zones for schools and establish armed staff on campus in a manner similar to a federal marshal on an airplane.

“I believe that people need to have an ability to defend themselves,” he added.

Clovis Municipal Schools Superintendent Jody Balch said he was “not opposed” to the idea of armed staff in the district, but “there sure needs to be plenty of checks and balances involved before someone is assigned to carry that responsibility, and plenty of training and plenty of what-ifs.”

Although some districts in the state employ an armed staff person or two, Balch said, it would be a long process with public input before such a practice were ever implemented locally.

Others in town were supportive of both some gun regulation and a well-armed populace, but for defense against a threat greater than a lone individual.

Karen Medina, a student at Clovis Community College, pointed out the relative ease of obtaining a firearm for use compared to getting a driver's license. But she said she still considered it important for the public to maintain some defense against larger powers.

“It’s not about taking guns away, because if you do that then the government would have more power,” Medina said. “If something happened, we should able to defend ourselves.”

James Padilla, of Portales, said his views on gun ownership are more conservative — stretching back to the nation’s founding days.

“Personally, I think the intention of the Second Amendment is that citizens are able to protect themselves from a corrupt government,” he said Monday. “A lot of it is going to come down to our trust in the government. I don’t think people trust the government very much right now.”

On the business end, a local gun shop owner said the spike in reactive weapon purchases common after a mass tragedy hadn’t seemed to touch Clovis.

“There’s always a degree of panic buying,” Paul Crowe said Monday. “But business has been pretty stable the past few days.”

Crowe declined to weigh in on the “political football” concerning gun legislation, but said his business was scrupulous about maintaining federal compliance with laws on sales and background checks.