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I think the 1st sentence is fine as far as grammar goes. We could quibble about style forever I suppose, but I think it's OK as is.

The second to last sentence of the second paragraph should indeed start with "That's". Looks like a typo.

I think it would be great if you could get it published as an Op Ed column. And citing your position as an NRA Board member would increase the chances of it getting published, IMO.

To see how far we've come, think of where we were 10 or 20 years ago. Essays like Chas' or the Newsweek article were unheard of in the MSM back then. When a mass shooting would occur, the media would make the psycho a household name and beat the drum for more restrictions of gun rights. From there we progressed to shall issue CHL, with certain areas declared off limits. (Usually this was part of the compromise needed to get shall issue passed.) Today, we are finally having the debate as to the rational basis for these gun free zones. (Last night, O'Reilly had two college professors debate the subject on his TV show.)

And this debate is, predictably, leading to the conclusion that there is no rational basis by which large, unsecured areas can simply be "declared" off limits with any expectation that such a declaration would have the desired effect (of making it a "safe" place).

When I got my first pistol permit in RI in 1992, I had been a gun rights activist for several years prior. Since my intent was to raise people's consciousness and proseltyze, I told friends, family, and acquaintances that I had obtained a permit whenever the opportunity presented itself. I figured that it would make people think about the fact that someone like me, a (more or less!) normal, law-abiding, professional, family man would, and could, actually legally carry a gun.

Most often, the reaction I got is that people looked at me like I had two heads. "You have a WHAT? Why would you do that?"

Shortly after that, Clinton got the Brady Act and the AWB passed.

Today, national magazines and news networks are debating whether to allow concealed carry on campus.

It's kind of a different world today, hey?

Public opinion on this issue may be changing.

I have a sister who lives in CA who is a left wing liberal through and through. When we were kids, she worshipped the Kennedys. And she was actually a Kennedy delegate at the 1980 Democrat Convention. FWIW, she favors Hillary for the presidency this cycle.

Of course she has long known of my advocacy of gun rights, self defense, etc. She is generally opposed to gun rights herself, (and gun ownership for that matter) and believes me to be misgiuded. On the 2A, she believes it was intended to apply only to those serving in a militia.

So we're chatting on the phone yesterday, and she tells me, "I'm going to say something that I think you will agree with." (Politically, we disagree about almost everything.) "I think that if someone in that lecture hall at NIU had had a gun, they might have been able to stop that lunatic from killing so many people."

I was shocked to hear her say this. She went on to say that she was uncomfortable with the idea of students carrying, but maybe if they allowed instructors to carry guns that would be OK. I pointed out that if it was well known that instructors could carry, all it would mean is that any nut case shooter like this one would simply take the instructor out with his first shot.

Then I said, "Imagine this. Suppose I was in that class. After all, there's no age limit for attending college. So what if I had been there and just for the sake of argument let's assume that I wasn't unlucky enough to be the first one shot. How do you think it would have turned out then?"

She was silent for a few seconds. Then she said, "Oh, you probably would have shot him I guess. But you're different. You've had training, you practice, blah...blah...blah....." (Note" I've never been in the military, never been a cop, never been in a life and death situation or anything like that, and she knows it. Any "training" I've had has been in the areas of firearms safety, self defense and the law, and whatever you get from shooting bullseye and IDPA matches. She knows that too.)

My point is that if a lifelong far-left person like my sister is connecting the dots, in California no less, then other people are too.

Well done, Chas.