National Productivity Reasoning

(1) the problem of guns in and around schools is widespread and extremely serious;
(4 % of high school students nationwide and 6 % of inner city high school students carry a gun to school at least occasionally, 12 % of urban high school students have had guns fired at them, 20 % of those students have been threatened with guns, and in any 6 month period, several hundred thousand schoolchildren are victims of violent crimes in or near their schools);
(2) the presence of guns and gun violence in schools throughout the Nation significantly interferes with the quality of education in those schools because teachers are unable to teach and students are unable to learn;
(3) students educated in those schools leave school and enter the workforce;
(4) these poorly educated workers decrease worker productivity and adversely effect the economy because a successful economy in today’s world depends on a well-educated workforce; and
(5) employers are less willing to locate to places with a poorly educated workforce and therefore the economy in such communities suffers because fewer jobs are available and in general and the unemployment rate rises and fewer high paying jobs are available and even people with jobs have less money to spend.

Costs of Crime Reasoning

(1) possession of a firearm in a school zone may result in violent crime;
(2) violent crime imposes substantial costs on society through harm to persons and property and those costs are spread throughout the population through the mechanism of insurance including health insurance, disability insurance, and property insurance;
(3) victims of violent crime will take time off from work and be less productive if and when they can return to work; and
(4) violent crime reduces the willingness of individuals to travel to areas within the country that are perceived to be unsafe and those areas are therefore economically depressed.