Granite School District's decision to ban all its employees from bringing guns onto school property is a fine example of good sense triumphing over nonsense.
On the other hand, the reversal of a similar policy by Blockbuster Video after a pro-gun lobbying campaign and threatened boycott by gun-rights groups shows that strong-arm tactics by a powerful group can have the opposite result.Blockbuster has yielded to the protests of pro-gun lobbying groups and has rescinded its nationwide policy barring weapons from its stores. That's a shame.
Guns have no place in businesses that don't want them - or in schools or churches. A statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints calling guns in church services "inappropriate" and confusion among other church leaders about whether they can ban guns should provide further evidence that Utah's concealed-weapons law should be dumped.
Several attorneys have said the law could supercede the rights of private groups and businesses to keep weapons out of their buildings and activities. That's outrageous.
The statement that people should be allowed to "protect themselves" in such places is ludicrous. Weapons are not allowed in airports, courthouses and federal facilities for a good reason. Where weapons are allowed, shootings are more apt to occur. That fact is so obvious, it shouldn't need to be stated.
Utah lawmakers should at least amend its concealed-weapons law to specifically allow the banning of weapons from schools, churches and private businesses that don't want them for safety reasons. Better yet, legislators should scrap the law altogether.