The only solution to a criminal with a gun is a citizen upholding public safety with a gun.  In incidents of multiple murders with a gun the sooner the fire is returned the fewer lives are lost, every time.  These murderers are all too aware of how long it takes for police to arrive.  It is impossible to hire sufficient police to reduce the response time on what are by nature rare incidents.  Having an armed and trained citizenry to augment our highly trained police is a reasonable solution provided for in the US Constitution.

This proposed regulation would have the opposite of the intended effect by playing into the hands of terrorists, violent criminals, and the criminally insane. We have had no shootings in state agencies and this prohibition on those with a concealed handgun permit, some of whom have active and ongoing threats to their lives, is entirely without any justification and needlessly and recklessly endangers innocent lives.

• All but two of the public massacres since 1950 had been committed by criminals and terrorists in “gun-free zones,” which is exactly what this regulation creates.
• Off-duty police officers are also prevented from carrying.
• If parking lots are included in the ban, then citizens will be disarmed to and from their residences and everywhere in between.
• Bans in rest stops send a very uninviting message to, and endanger the lives of, interstate travelers.
• Disarming law-abiding citizens (who are the only ones likely to obey the prohibition) does not make them safer.
• Importantly the Governor has no authority for this regulation. If the General Assembly wanted the Governor to have such power, they would have granted it to him explicitly, as is required constitutionally.
• This proposed regulation is a solution for which there is no problem. It endangers state employees, law abiding citizens, and the innocent by making state buildings a safe zone for terrorists, criminals, and the criminally insane to conduct their evil and violent actions.

Such a dangerous regulation raises question about the motivations of those who would put this forward.  This regulations should not be approved and the emergency regulation withdrawn.

Please extended the comment period for another 30 days.