A New York gun-control activist who helped push the state’s new restrictions on the Second Amendment last year caused a major scare last week when he was arrested carrying a gun on school grounds.

And thanks to his own efforts, he’s now facing a felony charge.

According to WIVB-4, Dwayne Ferguson, 52, was arrested Thursday when an army of law enforcement officers – including a SWAT team, police dogs and a sheriff’s helicopter – descended on Harvey Austin Elementary School in Buffalo after receiving an anonymous call that there was an armed man on campus.

After an hours-long lockdown that included a room-by-room search of the school, pat-downs for evacuating students and searches of staff, Ferguson was arrested when officers discovered he had the holstered weapon — a weapon he was licensed to carry just about anywhere but a school campus and other “gun-free” zones.

At no time did Ferguson, who was on campus as part of an after-school mentoring program, tell the police he was armed, according to the Buffalo News.

So while dozens of police cars swarmed the campus, while cops with German shepherds scoured the school and frightened parents were kept from the snowbound scene, the gun-control community activist didn’t tell anyone he had a gun in his holster.

“He had opportunities,” said Kevin Brinkworth, the school district’s police chief, told the Buffalo News.

Maybe he didn’t tell anyone because New York state’s gun-control law he worked so hard last year upgraded possession of a weapon on campus from a misdemeanor to a felony.

“I will say he had no ill intent to harm these students,” Brinkworth said. “I don’t know why he had it on him.”

Why he had it isn’t really the question. Maybe he had it to protect himself and the students he mentored; maybe he didn’t think to tell anyone because he knew he was one of the good guys.

And maybe even gun-control activists know that the best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

The question is, why did he push for a law that doesn’t recognize that too?

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Joe Saunders

Joe Saunders, a 25-year newspaper veteran, is a staff writer and editor for BizPac Review who lives in Tallahassee and covers capital and Florida politics. Email Joe at [email protected].

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