Jeff Knox

Ever since the multiple murders early this year by a crazed gunman at Virginia Tech, professional do gooders have been proposing ways to strengthen gun control laws in a supposed effort to reduce the possibility of violence on campus.
Most of these proposals, however, ignore a real underlying cause of the carnage. Virginia Tech prohibits professors and students from carrying guns on campus even if they have state issued permits to carry handguns. So do a number of other colleges and universities throughout the United States. At the time of the Virginia Tech murders, university policy prevented the victims from protecting themselves from the insane murderous violence perpetrated on the university campus.
For some time now, CCRKBA has been proposing that Congress eliminate federal funding of colleges and universities that prohibit professors and students from carrying guns on campus when they have state issued permits to carry handguns.
“Fortunately,” said John M. Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director, “this idea resonates with Jeff Knox, the Director of Operations and chief lobbyist for The Firearms Coalition, a group of thousands of clubs, grassroots organizations, and individual activists working to preserve, restore and defend the basic human right of self-defense.
“A long-time supporter of the individual Second Amendment civil right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, Jeff even has drafted a bill which would restrict any federal funds from going to any college or university which prohibits employees and students who may lawfully possess and carry defensive weapons off campus from possessing and carrying those weapons on campus. He calls the proposal the Higher Education Lawful Personal Security Act (HELPS). He deserves a lot of credit for his dedication to this cause and I am happy to nominate him as CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the Month for October.”
Jeff is no stranger to the gun rights movement. He is the primary writer for The Knox Report, which appears regularly in Shotgun News magazine and elsewhere. He also is the lead researcher and writer for The Firearms Coalition’s semi-monthly newsletter, the Hard Corps Report and maintains a blog at www.FirearmsCoalition.org. Jeff writes freelance articles for magazines and online publications including a recent feature article in Handguns magazine.
Jeff is a son of the late Neal Knox, founder of The Firearms Coalition, a well-known gun rights activist and CCRKBA honoree. Jeff was raised in the midst of the gun rights movement and has been an active participant in it from an early age. In 2003, after a decade in the radio industry and a failed campaign for a seat in the Washington State House, Jeff moved back to Virginia to assist his father in the family gun rights business. Since Neal’s death from colon cancer, Jeff and his mother, Jay, along with brother Chris and other family members have continued the work of The Firearms Coalition.
In discussing the proposed HELPS Act, Jeff writes, “There is absolutely no way to keep armed and dangerous criminals and lunatics from bringing weapons onto a college campus. The forced disarmament of employees and adult students does nothing but reduce the likelihood that there might be someone with a gun in the right place at the right time to stop criminal violence and save lives. Disarming law-abiding adults, who happen to be employed by, or attend a college and who lawfully and safely carry defensive firearms when not on campus, is not just irrational – it’s downright criminal.
“After Virginia Tech, many Americans recognized the futility and stupidity of ‘gun free zones.’ They recognize the fact that criminals and lunatics do not follow orders on window decals and wall signs. The mainstream media and politicians have been successful at suppressing and muting this sentiment, but a loud, broad-based national campaign to pass the proposed HELPS Act would revive those attitudes and generate a groundswell of support.”
Born in Abilene, Texas in 1960, Jeff graduated from Prescott High School in Prescott, Arizona in 1978. He was attached to the US Army Intelligence and Security Command from 1978 to 1981 and was stationed primarily at Field Station Berlin. He attended Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona in 1982 and 1983. He has worked in various technical areas and as a radio station manager and host and was a candidate for the NRA Board of Directors in 1998.
Jeff was married in 1992 to Janet (Dagger) Knox, and has two step-sons and one grandson.