A bill pre-filed for the 2019 General Assembly would expand the rights of concealed carry gun owners to bring their weapons into places they are usually banned, including schools, bars, government meetings, and businesses that post "no guns allowed" signs.

State Rep. Robert Goforth said his

is a public protection bill.

"A criminal is going to be a criminal regardless, but a law-abiding citizen should be afforded the right to protect themselves - defend themselves, their families and others," Goforth said.

Goforth said a bill like his might have prevented the recent mass shooting in which 12 people were killed at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California.

"I don't think that the assailant would probably [have] entered that establishment had he thought that someone would actually be in there that could defend themselves," Goforth said.

But not everyone thinks 'a good guy with a gun' is the answer to preventing gun violence.

Anita Franklin is one of them. Her 21-year-old son Antonio was killed in 2014, an innocent bystander of a shooting at Duncan Park.

"In that park, there were many many people shooting, and no one was trained to shoot, and he got caught in the crossfire, that gunfire. And I'm not talking about the bad guys shooting at each other, you know, my understanding people started pulling out guns and just start shooting, and so that's not a solution," Franklin said.

Goforth said his bill should be accompanied by increased standards to make sure CCDW permit holders are "highly trained and capable" to use their weapon effectively.

But according to

by our news partners at the Herald-Leader, even trained police officers miss their targets more often than not in the heat of a gunfight.

The state of Kentucky has issued more than 437,000 CCDW permits and revoked or suspended more than 12,500 since 1996, according to the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.