Comments on Gun Free Zones
Some useful editorials on the horrible Virginia attack can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. In 1998, only one or two people would have been making this argument.
Holman W. Jenkins Jr. at the WSJ makes the point pretty clear: "After all, some people are prepared, at their own expense, to obtain a gun, training and a concealed-carry permit. This is likely to include people who wouldn't have thought of arming themselves except when daily activity throws them unavoidably into proximity to somebody who makes them rationally afraid. If society can't process and react to warning signs given off by such people collectively, an alternative is to expand the opportunity for individuals to process and react to them personally."
UPI notes: "The Virginia Tech massacre is already igniting a new debate on whether the United States has too little gun control, or too much. Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, a national movement dedicated to maintaining gun ownership rights, said Monday, "All the school shootings that have ended abruptly in the last 10 years were stopped because a law-abiding citizen -- a potential victim -- had a gun."
Ann Coulter's piece here is quite amusing:
From the attacks of 9/11 to Monday's school shooting, after every mass murder there is an overwhelming urge to "do something" to prevent a similar attack.
But since Adam ate the apple and let evil into the world, deranged individuals have existed.
Most of the time they can't be locked up until it's too late. It's not against the law to be crazy -- in some jurisdictions it actually makes you more viable as a candidate for public office.
It's certainly not against the law to be an unsociable loner. If it were, Ralph Nader would be behind bars right now, where he belongs. Mass murder is often the first serious crime unbalanced individuals are caught committing -- as appears to be in the case of the Virginia Tech shooter. . . .
Another interesting news article can be found here. See also this here.
Holman W. Jenkins Jr. at the WSJ makes the point pretty clear: "After all, some people are prepared, at their own expense, to obtain a gun, training and a concealed-carry permit. This is likely to include people who wouldn't have thought of arming themselves except when daily activity throws them unavoidably into proximity to somebody who makes them rationally afraid. If society can't process and react to warning signs given off by such people collectively, an alternative is to expand the opportunity for individuals to process and react to them personally."
UPI notes: "The Virginia Tech massacre is already igniting a new debate on whether the United States has too little gun control, or too much. Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, a national movement dedicated to maintaining gun ownership rights, said Monday, "All the school shootings that have ended abruptly in the last 10 years were stopped because a law-abiding citizen -- a potential victim -- had a gun."
Ann Coulter's piece here is quite amusing:
But since Adam ate the apple and let evil into the world, deranged individuals have existed.
Most of the time they can't be locked up until it's too late. It's not against the law to be crazy -- in some jurisdictions it actually makes you more viable as a candidate for public office.
It's certainly not against the law to be an unsociable loner. If it were, Ralph Nader would be behind bars right now, where he belongs. Mass murder is often the first serious crime unbalanced individuals are caught committing -- as appears to be in the case of the Virginia Tech shooter. . . .
Another interesting news article can be found here. See also this here.
Labels: DefensiveGunUse, GunControl, Guns
posted by John Lott at 5:50 AM
2 Comments:
I wonder if the clueless liberals that run Virginia Tech in an oh so politically correct fashion will face the liabilities of their gun free zone policy?
This is not the first time an armed maniac has been on or near the campus:
Suspected Killer Nabbed Near Va. Tech
The Associated Press
August 22, 2006
Bradford B. Wiles understood the precariousness of his unarmed condition...
Yet Bernice Hausman is an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech apparently had a hard time coming to grips with reality...
Dear John:
I appreciate your writings on this and related issues. I suspect that in the not too distant future, we will begin to see the dissipation of gun free school zones as rationality and the reality of the threat potential sinks in. But I fear that we won't see it until there are more shootings, and at least some involve terrorists. Americans have always seemed to need a very large body count before we act.
Post a Comment
<< Home