Gun-Free Zones...

The very idea of “gun-free zones” as a method for reducing violence involving guns has always seemed completely stupid to me, for two reasons:

1. It assumes that someone willing to shoot another person would meekly obey the law forbidding the possession of guns in such zones.  To which I say “Really?  You believe that?”
2. It produces a pool of defenseless victims in a known place and at a known time.  Imagine you were evil enough to want to shoot a bunch of people.  Can you imagine a better place to target?  You know you can shoot a whole bunch of them before the cops manage to get there!

The statistics bear this out:

[John] Lott offers a final damning statistic: “With just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.”

I avoid “gun-free zones” myself, as I consider them to be dangerous places – the precise opposite of the intent.  I don't have a concealed carry permit myself (they are darned hard to get in California), but I'm confident that in any public place there are likely to be some law-abiding people who are armed.  I want them around me, where they can confront a criminal.  I don't want to be in an area where I know the only armed people are criminals.

Sandy Hook Elementary School is a gun-free zone.

Read the whole article...