Gun-free zones make schools easy targets

I'm not sure how much our hearts can take in yet another school shooting. I didn't jump right on this topic when it happened last week - Ash Wednesday of all days - because it's just too much. But I'm not going to talk about morals, or the impact of violent video games and psychotropic drugs, or the failure of the FBI to make good use of all the warnings it was given about this particular shooter. Those are all important things that do deserve attention. But for now, let's consider this from the perspective of common sense.

If you look at pretty much all of the public shootings we've had in the past few years, they all took place in gun-free zones. The little sticker on the door declaring certain places as such is supposed to deter a person hell-bent on murder, when all it does is remind law abiding citizens to leave their guns at home. This makes those law-abiding citizens in gun-free zones sitting ducks to those who want their 15 minutes of fame no matter the cost to human life. 

Nobody is arguing against sensible gun laws. We have plenty on the books already and most reasonable people are open to looking at common sense ways to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them. But look at places like Chicago, which has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation. It also has one of the highest murder rates in the nation. The murder rate in Russia, where handguns are completely banned, is nearly four times higher than the US. And as we've all to often seen lately, people are using any means possible - cars, pipe bombs, etc. - to commit crime.  

Let's be real: criminals don't care about the law, so we need to be able to protect ourselves. Also, it's important not to lose sight of the fact that when deciding which movie theater to shoot up in Aurora, CO, of the eight theaters in the area, the gunman who unleashed a hail of bullets on movie goers admitted he specifically chose the theater he did because it was the only one of the eight listed as a gun-free zone.

I know this will go over like a lead balloon to some, but how many of these wanna be murderers would dare walk into a place that they knew would be teeming with armed law-abiding citizens? Maybe it's time to consider doing this at the schools. The murderers have their limits on who they'll pick on. After all, they're just murderers. They're not courageous. Like the Aurora, CO, killer, I doubt they'd dare go near a place that they knew could shoot them down before they could get off the first shot. 

Our jewelry stores and banks are protected with armed guards. Politicians are protected with armed guards. Maybe protecting our kids is worth looking into how we might responsibly arm schools as an option. Don't they deserve it? I am aware of all the reasons people may balk at this, but until we do change our culture to the point that the beasts among us change with it, I have yet to hear anyone come up with anything else at this point. Have you?

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