More on guns

Just to clarify what I said before on guns, the second amendment guarantees the “right to bear arms.” As long as that is in force, people should be allowed to carry guns. There have been many studies done showing the positive effect on crime rates that concealed weapons permits have had. Deterrence is a very effective weapon in crime prevention. Deterrence may have stopped the Va. Tech incident, and if someone else had a gun, I am sure not as many people would have been killed.

I do believe that there is a trade off between preventing crime and preventing irresponsible/impaired judgement/children getting a hold of guns/accidents/and situations where guns are present pose a clear risk. For example, I don’t think that anyone would claim that your second amendment rights extend to when you are visiting someone in prison. There are obvious and serious consequences if people found out that you had a gun there. Similarly, courthouses present a dangerous combination of high tensions and not always responsible people. It seems logical to limit the presence of weapons in these types of circumstances. A college campus is, IMO, a similar situation. Campuses are notorious for the amount of drinking and “partying” that goes on. I believe, and I think that most people would agree with me, that the incidence of stupid things happening with guns would most likely go up on campus. Here’s the kicker, Ex Ante that outcome is SO much more likely than a rampaging lunatic (at least in Blacksburg), the costs of many students having guns on campus would not outweigh the benefit of possibly (possibly mind you) preventing what happened at Va. Tech.
Courthouses and prisons are fairly easy to keep weapon free, campuses not so much. This means that someone could (and did) walk onto campus, guns a blazing, and no one could do anything about it. If people are really worried about a similar event occurring at Va. tech, or any other campus, make sure that there is some sort of deterrent and/or defense against it. Perhaps allow or encourage faculty and Residence directors to carry a weapon and let it be known that some of them do. There’s also the tried and true idea of hiring professional armed security people. If they have a visible presence on campus, and it is well known that they can be anywhere on campus in a matter of minutes, that would most likely be enough.
So random carrying of weapons is indeed a powerful deterrent against crime, but there are situations where widespread gun distribution will most likely lead to more problems that it solves. Obviously there is a sliding scale, and different places will have to figure out where they are on that scale. Guns can be good and bad, sometimes all at the same time.

Isaac