A commentator (mom, is that you?) on my last post about this said that it’s hard to believe that I think it would be better with more guns. Well, I don’t think as many people would have died if one or two of the professors or students involved had a gun on them. Hell, that SOB may not have even tried anything if he knew that someone out there had a gun. Don’t underestimate the deterrent factor on pussies like that guy, he was never able to stand up to anyone that he thought could make fun of him, what do you think he would do if he thought they had a gun?
On the other hand, the prospect of college kids having ready access to guns is really frightening. There’s enough stupid stuff going on on campus. I guess the gun thing could work better if they banned alcohol… I don’t see that working. There’s an obvious trade off between protecting against a rampage where 30 people die and protecting against the typical armed robbery, mugging, or hot headed homicide. In the first, shooting back, or even the threat of shooting back may be enough to limit the body count. The last three are much more problematic as far as “protection” goes. Maybe I’m a pollyanna, but I have always thought that you would be in much more danger of being shot if you engage in a shootout rather than just give the guy your money. Simplistic I know, but I think accurate. There are a number of studies that show that the incidence of those three typical uses of guns goes down in places with easily gotten concealed weapons permits. Deterrence is a big deal.
The bottom line is how afraid are you of another rampage in a school or other place that does not “allow” guns? If you are really afraid of it, there really isn’t any option other than arming some people. Whether that’s students (maybe undercover marshal types), professors, or just an increased police presence probably wouldn’t matter much, the deterrence and defense would be there. I’m not sure that it pays to do that though, how often do these things occur? The best thing would probably be taking people with problems seriously and trying to help them. I think that’s where the real failing was in the Va. Tech incident, not in the security.
Isaac
Va. Tech gun guns violence control security tradeoff rampage crime