Gun-Free Zones
September 27th, 2006 by Syd
BAILEY, Colo. - A gunman took six girls hostage at the high school in this mountain town Wednesday, using them as human shields for hours before he shot and fatally wounded a girl and then killed himself as a SWAT team moved in, authorities said.
I hate to say this. I hate to even think these thoughts, but this is what happens when you create gun-free zones. When you broadcast to the evil-doers that here is a place where we guarantee that you will receive no resistance or opposition, there is a certain kind of sick bastard who will exploit that vulnerability to play out his malignant psychodrama.
I won’t try to argue that an armed teacher or administrator could have stopped this attack once it commenced. The bad guy had the initiative and the element of surprise. It would be highly unlikely, though not impossible, that a school official could have changed the course of events once they began, armed or otherwise. However, the idea in the mind of the bad guy that he could encounter resistance might have prevented the attack from ever beginning.
This is the fatal paradox of gun control: criminals don’t respect gun control laws and regulations, so that when you impose gun control, only the law-abiding and the innocent become vulnerable to criminal depredations.
I’m not suggesting that teachers lead their classes with an MP5 slung over their shoulder. But when we declare our schools to be “gun-free zones” ruled by the false god of “zero tolerance” we invite this kind of criminal to attack. It’s like putting up a huge neon sign above the school saying, “Psychopaths Welcome Here.” Gun control doesn’t work because, at its roots, it is illogical. It is nonsensical to believe that criminals will respect rules. It’s a wish, but not a plan.
Washington Irving once wrote, “Great minds have purposes, little minds have wishes.”