How many more people have to die before college administrators stop establishing useless gun-free zones as the solution to campus violence? Last week, a Northern Illinois University student opened fire in a packed classroom, killing six students, including himself, and wounding 16 others in a matter of minutes. Of course, no one should be surprised. It was the 45th shooting to take place on a gun-free campus since 1996.
After the massacre at Virginia Tech last spring, I wrote a column suggesting that colleges should allow responsible students to carry concealed guns on campus in order to prevent such tragedies. Since then, I've heard hundreds of arguments for gun control ' not one of which would prevent a single killing. The most typical arguments are these:
Gun-free zones save lives by preventing violent students from bringing firearms to campus.
Apparently not. As we've seen at Northern Illinois, Virginia Tech and the dozens of other campuses that have been shot up over the years, suicidal gunmen don't care whether they're violating a firearms restriction. If a potential killer has any access whatsoever to a weapon, the gun-free zone is less than worthless.
The only people who leave their guns behind when entering a gun-free area are law-abiding citizens who might use handguns to save lives ' which brings us to our next argument.
Allowing students to carry concealed weapons for self-defense would do more harm than good. It's better to let the police take control of a shooter.
Actually, the shootings are usually over by the time the police arrive, as was the case at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois. In order to stop a mass shooting, the killer must be subdued within minutes or even seconds ' which means someone on the scene needs to have a gun.
Far from creating more violence, law-abiding citizens with guns have halted several campus shootings over the years ' and the death tolls in these incidents were remarkably lower than those of shootings that occurred in gun-free zones. Gun owners have stopped rampages at the Appalachian School of Law (three dead), at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi (two dead), and at a middle school in Edinboro, Pennsylvania (one dead).
Allowing people to own hunting weapons is okay, but handguns should be banned in order to reduce gun violence.
Except that plenty of killers use rifles and shotguns to carry out their business, making a handgun ban irrelevant. The teenage gunmen at Columbine High School used deer-hunting rifles to kill 13 people; the Northern Illinois shooter was armed with a shotgun in addition to three handguns. When it comes to the type of gun, deranged killers don't appear to be picky.
Meanwhile, handguns are the only type of firearm that can be carried for self-defense. Banning handguns'which has become a major priority of the gun-control lobby'will do little to save lives as long as shooters have access to any gun at all.
In order to prevent violence, the government should outlaw the sale and distribution of all guns.
What about the approximately 200 million guns that are already in the United States? They're not going away any time soon. As long as there are guns in this country, there will be gun violence'and responsible citizens deserve the right to defend themselves.
Speaking of bans, there is no historical evidence whatsoever that outlawing an in-demand product makes it disappear. I'm against gun control for the same reason I'm against drug laws: Prohibition typically creates a shady black market that encourages crime and endangers the innocent.
That being said, I'm not advocating unfettered access to firearms. I support reasonable restrictions, such as waiting periods, background checks and a prohibition on the sale of guns to people with a history of mental health problems. Unlike some gun-control opponents, I'm not infatuated with weapons. But I do see them as a necessary evil.
Unfortunately, many colleges still believe that the answer to campus shootings is to maintain gun-free zones ' which, of course, are gun-free for everyone but the killer. ' Ashley Herzog is a senior journalism major. Send her an e-mail at ah103304@ohiou.edu
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Ashley Herzog
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