These killers go into schools and playgrounds because they feel safe there. Don't you think it is time to interfere with their government-given sense of security? If an armed professor or student had brought the Blacksburg killer down, it would have saved innocent lives immediately. It would also have given the next insane murderer reason to pause and go elsewhere, or maybe just to either seek help or keep his evil thoughts to himself.
My libertarian UW philosopher colleague Lester Hunt argues that the Virginia Tech massacre calls for more guns (and less regulation), not fewer guns (and more regulation). He is neither the first nor the last to do so. Perhaps if everyone had guns, the killers would be dispatched before their toll got quite so high. But the notion that this would be much of a deterrent frankly eludes me. Very few of these deranged individuals leave the scene alive, dying either by their own hand or in an exchange of fire with police.
UTexas law professor Sandy Levinson has argued that liberals have been badly served (politically) and almost totally ineffective (in affecting access to guns) in their efforts at gun control. (He also thinks there is more to the NRA's Second Amendment arguments than do most fellow liberals.) While I would support restrictive federal legislation (I agree with Sandy that "hit or miss" legislation by individual states is pretty fruitless --except perhaps in reducing accidental and spontaneous familial shootings), I'm not inclined to hold my breath waiting for it, any more than after numerous political assassination attempts and other massacres. Chalk it up to American exceptionalism (or focused insanity) on this topic.
For a view criticizing this position, and Democrats who shy away from gun control, see: Why Democrats dumped gun control | From Salon News:
'The solution isn't to clam up on guns,'... 'but rather to change the terms of the gun debate ... It's time for Democrats -- and progressive Republicans -- to embrace a 'third way' gun policy that treats gun ownership as neither an absolute right nor an absolute wrong and that calls for a balance between gun rights and gun responsibilities. To win elections, Democrats need to reason with gun owners rather than insult them.'
And if that doesn't do it for you, try this:
From Salon.com: By Walter Shapiro
Repeal the Second Amendment
The best way to reduce the odds of another blood bath like the one at Virginia Tech is to amend the Constitution and abolish the right to bear arms.
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