The Associated Press

Do these signs stop bullets?

Featured Topic | Posted 1 year 51 weeks ago

Do "gun-free" zones encourage school shootings?

Another shooting on an American campus, this time at Northern Illinois University. News reports confirm that at least five people are dead, including the gunman.

But the question that always arises after such tragedies is what can be done? Illinois has strict gun control laws. NIU is, in fact, a "gun-free" zone. So was Virginia Tech, where last April a mentally disturbed student murdered 32 people and wounded dozens more.

Are "gun-free" zones invitations to shooters? Should states allow more people to carry guns for self-defense? Should colleges and universities allow professors and students to arm themselves?

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Ben likes: Gun-free zones

David B. Kopel/The Wall Street Journal

In many states, "gun-free schools" legislation was enacted hastily in the late 1980s or early 1990s due to concerns about juvenile crime. Aimed at juvenile gangsters, the poorly written and overbroad statutes had the disastrous consequence of rendering teachers unable to protect their students.

Reasonable advocates of gun control can still press for a wide variety of items on their agenda, while helping to reform the "gun-free zones" that have become attractive havens for mass killers. If legislators or administrators want to require extensive additional training for armed faculty and other adults, that's fine. Better that some victims be armed than none at all.

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Joel likes: Guns on the brain

Drew Westen/The American Prospect

Our moral vision on guns reflects one simple principle: that gun laws should guarantee the freedom and safety of all law-abiding Americans. We stand with the majority of Americans who believe in the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns to hunt and protect their families.

And we stand with that same majority of Americans who believe that felons, terrorists, and troubled teenagers don't have the right to bear arms that threaten the safety of our children. We therefore support the right to bear arms, but not to bear arms designed for no other purpose than to take another person's life.

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