Spring Break
Safety requires right to carry guns
In response to "Control":
By: Mark Pollet
Issue date: 3/17/08 Section: Mail Call
Sweden and Australia have no bill of rights, New Zealand's "bill of rights" can be overturned by a simple majority, and the United Kingdom's "Human Rights Act" is barely 10 years old. These countries do lack right-to-carry laws; unfortunately, their citizens also lack a foundation of human rights altogether. Perhaps we should check history to see which of the countries under inspection fought a revolutionary war to establish these same "questionable" human rights in the first place.
There is a correlation between gun control laws and facts. In 2000, John Lott Jr. and William Landes examined data on multiple-victim shooting sprees and found that the only factor with a consistently beneficial impact on public shootings was the passage of concealed handgun laws.
Consider this: the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting - 30 deaths; the 2006 Amish school shooting - five little girls; the 1999 Columbine High School shooting - twelve deaths; and the closer-to-home 1966 University of Texas massacre - 14 deaths. The list of violent crimes at schools is startling, and the common thread in all these incidents: Schools are a governmentally protected gun-free zone. The next most common gun-free-zone is the post office.
I'm vexed by the fact that the media rarely reports the role of guns in stopping these crimes. In 2002, a student started shooting classmates in Virginia. Two of his classmates retrieved guns from their cars and convinced him to drop his weapon - three deaths. In 1997, at Pearl High School in Mississippi, faculty member Joel Myrick retrieved a pistol from his car and used it to stop a student's shooting spree - two deaths. In the same year, a student shooter in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, was thwarted by a nearby restaurant owner and his shotgun - one dead.
If we take guns away from citizens, we will end up with arrangements such as the "safe-school plan" in which an unarmed "trained campus supervisor" will be sent to stop a gunman. In 2001 in Santee, California, this resulted in the prompt shooting of the trained, yet foolhardy supervisor.
Mark Pollet
Class of 2008
There is a correlation between gun control laws and facts. In 2000, John Lott Jr. and William Landes examined data on multiple-victim shooting sprees and found that the only factor with a consistently beneficial impact on public shootings was the passage of concealed handgun laws.
Consider this: the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting - 30 deaths; the 2006 Amish school shooting - five little girls; the 1999 Columbine High School shooting - twelve deaths; and the closer-to-home 1966 University of Texas massacre - 14 deaths. The list of violent crimes at schools is startling, and the common thread in all these incidents: Schools are a governmentally protected gun-free zone. The next most common gun-free-zone is the post office.
I'm vexed by the fact that the media rarely reports the role of guns in stopping these crimes. In 2002, a student started shooting classmates in Virginia. Two of his classmates retrieved guns from their cars and convinced him to drop his weapon - three deaths. In 1997, at Pearl High School in Mississippi, faculty member Joel Myrick retrieved a pistol from his car and used it to stop a student's shooting spree - two deaths. In the same year, a student shooter in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, was thwarted by a nearby restaurant owner and his shotgun - one dead.
If we take guns away from citizens, we will end up with arrangements such as the "safe-school plan" in which an unarmed "trained campus supervisor" will be sent to stop a gunman. In 2001 in Santee, California, this resulted in the prompt shooting of the trained, yet foolhardy supervisor.
Mark Pollet
Class of 2008
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