Guns Make Schools Safer, Gun Group Says
April 17, 2007 4:16 PM
Justin Rood Reports:
The tragic shooting at Virginia Tech underscores the need to allow weapons on campus, according to the leader of a pro-gun group, but a leading public policy expert questions that conclusion.
"The latest school shooting demands an immediate end to the gun-free zone law which leaves the nation's schools at the mercy of madmen," said Larry Pratt, executive director of the Virginia-based Gun Owners of America, in a statement e-mailed to the media Tuesday.
Not so fast, says David Hemenway, a gun control policy expert, professor of health policy at Harvard School of Public Health and director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.
"There's not a lot of evidence one way or the other about gun-free zones," Hemenway told ABC News. "We do know that where there's more guns, there's lots more death. There's more homicides, more suicides, more gun death."
But the Gun Owners of America leader cited facts and statistics to back up his claim. "All the school shootings that have ended abruptly in the last ten years were stopped because a law-abiding citizen -- a potential victim -- had a gun," he asserted in his statement.
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"That's just not right at all," Hemenway said and began reeling off nearly a dozen school shootings and how they ended. "Moses Lake [Washington], a 14-year-old honors student, opens fire in algebra class. He stopped when he was tackled by a teacher...West Paducah, Ky., a 14-year-old kills three students and wounds five others at a prayer group. He drops the pistol when he's approached by a principal and another student. No gun involved," said Hemenway.
And in perhaps the most infamous school shooting before yesterday, the killers at the 1999 Columbine High School massacre took their own lives with the guns they'd used to kill 25 others, hours before a SWAT team stormed the building.
But Pratt had more, "Not far from Virginia Tech, a killer was stopped at the Appalachian School of Law when two students were able to go off campus to their vehicles and get their guns which they used to subdue the killer. Sadly, not even that awkward defense was available at Virginia Tech."
Hemenway said he knew the instance well. "That's the one they always talk about, it's interesting," he told ABC News. In that case, Hemenway said, the killer stopped shooting because he ran out of ammo. The two men who subdued him were off-duty policemen who grabbed not only their guns, but bulletproof vests and handcuffs.
What about examples where allowing guns on campus seems to work? "Isn't it interesting that Utah and Oregon are the only two states that allows faculty to carry guns on campus," Pratt said in his statement, "[and] you haven't read about any school or university shootings in Utah or Oregon?"
Perhaps, Hemenway said. On the other hand, "I don't know of any school shootings in Massachussets, where we have strict gun control laws."
School shootings are -- thankfully -- rare, noted Hemenway. The question public officials must ask is whether having more guns makes Americans more safe. Hemenway said statistics show that in general, firearms don't mix well with colleges, known for combustible elements like heavy drinking and romantic complications. "People get drunk, people get angry, they're going to use their guns."
