"Do "Gun-Free" Zones Encourage School Shootings?"

[TCB in TN]

I don't think anyone ever said that finding a gun-free zone was the ONLY consideration when these things happen, or that such zones PROVOKE mass shootings. The question was, do they ENCOURAGE them? In other words, is it a FACTOR (not the CAUSE)?

While I don't think they encourage the person to commit the act, I have a thought on the matter. In several cases the shooters were looking to get even with certain individuals, and while the school was obviously the place they tried to take their revenge, can you really say it was the only place they could have? In other words was the fact that they would NOT likely be stopped at school a factor in their choice? I imagine it probably was.

So in all reality and more to the practical point of the question, schools are locations where when someone "flips out" there is no one there prepared to stop them. In most cases individuals who want to hurt others, try to wait till the other person is in a vunerable position. These days the school fits the bill!

 

[Erebus]

I think RobertHairless hit the nail on the head. Gun Free Zones don't cause or prevent crimes. However they do make the ignorant "Feel Safe" and assist the murderer with a total lack of resistance when they decide to kill people there. A likely outcome being more victims than if there were other armed individuals present to offer effective resistance.

Saying that "Gun Free Zones" cause school shootings is the same flawed argument that the presence of a gun causes shootings or the presence of cars causes crashes. A human being still has to commit the act.

 

[foghornl]

\\\\\Wise N. Hiemer mode on

The only way one of those big metal "No Guns Allowed" signs stops a shooting is if one of the intended victims pulls said sign of the wall and clubs shooter out cold with it.

 

[kludge]

Going back to the "fish in a barrel"...

I don't think it's so much that the "gun-free" zone attracts the criminals as much at it is a matter of "means, opportunity, and motive."

Means and motive are a given here.

But once a persons has means and motive they find opportunity...

The intended victim(s) is at a known place at a known time, and it doesn't help that the perpetrator also knows (presumes?) that the victim is unarmed...

The gun-free zone only increases the odds of "success"... police are several minutes away... then they have to get "organized"... then they have to "observe"... then they have to formulate a "plan"... (which may be to "wait")... then they have to "execute" the plan. No pun intended.

 

[armoredman]

Edited, no way to answer without going low road, like the one who insulted me.

 

[mljdeckard]

I don't think that the perpetrators in the best-publicized school shootings would have done anything any differently based on whether or not there were armed people present. Their thinking has passed that point long before they decided to act. Remember, there WAS an armed guard at Columbine. (Albeit one who left without firing a shot.)

The question is, how much damage can they do before they are stopped? VA tech showed that they can pretty much go until they run out of ammo. If armed people are present, it limits the perpetrator's potential to cause harm. Will it prevent the incidents entirely? Probably not. Will it limit their carnage? Possibly, depending on the circumstances.

Read "The Teeth of the Tiger" by Tom Clancy. He depicted coordinated shooting rampages in malls by terrorists all accross the country. The heroes of the story, who were 'agents in training' at a mall in VA, limited the damage the bad guys were able to do. Word spread quickly, and alerts put other areas on notice, and police were able to limit damage. In Utah, at the Provo Towne Centre (1 hour south of Trolley Square,) armed citizens put the shooters down very quickly. I know it's fiction, but Clancy also wrote fiction about terrorists hijacking a jumbo-jet and crashing it into the Capitol building in 1995.

 

[bogie]

I think that the obsession which teachers and administrators have with "security" is one of the things which gives people ideas... Not a good thing. ****, and let the folks who work there carry, and it becomes a non-issue.

 

[DavidLee]

"Gun free zone" signs are respected about as much as "Speed limit 55" signs.
Signs don't stop law breaking.

'Just felt like spittin' that out here for some reason.

 

[MikePGS]

I like Larry Elder a good deal, thank you for posting that.

I don't necessarily think that they encourage school shootings, but they almost guarantee that the shooter will be successful.

 

[AlaskaErik]

I wouldn't say that they encourage school shootings, but it certainly makes it safer for the deranged one to achieve his goal.

 

[DavidLee]

It can never be said enough, restrictions imposed to prevent crime only restrict people who were never committing the crimes. May as well wear a target sign on your chest when you walk into a school, for example. Of course the way things work today you'd be deemed a mentally unstable enemy combatant, and have your entire collection of guns and everything else confiscated lol

 

[MDW GUNS]

How many years now do we know, that making schools "gun free" does not keep crime and murder out?
How many years do we know now, that a NO CCW state have most rape, robberies and other crime.
Why is it so hard to follow the 2nd?
If we woud defend the 2nd as we abuse the 1st, there would be no crime in the US!

 

[Snapping Twig]

Quote:
To dispute this is to ignore the facts.

To state this is to ignore other variables. Snapping Twig, correlation still does not equal causation. Also, Military installations have some of the tightest instances of "gun-free zones" one can find.

If gun-free zones encourages this so much, why don't we see more shootings at other gun-free zones, such as national parks, convents, pre-schools, churches, and state fairs? Certainly those grounds are just as fertile as schools and offices if you are just looking to make people pay.

Perhaps there is something more to it...
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You're overthinking the issue and ignoring the obvious.

Sometimes the answer lies at your feet and academic arguments aside, common sense rules the day.

BTW, in order to get to the gun free zones of a military installation, you have to pass through the non gun free zone(s).