There must be ways of minimizing threats posed by firearms other than strapping every kid with a gun.

I’m almost certain there are. In fact, there’s no need for universal firearms carrying. But, after all, that wasn’t my point.

Lets admit that sometimes horrible things happen that we can’t prevent and not rush to a cure that is destined to generate a lot more fatality over time.

I’m fully willing to admit that. That’s a different thing than wondering whether anything could be done differently. But I’m certainly willing to talk about it.

If you think two people are less likely to shoot each other when they both have guns, try visiting the ER of any major city next weekend and tell me how the experiment is working so far.

Yes, inner city crime is JUST LIKE campus crime!

Please, when you’re ready to talk about this with me, and not some strawman NRA loon, let me know. And when you’re ready to offer concrete reasons to prohibit guns on campus - not just vague fears, breathless predictions, and hyperbole - I’ll be more than happy to continue this conversation.

You spend much time with high school students lately? There must be ways of minimizing threats posed by firearms other than strapping every kid with a gun.

What kind of social network is being built when the individuals of a society walk around armed on a regular basis, always wary of threats around the corner? You wanna generate more paranoid nuts who eventually crack and go on school shooting sprees? Start by encouraging their sense of alienation and environmental hostility when you throw a holster on everyone they see around them. For every individual you protect this way you will be killing a dozen more.

Lets take a step back from the knee-jerk ideological response and try to think what would actually happen in the circumstances we propose. Lets admit that sometimes horrible things happen that we can’t prevent and not rush to a cure that is destined to generate a lot more fatality over time.

Sure, we feel a bit helpless when we imagine that some wacko has a gun and we don’t. That is a natural concern, but lets temper our concern with reason. In the context of a society consisting of millions of individuals you are statistically FAR safer when you encourage people to refrain from carrying weapons routinely. School shootings are horrible, but statistically they are an anomaly.

If you think two people are less likely to shoot each other when they both have guns, try visiting the ER of any major city next weekend and tell me how the experiment is working so far. People who carry guns use them, even the most level headed ones are more likely to make fatal mistakes than heroically save the day.

Making gun possession illegal isn’t going to stop people from shooting each other. Neither is encouraging everyone to run straight to the source of the problem for a convenient solution. If you want to encourage people to do something to avoid school shootings, how about encouraging people to participate in more community activities and seek therapy when they feel full of angst? Lets tone down the testosterone and turn on our social awareness.

Yeah I agree. And that’s not really the point was trying to make either.

What I’m getting at I guess is that merely allowing guns to be carried is not some panacea that would have prevented this tragedy. I think that a gun in an untrained and irresponsible hand could easily have made this worse, not better. I think its allowing those who wish to act responsibly to do so, to allow students and staff to rely on themselves, not just the official sanctioned security forces.

But it could have easily made things worse not better. That’s not to say people shouldn’t be allowed to carry, so long as they aren’t harming others. Of course they should. But I don’t know if that would have made any real difference in VA..it may have made things worse.

I would hope that only those well trained in the use of guns would want to carry them, making the kind of distributed protection work well.

I don’t know how to approach my concern about untrained, immature and stressed out students carrying guns.

Gun safety training is not a terribly difficult thing to acquire, and it is basically a lot of common sense. Now, I used to feel the same way you do, but having shot guns more often lately I really feel like they’re not hard to control. And I think a high school student who can be trusted with a car can certainly be trusted with a gun, let alone a college student.

Besides, the question isn’t whether people should be allowed to carry guns - it’s whether there is an authority that can legitimately prohibit it.