Thursday, November 12, 2009
“Gun-free zones” do more to harm than protect people, according to Reason magazine’s Jacob Sullum. The shooting at Fort Hood, where soldiers are prevented by law from having access to weapons except when training, demonstrated the “folly” of preventing Americans from being able to defend themselves from crazed, and armed, threats.
“If someone else at the processing center had a gun when Hasan started shooting, it seems likely that fewer people would have been killed or injured,” writes Sullum.
He also mentions an earlier mass shooting in Killeen, Texas, near Fort Hood. In 1991 George Jo Hennard opened fire inside Luby’s cafeteria, killing 23 people. “One customer, Suzanna Hupp,” says Sullum, “saw Hennard gun down her parents. Hupp later testified that she had brought a handgun with her that day but, to her bitter regret, left it in her car, as required by state law. The massacre led the Texas legislature to approve a ‘shall issue’ law that allows any resident who meets certain objective criteria to obtain a concealed carry permit.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
The Folly of Unilateral Disarmament (by Jacob Sullum, Reason Magazine)
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