Tragedy and Guns

As both a teacher and a parent, tragic events such as the recent Connecticut shooting rattle me greatly. At our school there was increased security for about a week following the shooting. The national and pundit debates have followed similar courses this time as other mass murders involving guns. One broad view is that gun control must be strengthened because precious innocent lives trump the second amendment. Another is that, while what happened was a tragedy, it can't be used as a reason to destroy the constitution. My thoughts followed a different course. I believe that preventing tragic innocent deaths and upholding the constitution are not mutually exclusive. And when practicality and constitutionality go hand in hand, that's a good recipe.

Here is a thought experiment. Imagine that on that day at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, every single mentally capable and emotionally stable adult had been carrying a handgun. Further imagine that they have all been trained to use the handgun! Now, imagine what the result would be under these different circumstances. The murderer, through surprise, might still have killed one or two individuals. But he certainly would not have slain 26, no matter what kind deadly assault weapon the killer had. He would have been stopped by any of those adults, whether a teacher, counselor, school nurse, or even janitor or lunch lady!

Self Defense
The only real and practical way to prevent gun crime in the moment is by having a gun yourself. Is it really practical to have every adult in a school bear a firearm? Probably not. But, I know that where I teach, at a high school, there are several teachers with concealed handgun licenses. By law, they cannot even take their guns to the parking lot, however. What if adults with CHLs had their weapons with them? How is this not a practical solution? There would almost certainly be several responsible, emotionally and mentally stable individuals at every campus in America who would be willing to step up and provide this security secretly from the students. This would incur no cost from the government, it would not be unconstitutional, and it would provide a practical solution. When I took my own CHL class for my Texas permit I found a veritable diversity of individuals - old ladies, young fashionable women, businessmen. In fact, I only saw one or two that I would have thought to myself, "that looks like a Texan good 'ol boy who hunts and loves to shoot his gun on his ranch." Average people are willing to learn how to use a handgun to protect themselves.

The Gun Control Fantasy
Estimates for how many firearms are owned by citizens range from 200 to 350 million. That number is high enough that it must be wishful thinking to believe that there could be a gun control law which effectively prevents criminals from acquiring a gun. By definition a criminal is not going to follow the law, so even if controls are tight enough to prevent them from illegally purchasing a gun, they could steal one or acquire it from the gray or black market. In the end, a person with murderous intent will eventually get a gun.

Here is my challenge: propose a thought experiment in which a particular set of gun control laws or practices could have effectively prevented the Newtown massacre.