{"id":3140,"date":"2015-11-03T07:07:10","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T13:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=3140"},"modified":"2015-11-03T07:16:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T13:16:00","slug":"on-concealed-carry-and-gun-free-zones-whats-the-greater-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/11\/on-concealed-carry-and-gun-free-zones-whats-the-greater-risk.html","title":{"rendered":"On concealed carry and gun-free zones: what’s the greater risk?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We know that criminals, by their nature, violate the law. \u00a0An individual with an intent to shoot someone else isn\u2019t going to be deterred by those no-gun stickers at public buildings, stores, restaurants, etc. \u00a0But my friend N. who posted a set of links on her facebook page, and called for her friends and colleagues to sign a petition against allowing concealed carry on public university campuses in her state, isn\u2019t foolish enough to think otherwise.<\/p>\n

Rather, this is her concern, if I read her right:<\/p>\n

there are two alternate risks, even given that criminals with the intent to shoot will disregard \u201cgun-free zone\u201d laws:<\/p>\n

in the case that a \u201cgun-free zone\u201d is implemented, you risk mass shootings being worse than otherwise because no armed civilians are able to step in before police arrive.<\/p>\n

in the case that concealed-carry guns are permitted, you risk those permit-holders, ordinarily law-abiding as they may be, becoming perpetrators: \u00a0either they misinterpret a situation that was not a threat at all, or escalate a threat that would otherwise have been resolved, or are hot-tempered and pull out their gun (which, again, we\u2019re assuming they would have otherwise left at home due to their law-abidingness) during a quarrel. She believes that this is the far greater risk; hence, gun-free zones will mitigate this risk.<\/p>\n

My friend then links to recent articles that she believes\u00a0prove her point, that people who never would have had a gun with them, had it been against the law, are nonetheless capable of terrible violence in the heat of the moment: \u00a0a shooting at Texas Southern University<\/a>, for instance, and another at Winston-Salem University<\/a>, in both cases not \u201cmass shootings\u201d with random victims but seemingly targeted victims. \u00a0Would those shooters have been deterred by gun-free zones?<\/p>\n

The trouble is this is all a mess of hypotheticals, and unknowns, and unknowables. \u00a0How many shootings didn\u2019t happen, or wouldn\u2019t happen, because a would-be shooter kept his gun at home due to gun-free zone laws? \u00a0How many shootings didn\u2019t happen, or wouldn\u2019t happen, because, at another time and place, a shooter was stopped by an armed civilian, or was deterred because he thought there might be armed civilians nearby?<\/p>\n

Now, some of this could be assessed by some careful research studies: \u00a0do areas designated \u201cgun-free\u201d become safer subsequent to that designation, relative to overall movements in crime statistics, and controlling for other variables. \u00a0And maybe these studies have been done; I\u2019ve not researched but I would expect that they\u2019d be a part of the conversation if they were around.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0which you judge to be the bigger risk and the better solution probably says as much about your own beliefs and expectations as the objective reality. \u00a0 Thoughts?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We know that criminals, by their nature, violate the law. \u00a0An individual with an intent to shoot someone else isn\u2019t going to be deterred by those no-gun stickers at public buildings, stores, restaurants, etc. \u00a0But my friend N. who posted a set of links on her facebook page, and called for her friends and colleagues […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn concealed carry and gun-free zones: what's the greater risk?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We know that criminals, by their nature, violate the law. \u00a0An individual with an intent to shoot someone else isn't going to be deterred by those no-gun\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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