This op-ed by Dr. John Lott appeared in mLIVE (Michigan Live) on Tuesday, November 17, 2015. The piece started this way:
Suppose a criminal comes upon your home and sees a sign announcing, “Gun Free Zone.” How would he respond? Unless he thinks that the homeowner is playing a joke on him, the sign would put his mind at ease and make him more likely to break in.
Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy, argued that such signs make us safer, attacking my October testimony before the state Senate Judiciary Committee.
Related: ‘Guns everywhere’ bill goes against the facts, by Daniel Webster.
Mass public killers want to commit suicide, but they also want to gain media attention by taking people with them. They don’t normally just run outside and start shooting. These are cold, calculating killers who spend a half-year or more planning their attacks, and they often express their desire to attack an area where guns are prohibited. . . .
The slaughters in Paris demonstrate the folly of declaring an entire country a gun free zone. The French government has confiscated the inherent natural right of self-defense not only for average citizens, but law enforcement as well. Unfortunately, French elites will probably avoid consideration of personal freedom and protection. Count on them to intensify the ruinous strategies that produced such idyllic environments for satisfying additions to barbarity.
In this country count on gun control acolytes to construct tortured perception of events and press their traditional agendas rather than allow a focus on predators and criminals. In the United States protecting Constitutional guarantees regarding firearms in common usage should be paramount. The inherent natural right of self-defense should always occupy a position superior to opposing laws or rules. Yet there is little chance future discussions will begin along those lines.