This has happened time and time again. A gunman will open fire on innocent people. And the location is a gun free zone. It happened again in Chattanooga, TN, the other day where four Marines were murdered. A prominent photo shows a storefront office with a no-guns sign posted in the bullet riddled window.
Research has shown that the more law abiding gun carrying citizens there are, the lower the murder rate is.
However, the setting in Chattanooga had a couple of special circumstances. The killer had all the earmarks of an Islamic extremist, and the victims were in a military recruiting office. Nevertheless, the victims were unarmed due to U.S. policy.
Here's what John R. Lott says about that in Chattanooga shootings: Why should we make it easy for killers to attack our military? As follows:
With the exceptions of military police, military personnel are banned from having weapons on base, in federally leased buildings, or while they are carrying out official duties.
For would-be terrorists among us there is an abundance of possible targets. In fact, there are simply too many possible targets. Allowing military personnel to at least defend themselves reduces the number of easy targets that terrorists/killers can attack.
Today some have argued that guns should be banned from military recruiting offices because weapons would make potential recruits uncomfortable. Yet, as a new report released Thursday shows, there are already well over 12.8 million concealed handgun permit holders in the US.
In much of the country, theatergoers or restaurant customers is likely to be legally carrying a permitted concealed handgun. In addition, we are talking about people joining the military. If they are really that uncomfortable around guns, possibly they should consider another line of work.
(Bold added.)
To the extent that human behavior can be predicted on the basis of incentives and disincentives, the science is settled.
Aside: George H.W. Bush is said to have implemented the policy of disarming our military in non-combat situations. Funny how the Bushes get bashed up one side and down the other for anything progressives don't like. But they're held up as the gold standard when they did something with which progressives agree. Those policies are sacrosanct. Can't touch them now.
Progressives set up circumstances that are so easy for our enemies to exploit. What is the motive there? Could this be a situation where they want to punish America for something in our history?
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