In my post about the shootings this morning at my University, I asked “What am I supposed to do, buy a gun myself or something?” Well, Clayton Cramer thinks I should do just that:

Unfortunately, mass murderers don’t pay attention to those signs [The U of A is supposed to be a “Weapon Free Zone"—KH] Only their victims do.

I’m not saying that for sure repealing this policy would have prevented this crime. But it’s certainly the case that the situation could not have been any worse. If a student or a professor with a concealed weapon permit had shot this guy in the first five seconds of this spree, at least one or two of the dead would still be alive.

(Thanks to the Volokhs for the link.) The logic here is weird. It’s true that “If a student or a professor with a concealed weapon permit had shot this guy in the first five seconds of this spree, at least one or two of the dead would still be alive.” But how, exactly, do we get from there to “it’s certainly the case that the situation could not have been any worse”? The John Wayne fantasy of drawing your gun and heroically killing the bad guy is one possibility—- but there are many other worse ones that are equally, if not more, likely. Especially at Cramer University, where many students and faculty cheerfully carry concealed weapons. What if you don’t hit the guy first time, for instance? Maybe you get a confused firefight up and down the corridors. Perhaps there are now more than two people involved (a bunch of us have concealed weapons, remember?), and who knows what the hell’s going on or who, exactly, the bad guy is. The fog of war meets the ivory tower: great.

When I started teaching here at the U of A, I remember noticing the “Gun Free Building” sticker on the main entrance to my building. I was telling my parents about it, and remarked that while it was supposed to make me feel safe, it implied some facts about the wider world that really just made me nervous. Of course your common or garden maniac isn’t going to pay attention to signs like this. But do we really think the solution is to have everyone who wants to carry a concealed weapon in class? Christ almighty.

Many of my students are great, but the fact is that a good number of them can’t deal responsibly with a half-slab of Miller Lite, let alone a 9mm Glock. As a coincidental illustration, the other news on the campus this morning was that a small riot broke out at the Basketball Stadium ticket kiosk. This season’s tickets went on sale, a bunch of people queued all night waiting for the kiosk to open, and had quite a lot to drink, too. Result: a crush and then a brawl began as the kiosk was opening, and the Riot Squad had to be called. Concealed weapons, anyone?

It’s not just the students I worry about, either. I mean, think of the faculty. Terrifically smart people and all, but some of them have a hard time remembering where they left their jacket 10 minutes ago. You know, the brown tweed one with the .38 snub in the inside pocket. I could have sworn…