Since I’m not a gun nut nor a completely anti-gun person, I flip-flop on this issue all of the time. However, GUAV has a really good argument on Gun Free Zones vs. Armed Citizens in light of the three most recent incidents (VA Tech, Omaha and Colorado.)

He quotes Sebastian over at Snowflakes in Hell:

We’ve had firearms as a technology for centuries now, and self-loading rifles for one of those centuries. These horrific murder-suicides are a recent phenomena.

What changed?

Our media culture changed. News is no longer about disseminating information and keeping the public informed. News is entertainment, and what better way to keep people glued to their TV than "Mass Murder in Nebraska!" and talking about the deranged perpetrator for the next several days, 24 hours a day.

Somewhere out there, there is another person who’s life is crap, who feels powerless, who is watching this and entering his own murder-suicide fantasy.

In that sense, he is right. Being in the news business, and it is becoming more of a business every day, we are only adding fuel to the fire by sensationalizing these stories.

When ever one of them happens, no one asks the right questions. People only concern themselves with blaming someone and wagging the finger. How about asking how and why these young men (and they always seem to be young men) were driven to do these acts. Ask what society and the media has done to promote these acts of violence.

I wrote a story about Students for Concealed Carry on Campus back in October and I am beginning to think that the group makes a good point. The argument against such an idea is pretty much busted by GUAV when he says:

All that is being said is that adults 21 and older who already have concealed carry permits and are already carrying firearms around in public every day—and have already had all the background checks, paid their fees, been fingerprinted, have no criminal record or DUIs and whatever other restrictions the particular state has—should be able to take their firearm with them on campus when they go to class. Leaving their firearm in their car when they enter the mall—as some Omaha citizens undoubtedly did—didn't make anyone any safer from the shooter.

The roadblocks are there to prevent completely crazy people or irresponsible people from carrying guns on the street, and besides, the real crazy people and criminals do anyway. I understand that people want to have the right to protect themselves.

So until police and the government crack down on the amount of guns on the streets illegally, people can and should be allowed to protect themselves legally. This is one of the few more right-wing issues I am beginning to agree with.