And what do killers use?

(updated below)

Putz has an op-ed today at the New York Daily News today titled, "People don't stop killers. People with guns do." There's not much point in fisking it -- it's a pretty one-note affair: if everyone had guns, we'd be more safe.

"Gun-free zones" are premised on a fantasy: That murderers will follow rules, and that people like my student, or Bradford Wiles, are a greater danger to those around them than crazed killers like Cho Seung-hui. That's an insult. Sometimes, it's a deadly one.

But it's equally fantastic and insulting to posit that everyone having guns, ipso facto, makes everyone safer. There'd be many more deaths from accidents, for instance, statistically negating the potential benefits in extremely rare cases like this. While its probably true that criminals might be deterred from committing some crimes if they assumed that everyone was armed, it's unlikely that someone willing to trade their life to take a bunch of other ones can be stopped from doing so.

I guess I should go on record as saying that I don't like assault weapons and cop killer bullets and the like anywhere, but I do think that guns should be left to the states. Wyoming and Los Angeles are different places with different problems and they should have different gun laws.

UPDATE

I agree with this from Meteor Blades at Kos, who knows a lot more about guns than I do:

Specifically, I firmly believe that self-defense is an inherent right (included as number one in the Declaration of Independence - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness). I own guns - both antique and modern - and I believe that getting a permit to carry one concealed should not be difficult. I do not believe that such permits lead to higher rates of gun crime. Indeed, during the past 15 years, 23 states have passed concealed-carry laws, joining the 16 that already had them. In the same period, gun murders have plummeted by 31% in the United States.

On the other hand, America is far ahead of other developed countries in the rate and number of murders committed, and that 70% of these murders are committed with guns, mostly handguns. Therefore, I support licensing each gun owner after an extensive background check that explores possible criminality and mental instability. I support relicensing periodically. I think guns should be registered and that we should require extensive training for safety and proficiency in their use before a person is allowed to purchase one. I support vigorous prosecution of anyone who commits a gun crime and a prohibition of any future gun ownership.

Such laws might - might - have stopped Cho Seung Hui from acquiring the two weapons he used to commit his murders at Virginia Tech. Or he may have acquired them illegally, as so many criminals do. But while there are legitimate concerns that these laws may constitute a slippery slope toward outright confiscation - an action that some Kossacks support - I still think it would be wise to pass them.