At the Wall Street Journal: Another Mass Shooting in a ‘Gun-Free Zone’

As soon as once more a mass shooter has struck and the media is refusing to acknowledge why he selected his goal. Like different killers, he brazenly admitted that he sought out “gun-free zones.” But mainstream retailers refuse to acknowledge it—and thereby a coverage answer that might save youngsters’s lives. 

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The Annunciation Catholic College shooter in Minneapolis spelled it out in his manifesto: “I just lately heard a rumor that James Holmes, the Aurora theater shooter, might have chosen venues that have been ‘gun-free zones.’ I might in all probability goal the identical method. . . . Holmes wished to ensure his victims could be unarmed. That’s why I and plenty of others like colleges a lot. No less than for me, I’m targeted on them. Adam Lanza is my purpose.” (Lanza dedicated a mass taking pictures at Sandy Hook Elementary College in Newtown, Conn.)

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Many of those attackers could also be loopy, however none are silly. They plan to die, however they wish to die with consideration. They know the extra victims they kill, the extra protection they’ll get. That’s why they aim locations the place nobody can struggle again.

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But looking media protection, we turned up no articles mentioning that the Minneapolis killer picked a college as a result of it was a “gun-free zone.” The media clearly learn the passages the shooter wrote. CNN highlights his “obsession with college shootings.” The Washington Publish describes the manifesto’s “reverence for different mass shooters.” However as a substitute of reporting the killer’s personal phrases concerning the vulnerability of gun free zones, the media infers that he focused the college as a result of his mom was a former worker on the parish.

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Everybody desires to cease mass shootings, however we’d like options that work. Having somebody on web site who can rapidly intervene and cease an assault is essential. Gun management advocates push background checks on non-public transfers of weapons and Purple Flag legal guidelines, but Minnesota has each. The Annunciation Catholic College shooter nonetheless obtained three firearms legally. These limits didn’t hold the kids of Minneapolis secure.

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And neither did Minnesota’s regulation banning weapons in colleges. The connected penalty of 5 years in jail is a robust deterrent for a law-abiding American, however to not a shooter who’s going to face a number of life sentences anyway. And that assumes the killer lives. Some 60% of those attackers—together with the Minneapolis shooter—die on the scene. Many appear intent on ending their lives within the assault. They don’t care about extra theoretical jail time.

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Removed from making folks safer, in follow these bans assure solely that the attacker will probably be armed. That’s why such locations are targets. It’s no accident that 92% of mass public shootings happen in gun free zones wherein civilians aren’t allowed to hold firearms. The Nashville Covenant College shooter admitted she averted one other web site as a result of it had an excessive amount of safety. “There was one other location that was talked about, however due to a risk evaluation by the suspect of an excessive amount of safety, they determined to not,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake defined. Nobody at Covenant carried a gun to struggle again.

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The Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store attacker in 2022 made the identical calculation, writing in his manifesto: “Areas the place CCW permits are outlawed or prohibited could also be good areas of assault.” Many different killers have written practically similar phrases.

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So why not station extra law enforcement officials at colleges? Sheriff Kurt Hoffman of Sarasota County, Fla., defined why that strategy falls brief: “A deputy in uniform has an especially tough job in stopping these assaults. These terrorists have big strategic benefits in figuring out the time and place of assaults. They will look forward to a deputy to depart the world, or decide an undefended location. Even when police or deputies are in the correct place on the proper time, these in uniform who may be readily recognized as guards might as properly be holding up neon indicators saying, ‘Shoot me first.’ My deputies know that we can’t be in every single place.”

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Arming lecturers with hid firearms removes these tactical benefits. Attackers can’t inform which lecturers or workers are armed. Greater than 21 million folks maintain hid handgun permits, and within the 29 constitutional-carry states, no allow is even required. Throughout America while you stand in a grocery retailer, there’s a superb likelihood somebody close by carries a hid handgun—with out you ever realizing it. The identical needs to be true of faculties. Over 20 states and greater than 10,000 public colleges already enable armed lecturers below varied guidelines. The consequence: Outdoors of suicides or gang violence at night time, not a single loss of life or damage has occurred in a college that allows lecturers to hold.

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Certainly one of us, Rep. Massie, continues to reintroduce the Secure College students Act to repeal the 1990 federal Gun-Free College Zones Act. We shouldn’t make the nationwide default one which advertises youngsters as defenseless targets.

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If the media ever reported why these killers persistently select disarmed victims, the push for extra gun management would collapse and extra lives could be saved. It’s time to take these killers at their phrase.

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Mr. Lott is president of Crime Prevention Analysis Middle. Mr. Massie, a Republican, represents Kentucky’s Fourth Congressional District and is a co-chairman of the Second Modification Caucus.

John R. Lott, Jr. and Thomas Massie, “One other Mass Taking pictures in a ‘Gun-Free Zone’,” Wall Road Journal, August 28, 2025.