America has become haunted by the specter of deadly school shootings. As we all work to prevent further tragedy, some are advocating allowing students to carry concealed firearms as a means of defense. But would such measures really make college campuses safer?
In January 2002, a student opened fire on the campus of the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia, killing two administrators and a student aide. His mayhem was brought to an immediate halt when he was confronted by two students who had retrieved handguns from their vehicles.
We have seen this type of thing before in so-called “gun free zones,” where an armed citizen confronts a gunman and brings an end to a violent attack. It happened at Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi in 1997, when gunman Luke Woodham was confronted by assistant principal Joel Myrick, who had gotten a gun from his car and held it aimed at Woodham until police arrived.
Likewise, the New Life Center shooting in Colorado Springs in December 2007 ended abruptly when the gunman was shot and mortally wounded by a private citizen, Jeanne Assam, who was a volunteer security staffer.
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