Columnist: Gun-control targets law-abiding citizens

Columnist Paul Carpenter raises some common-sense concerns about the rush for new gun-control measures in the wake of the Colorado movie theater shootings.

From Carpenter's column:

Nnearly all of the worst gun tragedies of America in recent years had one thing in common. They occurred in places where law-abiding individuals were prohibited from having weapons. The Aurora theater was part of a chain that did not allow armed customers, even if they were licensed to carry concealed weapons.

The gunmen who went on those rampages were not totally crazy. They were rational enough to select places where they knew nobody would shoot back. If they really were crazy, we'd be hearing about their rampages inside police stations.

As for guns falling into the hands of bad people, a horrible example of that was the recent Fast and Furious scandal. In that case, it was federal law enforcement authorities who sold firearms — 2,500 of them — to criminals from Mexico, then lost track of nearly every weapon. Some of those weapons, the government admitted, were then used to murder hundreds of people. 

Paul Carpenter: Aurora, the Amish school and other rampages had one thing in common