Ask the experts

War on Guns has already taken a good look at "the expertise" of some civilian disarmament advocates, but I think the "experts" said enough to leave room for a bit more commentary.

Those who advocate defenselessness as a matter of public safety are horrified by the idea of students and faculty being permitted to carry an effective means of self-defense. About the best argument they can come up with is that the police would be unable to tell the difference between the murderer and those trying to stop him, thus causing "friendly fire" casualties.

If anything, they said, it would have made things worse. Terry Hartnett, a member of the Million Mom March of Northern Virginia, said it would be difficult for police to determine who started the shooting if they entered a room full of gun-toting students.

This ignores the fact that the police, in almost all cases, would not be "entering a room" while the shooting was still going on. At both Virginia Tech and Columbine, for example, the police did not enter the buildings until the killers were already dead (by their own hands). If the pool of intended victims had included one or more people equipped to give the murderers the biggest (and last) surprise of their lives, it would have been over even sooner, with even less chance of the police charging into a gun fight.

One of the Million Marching Mommies helpfully provides us with a "fact":

But more guns equal more violence, according to Martina Leinz, of the Million Mom March. "It�s just a fact," she said.

Which explains all the mayhem at gun shows and in gun shops, and illustrates why shooting deaths are so rare in "gun free" cities like Chicago and Washington D.C.

Former gun rights supporter, and now gun rights nemesis Bob Ricker (or "Judas" Bob, as Mr. Codrea calls him), weighs in with some expertise of his own.

Guns are available everywhere, regardless of a lot of purchasing laws, said Bob Ricker, an advocate for sensible gun laws and the former chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association of America. He said there are more than 200 million guns in America.

Let's see here--"guns are available everywhere," according to Ricker, "regardless of a lot of purchasing laws." Sounds like an admission that prohibition doesn't work--a fact that would seem to have been proven rather obvious many decades ago, but it's a bit surprising to hear it from the mouth of someone in favor of restrictive laws.

The author of the "article" makes it pretty clear that she agrees with "the experts"--but no doubt she's an expert at journalistic objectivity.