Shortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in December 2012, I took to these pages to chide the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre gently for his proposal to install an armed policeman in every school.  Instead I suggested it would be more effective to permit armed teachers and school personnel, carefully screened and trained, to fulfill this role.   The article outlined three principles to optimize the deterrent value of a societal gun presence: pervasiveness, anonymity and publicity.

The article also pointed out (hat-tip John Lott) that all citizens, not just those who are armed, benefit from the crime deterrence created by law-abiding gun owners.  This got me thinking about my own status.  Continue reading After Zimmerman →