Violence without Guns

In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre and the call for more gun control and firearm-free zones, at least one economist is offering an independent analysis that is worth considering. “Economists understand that when government restricts one market, consumers merely move to another market, and when government tries to foreclose one means, individuals will simply shift into other means to achieve the same ends,” Scott Kjar writes in the Free Market newsletter. “However horrendous we might find the mass shootings at Columbine, Virginia Tech and other places, the fact is that when disaffected people start planning mayhem, the lack of a gun will not stop them.”

“The 1927 Bath Township School bombing in which 45 people were killed by a school board member, shows that guns are neither necessary nor sufficient for the commission of mass murder at schools.” The Free Market is published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.

At Virginia Tech, “Many people argue that if the shooter did not have guns and bullets, he would not have been able to shoot all of those people,” Dr. Kjar writes. “This is surely correct.”

“However, from that, they infer that if he did not have guns and bullets, he would not have been able to kill all of those people,” Dr. Kjar notes. “This is a whole different question,” Dr. Kjar points out.

Dr. Kjar teaches economics at Baldwin-Wallace College. “After the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, many well-intentioned people all over the country have been calling for increased gun control laws,” Dr. Kjar observes. “However, economists tend to oppose gun control laws, since such laws generally pay no attention to basic economic issues.”

“Consider instead, though, the news we see every day from Iraq and Afghanistan,” Dr. Kjar suggests. “On the day this was written, a moving car bomb killed 19 and wounded 35 in a restaurant.”

“Meanwhile, a parked car bomb killed several more,” Dr. Kjar relates. “This is the sort of visible and spectacular mass destruction that Cho desired and it is not terribly difficult to produce a car bomb.”

“In fact, we see car bombings in the news almost every day, but mass shootings are so rare that we remember them all.” It should be noted that bombs, whether attached to a moving or stationary object, have been illegal for a longer time period and more universally than guns have.

Has this ban prevented their use?

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.