Drew Cotton pulled his right cheek down and pointed to a lump under his eye. "There it is," he said. "The bullet is still in there."

Almost two years ago, he was watching a boxing match on TV with some "friends" when he found out they weren't his friends at all. "They were plotting to kill me and rob me," he found out.

"I invited them over to watch the fight, and while I was watching the fight one of them kept watching me. When I stood up to get closer to the TV, he walked up behind me and shot me at point-blank range with a .22 in the back of the head."

Cotton said the only thing he felt was blood trickling down his neck, but he knew he needed to call 911. As he went for the phone, the two men ran. "It was divine intervention or an act of God that the gun had only one bullet in it, so he shot me only one time, or I would be dead."

He doesn't remember much after that. An ambulance came to his West Side apartment and took him to an emergency room. For three days he was unconscious. The bullet went through his neck, grazed his spine, severed a nerve in his tongue and finally stopped an inch below his right eye.

He sticks his tongue out and it swerves left - evidence of the damaged nerve. And the bullet stays in his cheek. Removing it could cost him his eye.

"It's a constant reminder of the lifestyle he was living," says Bob Clarke of the Lord's Gym, who is Cotton's part-time boss and full-time friend.

Cotton, a former Crips gangbanger from L.A., describes it this way: "To put it bluntly, I was mainly a thug, selling drugs and committing robberies."

He sold crack and robbed jewelry stores and other small businesses. "We called ourselves the Crips because when we get done with you, you would be crippled. We break bones."

Cotton, now 39, spent 15 years or more "hurting people," he says. He served prison time in California, and he has two strikes there. One more, and he would do life. So he moved to Cincinnati nearly three years ago.

Cotton is a big man, and his presence fills more space than his physical frame. He lifts regularly at the Lord's Gym and it shows. He works there part time and has a second job, doing outreach for the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, as part of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence.

He calls himself a "street advocate - helping youths who are at risk of gun violence."

The former Crip has "street cred." He has no problem approaching young men who loiter on the corners, living the thug life. He speaks their language - but he tells them he wouldn't trade what he has now for all the gangsta glory in a rap video.

"The objective is to build relationships with guys in high-crime areas and tell them there is an alternative to being killed or locked up for life," he says. "Anyone who doesn't have underlying mental problems doesn't want to live that lifestyle."

"I feel that God has put me in this place for a reason."

Cotton knows how lucky he is - how close he came to being killed or disabled. While he lay in a hospital bed, "I wept like a baby for two days, repenting and thanking the Lord for saving my life," he said.

And God spoke to his spirit, he said. "He said very clearly, 'Surrender your life back to me and I'll show you who your true friends are. I will make your body better than it was before."

All that happened. Cotton found friends and recovery at the Lord's Gym in Over-the-Rhine. He's gone from gangbanger to working man, from homeless to his own apartment, from thug to anti-crime counselor, from Crip to Christ.

"I could have had hate for the guy who shot me, but God imparted his love to me. That's not of my doing."

— At issue: A state bill to allow trained adults the choice to carry a concealed firearm at school.

— Our view: Such adults have excellent safety records, while “gun-free zones” offer only the illusion of safety.

What did the past year’s Virginia Tech killings, the massacre in an Amish schoolhouse and the school murder in Bailey, Colo., all have in common?

Each was committed by an armed adult, and each might have been halted or discouraged if a teacher had access to a firearm, or at least the choice.

But most American schools are easy targets for psychopaths. Giving Michigan school staffs a chance to defend their students and themselves — a choice they’d be free to ignore — is the purpose of a House bill introduced last week. We understand Michigan residents’ feelings about the issue of guns in schools, but facts indicate the proposal by State Rep. David Agema, R-Grandville, is not only safe but overdue.

Utah passed a similar law in 1996 (upheld in 2003), and has seen zero accidents — and zero shootings. The few teachers who are armed keep their guns concealed, and don’t advertise the fact. “If it came to protecting myself and protecting my kids, it would stop in my classroom,” Natalie Aposhian, a Brighton, Utah, math teacher who is armed, said of any attack. “It wouldn’t be going from class to class to class and randomly shooting children.”

The view is not one typically expressed in stories. One headline (“Reading, writing, arithmetic … and revolvers?”) falsely implied that guns would become a classroom fixture. ABC News’ headline, “Mich. Lawmaker Wants to Arm Educators,” gave the incorrect impression that teachers would have no say. Grand Rapids Superintendent Bernard Taylor ignored school massacres committed by adults when he said: “It hurts to hear we’ve come to this, that we’re so afraid of children that we think we need to be armed to work with them.”

But feelings don’t match facts. House Bill 5162 would not “arm educators.” It would give school staff who pass permit training and background checks the option to carry a concealed weapon, and only if their superintendent approved. Most teachers would not choose that option and, in many districts, superintendents such as Taylor would never allow any staff member to possess a firearm.

Yet in a 1997 shooting in Pearl, Miss., assistant principal Joel Myrick used his .45-caliber pistol to stop a 16-year-old who had shot nine students, two fatally. Sadly, some were shot while Myrick had to run to his car parked 1,000 feet from the school to retrieve his gun before he could run back and use it. In 2002 at the Appalachian School of Law, an adult killed a professor and a student and wounded three classmates before two college students retrieved their firearms and stopped the killer.

These cases disprove the argument that, in a school, civilians are incapable of making good decisions. Far from it, we’re not aware of any cases anywhere in the U.S. in which a concealed carry permit holder’s gun was misfired inside a school.

Another faulty objection is that a student might take away a teacher’s gun and begin a rampage. This ignores the fact that, right now, rampaging students could more easily obtain and sneak guns into schools on their own. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold didn’t need a teacher’s gun at Columbine, Colo. Nor did Cho Seung-hui at Virginia Tech, Michael Carneal at West Paducah, Ky.; Jeff Weise at Red Lake, Minn.; Kip Kinkel at Springfield, Ore.; Robert Steinhaeuser in Erfurt, Germany; Evan Ramsey in Bethel, Alaska; Kenneth Bartley Jr. in Jacksboro, Tenn.; or any of the literally dozens of other school shootings.

Gun-free zones create an illusion of safety. They actually guarantee that nobody can fight back. That is why attacks occur at schools, not at gun shows. Michigan should allow trained, law-abiding adults a chance to protect themselves and our children. Rep. Agema offers teachers who want that a chance. Critics should give his bill the same consideration.

Wednesday’s shooting at yet another school has a better outcome than most in recent memory. No one died at Cleveland’s Success Tech Academy except the perpetrator. The two students and two teachers he shot are in stable condition at Cleveland hospitals.

What is depressingly similar to the mass murders at Virginia Tech and Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania and too many others was the killer’s choice of venue — that steadfastly gun-free zone, the school campus. Although murderer Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech and Asa Coon, the Cleveland shooter were both students reported to have school-related grudges, other school killers have proved to be simply taking advantage of the lack of effective security at schools. The Bailey, Colorado multiple rapes and murder of September 2006, the Nickel Mines massacre of October 2006, and Buford Furrow’s murderous August 1999 invasion of a Los Angeles Jewish day-care center were all committed by adults. They had no connection to the schools other than being drawn to the soft target a school offers such psychopaths.

This latest shooting comes only a few weeks after the American Medical Association released a theme issue of its journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. This issue is dedicated to analyzing the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, in which 32 people were murdered. The authors are university officials, trauma surgeons, and legal analysts who pore over the details of the incident, looking for “warning signs” and “risk factors” for violence. They rehash all the tired rhetoric of bureaucrats and public-health wonks, including the public-health mantra of the 1990s that guns are the root cause of violence.

Sheldon Greenberg, a dean at Johns Hopkins, offers this gem: “Reinforce a ‘no weapons’ policy and, when violated, enforce it quickly, to include expulsion. Parents should be made aware of the policy. Officials should dispel the politically driven notion that armed students could eliminate an active shooter” (emphasis added). Greenberg apparently isn’t aware that at the Appalachian School of Law in 2002 another homicidal Virginia student was stopped from shooting more of his classmates when another student held him at gunpoint. The Pearl High School murderer Luke Woodham was stopped cold when vice principal Joel Myrick got his Colt .45 handgun out of his truck and pointed it at the young killer.

Virginia Tech’s 2005 no-guns-on-campus policy was an abject failure at deterring Cho Seung-Hui. Greenberg’s audacity in ignoring the obvious is typical of arrogant school officials. What the AMA journal authors studiously avoid are on one hand the repeated failures of such feel-good steps as no-gun policies, and on the other hand the demonstrated success of armed first responders. These responders would be the students themselves, such as the trained and licensed law student, or their similarly qualified teachers.



In Cleveland this week and at Virginia Tech the shooters took time to walk the halls, searching out victims in several rooms, and then shooting them. Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Marcella Fierro describes the locations of the dead in Virginia Tech’s Norris Hall. Dead victims were found in groups ranging from 1 to 13, scattered throughout 4 rooms and a stairwell. If any one of the victims had, like the Appalachian School of Law student, used armed force to stop Cho, lives could have been saved.

The people of Virginia actually had a chance to implement such a plan last year. House Bill 1572 was introduced in the legislature to extend the state’s concealed-carry provisions to college campuses. But the bill died in committee, opposed by the usual naysayers, including the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police and the university itself. Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was quoted in the Roanoke Times as saying, “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty, and visitors feel safe on our campus.”

It is encouraging that college students themselves have a much better grasp on reality than their politically correct elders. During the week of October 22-26 Students For Concealed Carry On Campus will stage a nationwide “empty holster” demonstration (peaceful, of course) in support of their cause.

School officials typically base violence-prevention policies on irrational fears more than real-world analysis of what works. But which is more horrible, the massacre that timid bureaucrats fear might happen when a few good guys (and gals) carry guns on campus, or the one that actually did happen despite Virginia Tech’s progressive violence-prevention policy? Can there really be any more debate?

AMA journal editor James J. James, M.D. offers up this nostrum:

We must meaningfully embrace all of the varied disciplines contributing to preparedness and response and be more willing to be guided and informed by the full spectrum of research methodologies, including not only the rigid application of the traditional scientific method and epidemiological and social science applications but also the incorporation of observational/empirical findings, as necessary, in the absence of more objective data.

If you take a walk through the German woods at night, the chances of tripping over any deadfall debris are somewhere between slim and none. Why? Because prudent forest management keeps the German woods free of deadfall debris.

Some of the harvested deadfall is chopped up and used by the economically challenged to keep warm. But most of the deadfall is put through environmentally friendly processes that convert it to wood pellets, particle board, kitchen cabinets and even fine furniture veneers.

Thus, the poor, the environment and the economy all benefit, and we never read about German forest fires like those that have consumed huge chunks of Yellowstone National Park, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and, once again, Southern California. Why? Because forests, where the deadfall is harvested, are far less likely to turn into out-of-control, raging infernos before firefighters can gain the upper hand.

Yet, when lighting started the great Yellowstone Fire of 1988, the mantra from the Environmental Left was: Fire is good. Fire is nature’s way for reinvigorating the forest. Fire is better than allowing commercial interests to come in and profit from cleaning the forest floor.

Only when the flames were about to engulf the historic Old Faithful Lodge were the firefighters allowed in. But, by then, 1.4 million acres were already devastated and countless wild animals either burned to death or eventually starved.

Ironically, some of the celebrities evacuated from the recent Malibu fire are spokespersons for the Environmental Left. Cher, Barbra Streisand, Martin Sheen, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Penn and Ted Danson come to mind. One wonders if they still think “fire is good.” Maybe, fire is only good in Yellowstone National Park.

Millionaire film producer, David Geffen, retains a private, fire-fighter crew to spray his Malibu home with fire-retarding foam. Obviously, that requires money and foresight.

Many of Colorado’s 21.8 million acres of forested land are littered with the “jackstraw” of blown- down Lodgepole Pines (Pinus contorta latifolia). Moreover, Colorado’s on-going pine-beetle epidemic has already turned millions of Lodgepoles into dried-out kindling, even before they fall to the forest floor.

Unless prudent steps are taken, lightning strikes, wind-snapped power lines or even arson will very likely set off an inferno that could not only destroy millions of Colorado’s still-living trees but also incinerate many of the homes built along what fire experts are calling: the Wildland-Urban Interface or WUI.

Gaining access to fight forest fires in Colorado is restricted by environmental restraints on road building within the rugged terrain that boasts 584 mountain peaks over 13,000 feet and 54 peaks over 14,000 feet. Thus, the proximity of good community airports to support the dropping of fire retardants is crucial.

Given enough heat, even prudent firescaping around homes in the WUI woods may not prevent even the most fire-resistant structures from bursting into flames. When the fire gets hot enough to consume the ambient oxygen, some human and animal victims will be found dead without a mark or a burn on their bodies --victims of suffocation.

Power companies, for very sound reasons, often shut off the electricity to fire-stricken areas. But, prior to mandatory evacuation some homeowners -- those fortunate enough to have their own water wells and emergency generators to provide power -- might be able to set roof- and deck-sprinkler systems into operation. Yet how many think ahead and can invest ahead that way?

So, it makes sense to clear out the deadfall mess that litters America’s forests. Even if that means some capitalistic entrepreneurs find ways to profit from forest clean-up, isn’t that better than the millions of tons of unfiltered carbon particles that are spewed into the atmosphere by forest fires? Isn’t that better than the mudslides that are the inevitable consequence of fire-denuded hillsides?

If we don’t learn from prudent forest practices like the Germans, the terrorists can just kick back, turn on al-Jazeera TV and watch the American West go up in flames.

• Engage professionals to design the best possible group response to maximize the survival rate. (And why shouldn't the Department of Homeland Security lead the way, with its own expertise and with funding?)
• Develop videos depicting attacks by one or a few gunmen on a group, along with the appropriate response by the group to maximize survival upon hearing the scream "LIBRESCU!"  (Once again, why shouldn't DHS help out by at least paying for widespread distribution of such videos?)
• Play these videos for your team every few months.
• As we do with fire drills, practice group response whenever large groups of people gather.  And above all, practice the scream "LIBRESCU!"

Dirty Harry once famously lauded the .44 magnum as the most powerful handgun on the planet.

That's no longer the case, shooting instructor Rod Carter told a group of high school students standing at rapt attention on a warm recent morning at the Roanoke Rifle and Revolver Club.

But, Carter said, the gun is still plenty powerful.

With that he turned, pointed the pistol at a plastic milk jug filled with dyed water, pulled the trigger and blew the jug to shreds in a shower of red spray.

"Good God," marveled Becca Wade, a 16-year-old Hidden Valley High School sophomore.

The 35 students were at the range for a field trip offered as part of a 10th grade physical education course that focuses on individual and dual sports.

The optional trip provides the students with a taste of the reality of guns. It includes instruction on safety and history, and also provides students a chance to shoot a variety of handguns, rifles and shotguns.

"Most of the youth here have never done it," said Harvey Bulaski, who coordinates the club's youth training program. "If you don't teach it, it becomes a fascination."

It's better to learn about guns in a controlled environment, Bulaski added, rather than without close supervision or training.

"With the water jugs, you impress upon them what can happen," said Bulaski, who takes vacation from his job as a technician with Verizon to help with the classes. "They see stuff on TV and they don't understand."

The P.E. class provides instruction on a variety of activities, including archery, caving, golf, mountain biking and tennis, and includes other field trips.

"But this is absolutely their favorite thing," said teacher Lisa Sink-Morris, who has been teaching the course for 16 years.

Sink-Morris has 55 kids in the class this term, but had room on the trip for only 35 students.

"The day after I handed out the permission slips, the trip was full," Sink-Morris said.

George Gingrich signed up for the class after he heard about the shooting field trip from his sister, Hollie, who is one year ahead of him.

"This [field trip] is the reason I took this class," said George, who said he had shot before the trip but doesn't own any firearms.

Shooting and gun safety instruction is included in the curriculum at the other Roanoke County high schools, too. On Wednesday, students from William Byrd were at the range. The club hosts nine such training sessions in a typical year.

Sarah Sink, Sink-Morris' mother, helped start the program when she was teaching physical education at Cave Spring High School.

The shooting block consists primarily of classroom instruction on safety and shooting, and some indoor target shooting with BB guns. Then comes the trip to the range for the students who choose to participate.

Even though Sink was personally most interested in dance and gymnastics, she said she felt it made sense to include recreational shooting in a class about individual and dual sports.

"We're not in this to teach people to go out and hunt," said Sink, who was also an avid target archer. "But shooting is something you can do for a lifetime, as opposed to something like football or basketball."

Her daughter said the field trip has generated little controversy.

"In 16 years, I think I've had two complaints from parents," said Sink-Morris, again stressing that the field trip is completely optional for the students.

The course attracts a wide variety of students, said Sink-Morris, who also heads up the school's archery and badminton clubs.

"Some of them have parents who hunt and shoot," she said. "But some of them have never touched a gun before."

Before ever touching a firearm, the students spend hours learning about gun safety and operation. Then, they shoot low-powered but accurate air guns at targets.

Sink-Morris grades the targets by measuring the size of the five-shot group, which can be as small as a single ragged hole for the best shooters.

The best performers, she said, are often students who don't participate in other sports.

"I have a girl who's not into other things and this is her niche," Sink-Morris said. "When I say, 'Wow, look at that target,' she just glows."

Volunteer George Scruggs sees a pattern at the range.

"The girls out-shoot the boys two to one," he said, smiling.

Breanna Butterworth is one of the aces.

"I've gotten an A-plus on every graded target I've shot," the 16-year-old said with a modest smile.

Most of the girls were even willing to try shooting a 30-06 rifle, a high-powered rifle with a pretty good kick.

"Don't let me fall over," 15-year-old Carrie Baum asked her friend, Erin Dowling.

Carrie aimed at the distant metal silhouette target and shot, the bullet clanging when it hit.

"Did I hit it?" she wondered.

When she was told yes, Carrie smile broadly and turned to her friend.

"Your turn," she said.

"I'm not doing it," Erin answered.

"You made me do it."

"That's because you're braver than me."

Classmate Ashley Spangler said her father, Cave Spring High School principal Steve Spangler, had good things to say about the course.

"He said it was really fun," said 15-year-old Ashley. "And I think it is fun."

Still, Ashley admitted that shooting probably wouldn't be a big thing for her in the future.

"I enjoy it and it's something different," she said after shooting at flying clay discs at the club's skeet range. "But I don't think I'll continue."

Sink-Morris doesn't mind hearing that. After all, the point is to introduce the students to shooting, then let them decide whether or not to continue.

A Minnesota college student was suspended and ordered to undergo "mental health evaluation" for his response to campuswide e-mails from school officials concerning the Virginia Tech massacre.

The college, Hamline University, a private, liberal-arts institution affiliated with the Methodist Church, has a policy on "Freedom of Expression and Inquiry" that guarantees that Hamline students will be "free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express opinions publicly or privately."

With such a strong guarantee on students' "freedom from censorship and control" by the university, student Troy Scheffler's e-mail must have been horrifically bad to warrant such a crackdown. Right?

Wrong. What Scheffler did was make a gun-rights case for concealed-carry permits on campus to help ward off potential Cho Seung-Huis before they strike Hamline. This was no monstrous act; in fact, it was in line with public debate across the nation following Cho's rampage, not to mention an issue of perennial debate in America. Many researchers, most notably John R. Lott Jr., have shown conclusively that gun ownership itself wards off crime while laws banning guns lead to increases in crimes. Criminals are less likely to strike if they have reason to believe their prospective victims could be armed.

Scheffler had written in his April 17 e-mail reply to David Stern, Hamline vice president of student affairs, that "Considering this university also pushes 'diversity' initiatives like VA Tech, maybe its 'leadership' will reconsider [Hamline's] ban on conceal carry law abiding gun owners... Ironically, according to a few VA Tech forums, there are plenty of students complaining that this wouldnt have happened if the school wouldnt have banned their permits a few months ago."

He added, "I just dont understand why leftists dont understand that criminals dont care about laws; that is why they’re criminals... Maybe this school will reconsider its repression of law abiding citizens rights."

Two days later, Hamline President Linda Hanson e-mailed the campus about Virginia Tech. Scheffler replied to that e-mail also, expanding upon his comments to Stern.

In both messages, Scheffler made it clear to all but the most hysterically inclined person that his advocacy of concealed-carry permits was to protect the students from criminals. Scheffler recognized that this protection would be afforded primarily by predators' foreknowledge that any one of the students at Hamline could shoot back, but also – given that the administrators had both brought up the VT massacre – by students being able to stop a killing rampage before it got started

In short, what Scheffler wrote was no preamble to a blood-lusty explosion of violence. At worst it was crude criticism of the university administration combined with a stark assessment of the true risk of a concealed-carry society like Virginia Tech's: total defenselessness against a Columbine-inspired mass murderer. Regardless, it should have been protected by the university's stated policy guaranteeing free expression.

Nevertheless, on April 23 Scheffler received a hand-delivered letter from Dean of Students Alan Sickbert that informed him his e-mails were "deemed to be threatening and thus an alleged violation of the Hamline University Judicial Code" and that he was placed on "interim suspension" to be lifted only after he agreed to a psychological evaluation by a licensed mental health professional.

Scheffler contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, whose service in the cause of liberty in opposition to the petty tyrants populating American academe is invaluable. The history of the case, including the offending e-mails, are viewable on the FIRE's web site (www.thefire.org). Hamline officials say they moved to suspend after Scheffler failed to meet with university officials over his e-mails (he was given less than one full business day to do so) and that he is also the subject of "critical input from various members of the Hamline community" (which was news to Scheffler, nor has he been told of their identities nor given a chance to defend himself against their allegations, whatever they are – if those people exist at all).

The Soviet Union was notorious for psychiatric abuse, the use of psychiatric hospitals for the incarceration of political dissidents. Human Rights Watch accuses the government of China of psychiatric abuse of political activists, whistleblowers, various individuals and especially members of Falun Gong. Declaring dissidence a sign of mental instability is one of the lesser-known tools of the despot.

Psychiatric abuse is not something one expects in America, but it happens. For example, in June, the assistant director of the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles, Joey Gardner, was suspended without pay and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation after blowing the whistle on DMV Commissioner George Tatum for allegedly seeking help to get his friend a vintage vehicle title for a replica (Tatum later resigned). In 2001, a Temple University student, Michael Marcavage, was involuntarily committed by his university for protesting a campus production of "Corpus Christi," a play that depicts Jesus Christ as a homosexual having carnal relations with his disciples.

In his April 19 e-mail, Scheffler wrote pessimistically, "Im sure this plea of common sense will fall on deaf ears." While the fault wasn't with the ears, as he had predicted, Scheffler's plea did indeed fall on disabled faculties.

This time, it was Cleveland. A 14-year-old suspended high school student entered Cleveland's Success Tech Academy, a gun in each hand, and opened fire, wounding four. Later, we learn the shooter's past included violent confrontations, mental problems and at least one previous suspension. A month earlier, he told a friend he intended to shoot up the school. But no one apparently took his behavior seriously enough to notify authorities.

Meanwhile, a high school teacher in Oregon, with a permit to carry a concealed weapon plus training, sought permission to carry her firearm to school. In fear of her former husband, against whom she filed and received two restraining orders, she wanted the ability to protect herself if he showed up. Furthermore, she argued that even without the fear of her ex-husband, the Second Amendment and Oregon state law allow her to carry her firearm to work. Her school district, however, prevents her from carrying a firearm to school.

This raises a question. Do shooters consider schools "gun-free zones"? Do they consider it unlikely that any authority figure — whether teachers or, in some cases, security guards — poses an armed threat? But in some school shooting cases, guns helped to end shooting sprees and minimize loss of life and injury.

In Edinboro, Pa., a 14-year-old middle-school student opened fire at a school graduation dance held at a local restaurant. The shooter killed one teacher and wounded two students and another teacher. The armed teenager was apprehended by the restaurant owner, who grabbed his own shotgun from his office. Staring into the shotgun, the teen dropped his gun and surrendered.

In Pearl, Miss., a 16-year-old sophomore entered Pearl High with a hunting rifle under his overcoat. He opened fire, killing two students and wounding seven. Assistant Principal Joel Myrick, ran to his truck and retrieved the .45 automatic he kept there. Running back, he spotted the shooter in the parking lot. Ordering the teen to stop, the vice principal put his gun to the shooter's neck and held him until police arrived.

At Appalachian Law School, in Grundy, Va., a disgruntled student on the verge of his second suspension entered a school building and shot and killed the dean and a professor. He then shot four students, killing one. Hearing the shots, two students, Michael Gross and Tracy Bridges, ran to their cars to retrieve their guns. With guns aimed at the shooter, Mr. Bridges ordered him to drop his weapon. When the shooter turned and saw Mr. Bridges' gun, he laid down his weapon and put his hands in the air. (My pro-Second Amendment documentary, "Michael and Me," goes into detail about this incident, as well as others.)

Professor and economist John Lott checked 280 separate news stories in the week after the Appalachian Law School shooting, and only found four that mentioned the students who stopped the shooter had guns. The Washington Post, for example, said the students "helped subdue" the killer. Newsday wrote the shooter was "restrained by students." The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, however, wrote that the shooter "was wrestled to the ground by fellow students, one of whom aimed his own revolver at [the killer]." Four months later, the Times-Dispatch detailed the students' actions, including the second student's use of a gun.

What do felons think about an armed citizenry? A survey of convicted felons by the National Institute of Justice found 74 percent of the felons agreed that, "One reason burglars avoid houses when people are home is that they fear being shot during the crime." The survey also asked these felons whether they had abandoned at least one crime because they feared the intended victim might be armed. Thirty-nine percent said they abandoned at least one crime; 8 percent had abandoned such a crime "many" times; 34 percent admitted being "scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim"; and nearly 70 percent knew a "colleague" who had abandoned a crime or been scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by a victim packing heat.

This time, it was Cleveland. A 14-year-old suspended high school student entered Cleveland's Success Tech Academy, a gun in each hand, and opened fire, wounding four. Later, we learn the shooter's past included violent confrontations, mental problems and at least one previous suspension. A month earlier, he told a friend he intended to shoot up the school. But no one apparently took his behavior seriously enough to notify authorities.

About the Author: Larry Elder is a nationally syndicated columnist, radio talk-show host and author.