Time to talk about gun free zones: Column Lone gunmen have a fondness for places where victims won't shoot back

William A. Jacobson | USA TODAY

A lone gunman went on a shooting rampage at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, on Thursday morning. Immediately after news broke, an all too familiar political dance started. Without knowing anything about the shooter, how the gun was obtained or any of the facts other than vague reports, pro- and anti-gun control advocates took their standard positions.

President Barack Obama even went on television to denounce the lack of gun control laws and political inaction after prior mass shootings.

Late in the evening we learned the name of the shooter, but not much about him. Early reports in such emergency situations often are inaccurate.

In other mass shootings, the shooters’ motivations have varied, from racism to religion to anti-religion. There has not been a single common theme, except for one.

In almost all mass shooting situations, particularly at schools, the common theme is a gun-free zone, with the shooter being the only one armed person in the building for minutes or longer. And in each case, the shooter couldn’t care less about the gun-free nature of the building, and if anything, was drawn to such a location.

Gun-free zones presume the good intentions of those entering the zone. And the overwhelming majority have such good intentions. But for those who have bad intentions, gun-free zones turn schools and other locations into shooting galleries. The good people are unarmed, the evil person is armed.

And that looks like what happened at Umpqua Community College. The shooter had several critical minutes when he, and he alone, ruled over those who obeyed the gun-free zone rules. The one or two campus securities guards, themselves unarmed, were minutes away when seconds counted. Police moved quickly, but not fast enough.

Gun-free zones achieve the opposite of what is intended. Rather than making good people safer, it puts them at the mercy of the evil people.

So what is to be done? Should we do away with gun-free zones, particularly at schools?

That certainly seems to be the lesson.

William A. Jacobson is a clinical professor of law at Cornell Law School and publisher of Legal Insurrection website.