In a delusional postscript to the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting last week that killed five people and wounded six, Republican legislators in Florida are proposing to allow the public to go freely armed into the unsecured parts of airports — all the better, the sponsors argue, to intercept the next random shooter in self-defense.

“There could have been the potential for people to protect themselves in that situation,” said Jake Raburn, a state legislator, who supports allowing armed people in airport departure and arrival areas, outside of zones guarded by metal detectors.

Having citizens armed in more and more of the nation’s public places, from schools to barrooms, has been a high priority of the gun lobby. Florida law currently bans even people with gun permits from carrying firearms in an airport’s public places and places like courtrooms and college classrooms. But the gun lobby remains strong in Florida, where the nation’s first Stand Your Ground law loosened the restraints on self-defense for gun owners. The lobbyists have been pushing the vigilante fantasy of good shooters gunning down bad shooters, and that view has been embraced by President-elect Donald Trump, who ran with strong support from National Rifle Association.