This thinking is flawed: “No serious-minded person would say a city with strict gun laws could prevent the inflow of guns from nearby states with lax gun laws.” Strict gun laws will stop bad people acquiring guns legally: nothing will stop bad people sourcing guns illegally. If it were possible for laws to stop criminals from acquiring guns, it would have stopped them acquiring Heroin, Crystal Meth and Cocaine too. Nothing simpler than throwing a few guns in on top of the next heroin shipment. You should just say “No serious-minded person would say a city with strict gun laws could prevent the inflow of guns.”

What strict gun laws do achieve is making it far more onerous and expensive for good people to acquire guns. Since the only thing that can stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun, that may actually make things worse. Strict gun laws do reduce gun suicides, accidental shootings and a few crimes of passion, so that is an argument in favour of gun control, but I think the negative effects outweigh the positives.

Most mass shootings occur in gun-controlled areas such as Churches, Universities and Schools, where the Serial Killer knows he will be unopposed. You never hear of a serial killer attacking a Texas Cattlemen’s Association barbeque, do you? He might get off two shots before the heavily armed citizenry take him down. One solution to gun violence would be to arm Teachers, Lecturers and Janitors (after rigorous police checks and appropriate training, of course) and let it be known to psychotic losers that we will protect our children, and from now on, we will shoot back!