I don't know.
Cases like these set my emotional side and my rational side against each other. I have a son the age of those children gunned down in that school. When I see that scene unfolding in my mind's eye I can't help but see my son among the terrified children in fear for their lives. That side of me yells "BAN THEM ALL!"
My rational side, though, knows the genie is already out of the bottle on that. Even if the 2nd Amendment were repealed, which I am not in favor of, there are so many guns in the US that people with ill intent would still be able to get their hands on them. It isn't like Japan where they never had a large number of guns per person to begin with.
So most people talk about "reasonable" gun control. When I look at such proposals the word "placebo" pops into my head. It certainly seems like a reasonable precaution to outlaw high capacity magazines. But anyone with a little knowhow, or you know, an internet connection, can figure out how to alter a legal magazine into a higher capacity one.
Or we could outlaw "assault rifles". I do think that might have an effect. I think it would result in psycho killers being more likely to resort to targeting the more helpless among us, such as this school shooting. A couple handguns, perhaps with altered magazines, may not be able to do as much damage in an open area like a mall as a rifle, but they are just as good against little children in a school.
These aren't people planning on taking on the cops. They want to kill as many defenseless people as possible before either taking their own lives or being arrested and enjoying their infamy. If they find it difficult to acquire "assault rifles" then they will just bring a few handguns and target the most vulnerable among us, such as small children.
Being a liberal, most of my friends are liberal and I have seen the comments on Facebook. I am staying out of those discussions because emotions are running high. But one friend lamented that it makes no sense to him that as tragedies like this unfold, people are being allowed to CCW in more and more places. But outlawing CCW would do NOTHING AT ALL to stop these kinds of tragedies. NOTHING. It would of course eliminate people like me from being able to defend against such wackos.
Look, I'm not a "gun nut". Frankly, even though I am good with them, I HATE guns. I don't get the whole American obsession with them. I respect and use them as a tool for self defense, but if I could snap my fingers and make every gun in the world along with the ability to manufacture them disappear, I would. But until I obtain that kind of magical power, I live in the real world where bad guys have guns.
And I like the idea of stopping mentally unstable people from buying guns, but how in the hell would that work? The thought of undergoing a "psych eval" is laughable to those of us who have taken them before. The people committing these atrocities appear to be intelligent sociopaths. Such people would be able to pass.
You are not going to be able to stop intelligent sociopaths from getting their hands on guns, regardless of what laws you pass. Not in the US. They will adapt to whatever restrictions you put before them.
If we accept that unfortunate reality, then what do we do? For starters, I do think we need to make our schools safer. Our children are required by law to attend them, thus the People have an obligation and a duty to ensure their safety. While simply handing out guns to teachers isn't the answer, there are many things we could do to make our schools safer.
-Pay teachers who are reserve police officers a bonus. This would result in having some armed teachers in the school, but they would be trained LEOs as well. Perhaps also open this up to teacher who are veterans (upon receiving similar training).
-Station police cars at schools during school hours. I see them camped out at places like Wal-Mart all the freaking time to deter shoplifters. I would rather see them at schools in case they are needed. Yep, that costs money. Don't care. Raise taxes or cut somewhere else.
-Make it damn near impossible to get into a school without clearance. Look, I work in embassies. I know from experience it is possible to make a place secure and still not feel like a prison. Yes, it costs money. Stop spending money on stupid sh!t like drug busts and prostitution stings and start protecting our children!
And in the meantime if they can come up with gun control that would actually matter, rather than simply giving people a warm and fuzzy inside, I would likely support it.