Barking up the wrong tree.

The shooting at VA Tech has elicited some fascinating responses from folks outside our country. Australian Prime Minister John Howard placed the blame for Monday's shooting on "the U.S. gun culture." The BBC's Matt Frei expressed what many around the world are thinking when he asked, "Will the soul-searching ever produce legislation and will it make schools safer?" Of course, the legislation he refers to is tighter so-called "gun control."

Such reactions are not suprising from citizens of the U.K., which has a long history of infringment on the right to keep and bear arms. Many of the Queen's loyal subjects appear to have taken leave of their critical thinking skills along with their firearms. Certainly their puzzled questions do not arise from a careful look at the relationship between gun control and violent crime. We Americans can boast one city with a U.K.-style gun ban: Washington, D.C. While that city happens to be slightly less dangerous than Baghdad, I would urge anyone who feels that such a ban could improve their safety to take up a temporary residence in the U.S. capital and test the theory.

Fifty years ago, in most states, owning and carrying a gun was simple. You simply bought the gun and carried it. Not even the local sheriff needed to know. There were no age limits, no background checks, no registration, no permits in most places, and ... wonder of wonders ... no school shootings either! Fifty years ago in NYC, eighth-graders could take their rifle and ammunition on the subway with them so that they could shoot at the range after school. Anyone who compares the gun laws and violent crime rates of the 1950's with gun laws and violent crime rates today will reach the inevitable conclusion that gun laws do not discourage violent crime, rather they encourage it.

V.A. Tech student Bradford B. Wiles might be able to explain the reason why. In August of last year, he wrote an editorial in the Roanoke Times regarding an incident that occurred at VA Tech on August 21, 2006. He says:

"On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."

"Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.

"It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself.

"Please realize that I am licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the commonwealth of Virginia, and do so on a regular basis. However, because I am a Virginia Tech student, I am prohibited from carrying at school because of Virginia Tech's student policy, which makes possession of a handgun an expellable offense, but not a prosecutable crime.

"I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. ... Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness. ... when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, 'I would feel safer if you had your gun.'"

Keep in mind that this was written over seven months prior to Monday's tragedy.

Gun control is part of the problem, not part of the solution. But there are other factors that play a major role as well. I'll get to them next time.

Echoooooooes