Enabling Snipers

"How do you like it when someone's shooting back at you?"
--Rafe McCawley (Pearl Harbor)

It has been said that gun-free zones are essentially hunting preserves for mass shooters and other criminals. Gun-free zones attract law breakers because perpetrators can accost law-abiding citizens who have no capacity for shooting back.

Stated differently, because gun-free zones offer grounds for aggression without meaningful pushback, they are magnets for bad guys.

Last weekend's mass shooting in Las Vegas demonstrates that gun free zones can also provide long range assailants with safe havens from which to shoot. The Mandalay Bay resort is a gun-free zone--so much so that not even hotel security guards are often not permitted to carry. High rise buildings that prohibit possession of firearms can be seen by criminals as inviting sniper stands from which shooters can rain death on people below without challenge for a significant period of time.

The current official story line in the Vegas incident indicates that the shooter enjoyed at least 10 minutes of private shooting time from his perch before being interrupted by authorities.

Had Mandalay Bay guests been permitted to carry, then perhaps some would have taken initiative to home in on the shooter's room and, at the very least, distracted the perpetrator sooner, thereby reducing the carnage outside.

Lesson for me: be aware not only of gun free zones that you enter, but also of gun free zones within your range--particularly if they occupy high ground.