'Gun-free' doesn't guarantee safety

To the editor:Southeast Missouri State University president Ken Dobbins recently touted the safety of the campus. Department of Public Safety director Doug Richards stated that one reason for this safety was, "We are a gun free campus. ... No firearms are permitted on campus anywhere." So was the Virginia Tech campus supposedly gun-free. That is what made it so safe for the killer to kill people at will without fear of resistance.

In 2006 a bill in the Virginia Legislature that would have allowed people with state-issued concealed-carry permits to carry on campus was defeated. Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was quoted in the Roanoke Times as saying, "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus." How safe do students feel now?

The only possible salvation for those killed would have been for a law-abiding person, licensed by the state, to have been armed and able to stop the killer before 32 people were murdered and numerous others wounded. The only person with the guts to resist, a Holocaust survivor who had seen evil before, could do nothing except to sacrifice himself in a delaying action.

Has anyone else noticed these killings always seem to take place in "gun free zones"? More accurately they are "killing safe zones."

If guns are the problem, with hundreds of gun shows across the country each weekend of the year, why do you never hear of a mass shooting at a gun show?

ROBERT A. CRON, Advance, Mo.