Politicians Should Resist the Urge To 'Do Anything' in Response to School Shootings

After a gunman murdered 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last week, politicians responded as they always do to such shocking crimes. Democrats pushed gun control policies ranging from the symbolic to the flagrantly irrelevant, while Republicans emphasized improvements to school security.

On its face, "hardening" schools so they are less vulnerable to attacks seems more logical than banning "assault weapons" defined by functionally unimportant features or expanding the federal background-check requirement for gun buyers, which is ill-suited to deterring mass shooters because they typically do not have disqualifying criminal or psychiatric records. But the approach favored by Republicans has pitfalls that legislators should not ignore in their rush to "do something" about crimes that are horrifying but rare.

To start with the obvious: Even sensible precautions do not work if they are not properly implemented. Although the Uvalde school district had a policy of keeping school entrances and classroom doors locked "at all times," the shooter apparently entered through an unlocked rear door; the door to the adjoining classrooms where he killed children and teachers was likewise unlocked.