CREATING GUN-FREE FREE-FIRE ZONES: Charleston shooting prompts gun-rights supporters to call for more concealed-carry at churches

He was a young gunman bent on shooting as many worshippers as possible, but Matthew J. Murray never got as far as Dylann Roof, the suspect in Wednesday’s South Carolina church massacre.

Murray had already shot and killed two people in the parking lot when he burst into the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Before he could pull the trigger again, however, the 24-year-old shooter was gunned down by Jeanne Assam, a volunteer security guard with a concealed-carry permit.

That was eight years ago, but even though Ms. Assam was credited for saving as many as 100 lives that day, a dozen states continue to restrict the carrying of concealed firearms in churches — including South Carolina.

Just because the argument that fake “Gun Free Zones” invite crazed and evil killers by advertising the defenselessness of the persons therein is oft-repeated after each outrageous attack on a fake “Gun Free Zone” makes it no less valid. Increasing the risk for crazed or evil killers is likely to be a more effective response to mass shootings than eliminating offensive flags, as they are rarely so crazy that they can’t locate a nearby fake “Gun-Free Zone.” (For a recent exception, see the evil Garland Texas mass shooter wannabes.) But this assumes one truly cares about preventing rather than exploiting mass shootings.