ANALYSIS: TRUE. Let’s kill them first: Answer to terror is tougher citizens, not tougher government.

Tough citizens don’t give government more power in a crisis. They know that government cannot always be there to protect them. Police and bureaucrats didn’t stop the hijackers of Flight 93 on September 11, the shoe-bomber later that December, the underwear bomber in 2009, or the Thalys train attacker this year. Neither did thicker cockpit doors or ineffective TSA screening. These acts of terrorism were stopped by ordinary citizens.

We should renew the American tradition of tough, self-reliant citizens who are not afraid to confront terrorists. Instead of fearing guns, they promote responsible gun ownership and training so that citizens can protect themselves and their communities. U.S. cities and states can reform their gun laws and educational programs to make it easier for those who are skilled and trained to have weapons in public places. In any major American city, 99.99% of people are not terrorists. Those are good odds in an attack, but only if citizens are equipped to defend themselves.

State and local governments should equip their citizens to defend themselves from acts of terrorism. Options could include a gun safety or survival training course in high school, or a basic terrorism-awareness exam that people take when getting their driver’s license. Federal bureaucrats cannot determine what programs will best empower citizens. Instead states and localities should have the freedom to experiment and tailor their programs to empower individual citizens to deal with the rare occurrences of terrorism themselves rather than relying on an extensive, and likely abusive, police state.

We don’t need more laws or regulations restricting what people can do. And we don’t need to give the FBI, CIA, NSA, DOJ, DHS, branches of the military and state and local police more money, more authority and more power. We need citizens who have the freedom and moral toughness to stand up to terrorism whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head. That will truly make the world safer from all terrorists, foreign and domestic.

Yep. But this approach offers insufficient opportunities for graft and political chicanery.