It seems day after day we hear news of more people dying in places that were specifically deemed safe zones. The idea was to protect citizens in malls, movie theaters, any public place, primarily schools. The safety was provided by “Gun Free Zones” and that meant nobody would ever bring a gun into that space. Yet, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook — they still happened.

On Monday Nov. 28 around 10 a.m. Abdul Razak Ali Artan, age 18, drove his car into a crowd of students at Ohio State University before jumping out of his car and attacking the crowd with a butcher knife.

Thankfully, campus police were in the area and shot Artan before anybody else was injured. The only causality was the attacker. Still, 11 people were injured and in serious condition. Artan wanted to do harm, he wanted to kill. And it was a firearm that saved more lives.

If someone wants to do harm they will find a way. A “gun free zone” won’t stop them. Banning guns won’t stop them. In fact, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center, “every place that has been banned guns (either all guns or all handguns) has seen murder rates go up.” What does stop criminals, people from doing harm, is firearms.

It is a constitutional right to be able to carry a firearm. It is a constitutional right to protect yourself, yet many groups like Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense and Everytown continue to push for nearly a total ban on all firearms. It is understandable to react emotionally to such violence, but to promote a total ban on guns or restrict some people from owning guns is naive. Who will protect their children from those guns obtained illegally? Nobody can, if nobody has a way to shoot back.

Let’s learn from the Ohio State attack. A gun stopped someone from doing bad things. What if there were no police in the area? How many more would have died at the hands of Artan? Consider this, if campus carry was legal, students could have defended themselves. If someone wants to go on a shooting spree, laws and gun free zones signs are not going to stop them. It is naive to think a sign declaring a gun free zone is going to protect students, because it has not since the beginning of the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.