Paul: We Are Attracting ‘Crazy’ People to Schools by Announcing Gun Free Zones

BLITZER: “If you were elected president, on a domestic issue, what, if anything, would you do to tighten up gun control issues in the United States?” 
PAUL: “Well, I think it's a terrible tragedy and, you know, my heart goes out to the families. I've got a couple kids in college and in high school, and I can't imagine, you know, something like that happening in a school. But the thing is, they already have universal registration in Oregon. They have significant gun registration laws. And I just don't think that more controls are the answer. I do think that we should not preannounce to the public, to the potentially crazy and homicidal people out there that there are places they can go to shoot people. And that's what we've done with our schools. We say, well, there are no armed guards, there are no armed teachers, there are no armed off duty policemen, and I think that's a mistake. I think we should do the opposite. I think we should announce across America that there are not going to be gun-free zones where you can go and shoot people. And I think if we did, that there is some deterrent effect. I believe the same for our commercial airliners. After 9/11, I was a big proponent of making sure our pilots were armed and I have bills now to try to facilitate that. I want every potential jihadists and terrorist in the world to know that our pilots are armed and that if you come into the cockpit, you will be shot. And so I think there is a deterrent effect from guns. There obviously is the destruction when a crazy person uses a gun, but there also can be deterrents from guns. And I saw an example yesterday. I think it was a ‘Volokh Conspiracy’ [ph] website was talking about many instances where shooters have been stopped by having an armed person in the right place at the right time.”