Tragedy at Virginia Tech: a "Fortuitous Event" for Interest Groups?

From a polisci perspective, the nation’s deadliest shooting spree at Virginia Tech on Monday is an example of a focusing event. According to Kingdon, focusing events open policy windows for related interest groups by bringing an issue – in this case, gun control – to the forefront of the political agenda. Had it not been for White House spokeswoman Dana Perino postponing the inevitable debate about changes to gun control policy until a later time by stating that, “what we need to do is focus on support[ing][...]the victims and their families and then also allow[ing] the facts of the case to unfold before we talk any more about policies," activists on both sides would have already leapt at the opportunity to couple their preferred solutions to the problem. Defenders of gun rights, presumably led by the NRA, will argue that the calamity could have been prevented or at least dampened in scale if the students and faculty had been allowed to possess guns on the Virgina Tech campus – which, by the way, is a “gun free zone” (last year, the university helped defeat a state bill that would have given college students and faculty the right to carry handguns on campus) – and stop the shooter. On the other hand, gun control advocates are claiming that that the only way to prevent such a tragedy from happening again is to tighten restrictions on gun ownership.

So who’s right in this debate? My gut is to scurry towards the pro-gun control side: the idea of everyone and their creepy neighbor owning a murdering machine is freakin' scary. However, to be fair to the other side, the second amendment of the Constitution guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms.” Also, a thought-provoking post by crashd on the NCtimes.com page reporting the Virginia Tech shooting is making me have second thoughts:

“Crime goes out of control because the criminals, who live outside the law, do not comply and turn their firearms in. Law abiding people do. Criminals can get [guns] anyway, law abiding [citizens can] not. [The] result? Unarmed sheep waiting to be slaughtered.”