Regular readers of this blog (or of Reason, or of the Northwestern Chronicle) know I’m pretty much your stereotypical deer-hunting redneck who hates gun control.

It may surprise some, then, that I don’t have much of a problem with this law. I just think it’s an illogical reaction to the case that inspired it, and that it won’t work.

Fairfax County, Virginia officials are trying to get a ban on carrying weapons into police buildings. (I live in the county.) The inspiration:

“Michael Kennedy, a mentally ill 18-year-old, drove behind the police station in Chantilly last May and fired more than 70 shots with several weapons. Two officers died from gunshot wounds.”

First of all, the main problem with these kinds of laws — “gun-free zones” — is that they’re more like “sitting duck zones.” Criminals know no one will be armed there, so a disproportionate number of multiple-victim shootings actually happen in them.

The exception with a police station, of course, is that there is “armed security” all over. I would guess this kind of situation is basically unheard of, so banning civilian guns there won’t hurt the law-abiding. That’s why I don’t care much if the law passes.

However, look at the case that inspired it. The shooting happened outside the building. This law wouldn’t have prevented this attack, even if the mentally ill man bent on killing cops had obeyed it.

And of course, that’s the problem. If a guy wants to shoot some cops and the risk of being shot or spending his life in prison hasn’t deterred him, a “no guns here” sign doesn’t have much of a chance. The only way to enforce it would be to build metal detection checkpoints at every police station in the county in response to a single incident.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.