The NRA Myth of Gun-Free Zones  Data shows the gun lobby's chief
argument for more firearms in schools, malls, and beyond is just
plain wrong.  | Mon Apr. 1, 2013 5:00 AM EDT  Editor's note: A
version of this piece was first published in the March 25
edition of USA Today.  Ever since the massacres in Aurora,
Colorado, and Newtown, Connecticut, it's been repeated like some
surreal requiem: The reason mass gun violence keeps happening is
because the United States is full of places that ban guns.
Second Amendment activists have long floated this theme, and now
lawmakers across the nation are using it too. During a recent
floor debate in the Colorado Legislature, Republican state Rep.
Carole Murray put it this way: "Most of the mass killings that
we talk about have been effected in gun-free zones. So when you
have a gun-free zone, it's like saying, 'Come and get me.'"  The
argument claims to explain both the motive behind mass shootings
and how they play out. The killers deliberately choose sites
where firearms