By Chad D. Baus

Regular readers of this website will recall that the last time a member of the media from Cincinnati went to a gun show, the results were atrocious.

A November 2007 hatchet-job by NBC Cincinnati's Eric Flack contained ridiculous references to everything from 90-round SKS rifles to the Columbine school massacre, all in an effort to aid his gun ban lobby friends in their efforts to ban all private sales of firearms at gun shows.

Recently, another member of the Cincinnati media attended a gun show. Only this time, the coverage was far different.

By Karl Spaulding

On April 16, 2007, 32 people were murdered by a fellow student at Virginia Tech. On Feb. 14, there was another college shooting with five people killed. In the week previous to that, several more shootings at colleges and high schools made the news.

Anyone who reads the Virginia Tech Review Panel report (available on the Internet through the Virginia governor's Web site) will find an extensive examination of various preventive measures, from better counseling services to campus-wide warning systems. Many schools, including Ohio State, have done a lot of work revamping their responses to campus emergencies. Most of this is good.

Because mass shooting events are still rare, the authorities correctly deduced that any improvements in campus security that would help deal with shootings should also be useful for other emergencies. They recognized there is no one answer to a particular emergency, including violence emergencies. Response plans should be multilayered and adaptable to circumstances.