HARD TARGET: We can stop mass shootings without restricting Second Amendment liberties.

It’s time to adapt to the era of mass shootings. Every school, every church, every large retailer and every government facility should have armed, obvious guards at all entrances. We don’t need to force teachers to take up arms, we simply need ever-present, trained, armed security in schools. This is now the cost of protecting our children and of protecting the public.

It would take some getting used to, but seeing an armed guard at the entrance to Wal-Mart would not be a sign of a totalitarian police state. It would be an example of free people self-organizing to create new institutions to protect public safety.

A larger armed security profession would also create career opportunities for young professionals answering the call to protect their fellow citizens as well as for retired military and law enforcement.

And for those who might balk at the expense of additional security, try getting into an office building on K Street in Washington without running a gauntlet of security. We’ve already decided that our elites and lobbyists’ lives are worth protecting. Why haven’t we made the same choice for students in schools and shoppers in department stores?

Once we have secured our public and private spaces against the deranged, we can start trying to address root causes. Every civilization has developed means and institutions for reining in the impulses of boys and disciplining them into responsible men, but we’ve lost ours.

When you label something as toxic, eventually people will behave that way.