In the wake of deadly shootings in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, lawmakers are scrambling to push through new legislation that they argue would prevent such future disasters. In reality, the vast majority of cases, they won’t accomplish much of anything. A bill in Michigan may well be the exception to that, however.

This bill wants to expand where concealed firearms can be carried…to include churches.

In the wake of mass shootings in Las Vegas and Texas that left dozens of people dead or injured, a Michigan Senate committee approved bills Tuesday that will allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons in gun-free zones such as schools, churches, day care centers, bars, dorms and stadiums.

The shooting at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, which left 26 people dead and 20 more injured, makes Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, more certain that now is the time to take up the gun legislation.

“Some have said it’s insensitive to bring up these issues now, but I feel quite the opposite,” he told a standing room-only crowd in the Senate Government Operations Committee. “The recent events will allow us to look at how we can deter those who want to do harm. And responsible, well-trained, licensed concealed-pistol holders can be one of those deterrents.”

I think it probably is insensitive to bring these issues up now, but since we’ve had no end of people bringing these issues up since Sunday’s tragedy, that ship has long since set sail. Meekof isn’t the one who turned the corpses of the dead into a soapbox. That was people like Dianne Feinstein.

Frankly, Meekof has offered a proposal that doesn’t seek to punish the law-abiding and may actually make a difference. Had there been an armed individual inside the church in Sutherland Springs, the story may have read very, very differently.

No, laws that allow more guns aren’t magic immunizations from violence. Maniacs intent on killing scores of people will still exist and will still kill people.

Not everyone thinks this is a good idea, though. Which is fine. Not everyone needs to.

This proposal isn’t a magic cure. Guns are legal to carry in Texas churches with a valid CHL, for example, yet Sutherland Springs still happened. Laws permitting the carry of a firearm do no good unless someone is actually armed.

However, if the law prevents licensed individuals from carrying, it’s a recipe for disaster. I can’t help but remember the Luby’s Cafeteria massacre in 1991, also in Texas. Suzanna Hupp has said that she had a gun in her vehicle but left it there because the law didn’t allow it inside the diner. She regretted that decision the moment the shooting started, but by then it was too late.

Laws that ban the carry of a firearm in certain places don’t stop massacres. Madmen don’t follow laws. If they did, the laws against murder would be more than enough. Laws against privately carried guns simply prevent anyone from carrying the means to stop these people.