The shooting at UNC rattled the student body.

To be fair, that kind of thing typically does. You feel safe on campus and then something comes along and shatters that impression.

In truth, you’re not any less safe than you were before this happened, but it still leads many to call for gun control in the belief that they’re not safe anymore and regulation will somehow change that.

This is what seems to have happened to a number of UNC students who are now demanding the state pass gun control laws.

It was only six days into the fall semester at UNC Chapel Hill when a gunman in a chemistry building sent the campus into lockdown mode.

On Tuesday, 15 days after the incident of terror, students from that campus and others were in Raleigh to tell lawmakers they were fed up with the “thoughts and prayers” that flow after these increasingly common occurrences in their lives. They were determined to let the lawmakers know how hollow those words are to them — and what they would rather hear and see.

…

Dozens of college students who grew up with school lockdown drills and active shooters outside and inside their classrooms rallied outside the legislature as lawmakers wrangled over the budget inside.

Democratic lawmakers and elected officials from Durham and Orange counties who joined the rally encouraged the students to let their voices be heard.

“As our communities continue grieving from intense loss, our lawmakers continue to drag their feet,” said Samuel Scarborough, one of the Chapel Hill students at a midday rally outside the Legislative Building. “Until they do what it takes to save lives, they can save those thoughts and prayers. Keep ’em.”

Now, obviously, they have a right to speak their mind, but my question to them is, “Just what gun control laws do you think would have stopped the UNC shooting?”

The alleged killer used a handgun, not an evil AR-15.

The alleged killer was in the US on a student visa, so he may not have even been able to buy a gun lawfully.

He didn’t have a concealed carry permit, so his likely method of carrying a firearm was illegal.

North Carolina doesn’t have campus carry, so the alleged killer bringing a gun on campus was illegal.

Oh, yeah, and murder’s pretty illegal as well.

So, in light of all the gun control and other laws this person allegedly broke, how does anyone think a few more laws would have changed anything? If so, what concrete laws would they suggest? I’m not talking about vague demands for gun control, I want actual policies they want to see enacted that would have stopped this killing from happening.

I’m not holding my breath, though, because we all know that there aren’t any.

What happened at UNC is awful, but what we’re seeing here are anti-gun forces pouncing–yeah, someone other than Republicans can pounce–on the opportunity to try and bully lawmakers in further curtailing gun rights in North Carolina, even as the legislature is finally moving in the right direction.