THE VALENTINE'S DAY SHOOTING at Northern Illinois University, following last year's Virginia Tech Massacre, makes college shootings seem like an emerging fad among suicidal lunatics. There were no such shootings in the 2005-2006 academic year, one last academic year, and three this academic year--so far.

A February 16 AP story on the shooting at NIU reports that students "reacted with frustration and--tellingly--resignation." Most of my fellow students at Yale can't think of anything to do but support the status-quo campus ban on carrying firearms, although such "no-gun" zones seem more dangerous every day. Most students don't know how to think about a terrible threat that used to be inconceivable. But the answer is plain: We must be allowed to defend ourselves.

NIU had a reaction-plan for a campus shooting that swung into effect with fair efficiency, and students who might have wandered into harm's way were alerted to the danger (although it seems more were notified by friends' text messages than by the university). The police were on the scene within two minutes. But the shooting was already over by then; three students were dead, and two more were fatally wounded.

When I asked my friends how lives could have been saved in that situation, some pointed out that things would have been a lot safer if Steven Kazmierczak had not been armed in the first place, and suggested that we ought to pass some sort of law that will insure the next Kazmierczak won't have a gun. But if someone is willing to

Some students (and professors) naively suggest that we simply eliminate all illegal gun sales. But if we could do that, why not go all the way and eliminate crime altogether? Some liberals seem to forget that crime is already illegal.

On the other hand: If we let trained students carry their licensed weapons on campus, as they're allowed to in the rest of the city, we'd at least have a chance of defending ourselves and our friends.

On Thursday February 21, there was a confrontation between these two views at the Yale Political Union. The guest speaker was Sandra Froman, the former President of the National Rifle Association. I attended as a reporter to see if anyone would tackle the issue of college shootings.

Only one student actually invoked the NIU shooting--Major Andrew Clark, a graduate student in international relations and an active-duty member of the U.S. Army Special Forces. When the speaker of the Political Union recognized Major Clark for a speech, mentioning as she did that he was an active-duty Green Beret, the conservatives in the room burst into sustained applause that lasted for half a minute or so. I was mortified to see many of my liberal classmates across the room refuse to applaud for an army officer.

Major Clark asked us to imagine a crazy student stepping onto the stage right now from behind a curtain or from a side-door and opening fire. In that situation we would be helpless, and the murderer free to rampage at will. Only one thing could save us: an armed student who has the courage to stand up and return fire.