The point of gun free zones is to give people a legal pretext to stop people carrying weapons with unknown intentions.

If someone comes sprinting into a school with a rifle, obviously it's not going to be easy to stop them. But depending on the situation, staff can stop the person, deny them entry, lock doors, warn folks, etc.

If we didn't have a gun free zone, and instead had open carry, that same person could walk right in and find a crowded area to target, and there would be no crime committed until they pointed the weapon. The whole argument that gun free zones are dangerous is not rooted in common sense.

And in many places, there are school resource officers who are allowed to carry their weapons inside those zones, specifically to protect people in the case of an active shooter. But they are trained pros. Not every jabroni who dreams of getting into a shootout should be allowed to live their fantasy.