Regardless of your position on guns, would you ever put a sign on your lawn stating that there are no guns in your house? Would you be so willing to announce to prospective burglars, murderers, and rapists that you are completely defenseless should they decide to forcibly enter your home? Well, if you go to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, they are doing exactly that for students who live in their residence halls. The student newspaper called Manitou Messenger Online notes:

Over Labor Day weekend, many arriving students and parents noticed new signs reading "St. Olaf College bans guns in these premises." Posted at the entrances to the residence halls, the signs were put up in August to comply with the May Minnesota Personal Protection Act. The act states that a permit holder may carry a gun wherever a sign specifically banning guns is not displayed.

St. Olaf, which I had thought was the fictional town on TV's Golden Girls, is a private college and has the right to ban guns on their property if they want. However, I would be very leery of living in a place that is so reckless with the safety of their students.

In liberal Minnesota, however guns have been a very polarizing issue as of late. The restoration of firearms rights has angered liberals who naturally were predicting a dodge city scenario. They are so hot and bothered over the prospect of law abiding citizens with firearms, that they are trying to coerce local businesses to get involved in local politics.

Target and Marshall Field's, two of Minnesota's largest retailers, have chosen not to put up signs banning guns in their stores. The result has been that some people have begun boycotting them. Kneser would like the public to know that the college is still just as free of guns as it always has been.

Actually Kneser is insuring that only law abiding citizens will be unarmed. Criminals, who don't obey the law any way, will be unfazed by the signs just as in this MN school shooting. The idea that Target and Marshall Fields should be compelled to delve into a political debate is disturbing. As a Target stockholder, I recently wrote Target management to express my concern over the idea. Gun fearing wussies can boycott the stores if they want, but boycotts never work in the U.S. and I have serious doubts that it will be effective. I can picture some pasty faced leftist warning me to stay away from Target because (gasp!) there may be people with guns in there.

For the students of St. Olaf, I wonder if they sleep better at night knowing that their college advertises the fact that they are completely defenseless. You can live there if you want, but I'll be damned if I would ever put myself in that situation.