Why Did So Many Students Die?

Why did so many students die at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech., Northern Illinois University and so many other places---Without any real, active and defensive attacks on the murderers?

The ongoing debate as to "Guns Are Evil And Should Be Banned" VS. "Gun Free Zones = Free Fire Zones For Crazed Criminals Who Can Always Get Weapons" does not seem to provide any resolution of the question I posed.

However, the example (From another Virginia University campus) where two students stopped a killing spree by taking their pistols from their autos and arresting the murderer may provide some clue as to the difference as those two brave students were off-duty/retired police officers trained in using force to uphold the rights and safety of others.

However, Mr. Frank Borelli ("Part 2 Virginia Tech Shootings---Why Do Students Sit Still?"; American Cop Magazine; March/April, 2008) may have provided a correct (And "politically incorrect") answer to the question he and I posed; Which analysis is that: "Any willingness to commit an act of violence or physical aggression even in the name of justice, no matter how legally justified, is completely unacceptable within an educational institution". That is, the current and unthinking "zero tolerance" policies (Which punish the resisting victims as much as the aggressor-offender) of most schools, towards any physical response to an bully or other attacker has conditioned a whole generation of American youth against exercising their constitutional, statutory and Natural Law rights to self-defense and the use of force to enforce those rights.

I am no attorney; But, it appears that such an uneven school authority's punishment of a justified defense against aggression might constitute a "Violation Of Civil Rights Under Color Of Law", a felony, and in civil law, constitute an "arbitrary and capricious" act as there is no room, under "zero tolerance", for any reasoned examination of facts and exercise of judgment.

It would be better if our school systems taught: From the history of our nation's founding, the suppression of the slave trade and slave holding States, the "Crusade In Europe" against the Nazis and other examples that it is often necessary to use force to resist and overcome evil; And, give up all "zero tolerance" policies and judge each incident, where force is actually used, to punish the guilty and praise the innocent (A truly non-sectarian, moral lesson worth teaching to the the young AND providing some apparently needed mental exercise to school administrators and boards).