President Obama has called for tougher gun laws following the shooting at a grade school in Newtown, Conn. (Photo by Neon Tommy/flickr) 

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON - A reseacher for a conservative think-tank says changing gun laws to try to stop mass shootings is useless.

Steve Stanek with the Chicago-based Heartland Institute says you can make all the laws you want, criminals won't follow them. He says the so-called war on drugs proves his point.

"There's no constitutional right that says we have a right to fill our veins with heroin or our nostrils with cocaine, but there is a constitutional right to keep and bears arms." Stanek said.

Stanek says probition is another example of failed over-regulation.

"These are totals bans on alcohol and on narcotics that have absolutely failed. They have failed because million of people aren't morally offended by these things," Stanek said.

Stanek says the wall-to-wall media coverage of mass shootings creates the impression that these shootings are on the increase. Stanek says a lot of gun violence involves gangs and that is driven by drugs - which he says should be decriminalized.

PODCAST: Listen to Patti Penn's interview with Stanek on WJBC.

Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.