Worries me that it takes a shooting disaster to address security at federal sites

[spin]

5. I hate to mention this but you probably have already thought of it. ...

You might be a terrorist target.

You are basically in a gun free zone. I have no major problem with gun free zones but in my opinion any such area where a large number of people congregate or work should have armed security
in-house. That reduces the chance that it might be viewed as a target of opportunity by a terrorist or a person with severe mental issues.

If armed security is present in the hospital, they can respond much faster than the local police and are familiar with the building. A armed security guard might stop a massacre in its early stages. It is also possible the presence of armed security would totally deter such an attack.

Of course such security is expensive. Perhaps we could finance this expense by slightly reducing the budget of some our our government agencies such as the NSA.

Unfortunately our government is most often reactive rather than proactive. If an attack ever does occur in a VA hospital (which I hope and pray never happens) you will definitely get good security.