Until Walmart actually bans the carrying of guns in their stores, gun nuts are going to continue doing so, and will frighten customers every single time.
In the wake of the mass shooting in El Paso in which 21 people were gunned down inside a Walmart, the company had resisted changing policies, including selling guns and ammunition and allowing open carry in stores, which understandably makes customers nervous and concerned for their lives because it’s hard to tell who is a potential mass shooter and who isn’t.
After a lot of outrage, Walmart somewhat bowed to public pressure by ending some gun and ammunition sales and asked customers to refrain from carrying guns into stores.
“These incidents are concerning and we would like to avoid them, so we are respectfully requesting that customers no longer openly carry firearms into our stores or Sam’s Clubs in states where ‘open carry’ is permitted — unless they are authorized law enforcement officers,” Walmart said in a statement.
Of course, gun rights advocates like David Amad of Open Carry Texas whined, and now 38,000 members of his group are defying Walmart’s request by openly carrying their firearms inside the stores, intimidating and scaring customers every step of the way.
Amad bragged about it in remarks made to the New York Times.
“They are ducking the issue,” Amad said. “They are trying to get the gun haters to leave them alone, while at the same time leave us alone when we carry in their stores.”
According to The Hill:
Walmart spokesperson Lorenzo Lopez told the Times that company employees are instructed not to obstruct peaceful shoppers from openly carrying guns. But he said stores should call law enforcement if an employee or customer feel unsafe.
But how will employees know if someone openly carrying a firearm is peaceful or not? It’s all too simple to pretend you are peaceful before opening fire. By the time a threat is identified, it’s too late and several people would be dead.
Also, so many shoppers will call the police (as they should) that officers would show up often. At some point, they will tire of showing up and then their response time could be slower when an actual shooting occurs.
Walmart policy should ban guns being carried inside their stores. Period.
The company has the power and the right to bar carrying firearms inside their stores, and they can have someone who violates that policy prosecuted.
Public safety is essential for any business and it simply won’t do to have customers being frightened of being shot all the time. We need to know who the bad guy is and who the good guy is. The bad guy is the person with the gun, whether they intend to kill people or just intimidate people. People are dying and nowhere is safe from guns anymore despite the NRA insisting that “guns everywhere” is the answer. Open carry is allowed inside Walmart and that did not stop a white nationalist from murdering school shoppers on what should have been a normal before school activity.
Walmart should take a stand. If people want to shop, they need to leave their guns at home where they belong.
Featured Image: Wikimedia
