What happens to a neutered society when just the thought of someone possibly having the means to defend themselves arises?
You shut down an entire mall
That was one scene from a tense but ultimately incident-free afternoon at one of the nation's biggest malls. At about 11:20 a.m., a shopper in the parking lot called police to report two suspicious men heading inside. One of them, the caller said, appeared to have a pistol tucked under his jacket.
Every single time I go to the local mall, I have a pistol tucked in a holster inside the waistband of my pants. Every single time.
So about an hour after getting the initial call, police closed Woodfield to incoming shoppers. They then began a store by store search, asking patrons to leave as they swept each of the mall's 300 shops.
When seconds count, the police are about 3,600 of 'em away.
Thirty minutes later, some shops still had their gates down and lights out but most were open for business. Techno music thumped from clothing stores and the scent of Cinnabon floated through the air as if nothing had happened.
Maybe because nothing HAD happened. Someone just having a gun isn't a reason to close a mall.
George Alcheikh, owner of the Gold Creations jewelry store, said he spent his idle hours catching up on paperwork and fielding calls from friends who had seen news of the shutdown on television. He had no problem with the decision to close the mall. "There should be no chance of anyone getting hurt," he said. "That was the prudent thing to do."
George Alcheikh, owner of the Gold Creations jewelry store, said he spent his idle hours catching up on paperwork and fielding calls from friends who had seen news of the shutdown on television. He had no problem with the decision to close the mall.
"There should be no chance of anyone getting hurt," he said. "That was the prudent thing to do."
Reached for further comment, Mr. Alcheikh bleated a few times then went back to grazing, blissfully unaware.
The comments are also bone chilling. People are thankful that the police locked them inside. The sheep are terrified that someone might be there with a gun. Then the sheer code white of these people - milling around, having no idea what to do, can't get out - just waiting for the wolves to come grab them. So many comments on how important it was that just because someone thought they may have seen something that it equals a blood bath with millions dead.
What sucks about my job of educating the public is that those are the people we need to reach and their complete inability to see past "SCARY GUN" makes the job damned near impossible. And they vote.