Los Angeles, CA—The recent
video threat to the Minnesota Mall of America and similar targets has some
people on edge. They certainly should
be!
The threat in Minnesota is
not foolproof because that state allows for concealed weapon permits and
frankly those prohibition signs are being ignored more often by permitted gun
owners than the mall operators realize.
Should things get difficult,
armed citizens will always follow their training and do whatever it takes to
survive. A quick thinking armed citizen could really put a cramp in some terrorist's plans.
However right now pending the
resolution of Peruta vs. San Diego, the draconian gun ban is in place. All of the densely populated cities of California
are Gun Free Zones. Meaning only those
willing to break the law will be armed.
No gun law will ever prevent
or deter any dedicated terrorist or criminal from using bombs, gasoline or
firearms to murder innocent people.
Terrorists would be far more
successful at a Mall such as the Los Angeles Beverly Center shown above. They have no armed security and the
likelihood of facing an armed citizen is nearly zero. Plenty of people could be murdered before the
cops would arrive.
Eventually the cops will win
and the terrorists could claim their 50 virgins in the hereafter. The mess would be huge international publicity.
Mall security in America has
been under the control of gun hating property management companies. They have long considered armed security an
insurance liability nightmare.
Mall security duties have
been reduced to marshaling lost children and the elderly that can’t remember
where they parked their cars. Should
they see a disturbance or a crime, they are simply supposed to call the police.
I don’t care what background
or training members of mall security departments may have, if they’re
discovered with a personal defense weapon beyond lady’s ineffective pepper
spray they would be fired on the spot.
Calls to the police these
days would actually be made by shoppers that are all carrying cell phones. The
security guards are nothing more that more potential hostages and victims.
The pathetic mall security
procedures are all set in stone. Local law
enforcement cannot provide security for private businesses. They can of course respond to service calls but
the cops have no sufficient presence in any mall to immediately engage armed
terrorists.
What every mall needs is a
well-trained and armed security force to deal with active shooter incidents. That will never happen without a massive
change in our culture.
The only viable solution is
to allow the law-abiding people to protect themselves under the already granted
right to keep and carry arms.
Before that happens malls
will begin TSA style screening of shoppers.
That will end the shopping mall as we know it and simply they will
simply surrender their business to Amazon.com.
Comments
Minnesota also has a large Somali population that a jihadist group could shelter in during their preparation phase. That area is already a recruitment center for fighters in Syria.
Lets be honest, as a free country, we are pretty much screwed as far as prevention goes. Where we excel is in retaliation. At least we did in the last century. After 9-11-01 we should have bombed a huge chunk of Saudi Arabia and Egypt since it was their countries that furnished the fighters and the money that funded those attacks.
We have been lucky. Until the Boston bombing, all our wannabe home grown variety splodydopes were as competent as Barney Fife, or Barry Soetoro. I guess that means we now have a level playing field.
That's not to say I would not expect an attack in California. Given the large quantity of goods that pass through their ports every hour, the chances of some kind of device making it ashore are quite frightening. Why it has not happened is beyond me. Much of the good that arrive come from paces with less than stellar security, and a simmering hate for this great nation.
Appalling.