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In the last few days, Big business and government have been making some announcements around firearms as tools of defense and tools of terror. Because I like to keep it as unbiased as possible when we think about how we should be prepared for this kind of situations which are become more practical than anyone ever imagined let's start by looking at the facts, dive into the recent press releases, and then I promise at the end I will let you know where I stand and why.

You bet it's going to be a rocky conversation, but I bet you don't guess how it ends, I think you're going to be surprised...

The Numbers:

27 .     The number of active shooter incidents in 2018

38 .     The number already in 2019 through August

16 .     The number of states that had incidents

85 .    The number of people who lost their lives in these shootings (excluding scumbags whose names you won't hear on this blog)

128 .   The number of wounded in these crimes

27 .     The number of shooters; 23 male, 3 female, 1 at large

10 .     The number of shooters that took a cowardice exit

11 .     The number that were taken in by the  good guys (4 of them were held by armed citizens and 3 by unarmed citizens until authorities arrived)

4 .      The number that committed suicide by cop

1 .       Killed by a concerned armed citizen.

4 .     The number of active shooters in California, the state with the most in 2018

5 .      The number of active shooter situations that were stopped by citizen involvement.

22%   The percent of the time a rifle was present

 

Citizen Intervention In three incidents, unarmed citizens confronted the shooter, thereby ending the shooting.

• • In one incident, a citizen wrestled the gun away from the shooter. The shooter fled the scene and was apprehended approximately 34 hours later at another location.
  • In one incident, citizens confronted the shooter (including one who was pistol-whipped by the shooter), allowing others to flee the scene. The shooter committed suicide at the scene before law enforcement arrived.
  • In one incident, a teacher wrestled the shooter to the ground and restrained him until law enforcement arrived and apprehended him.

In two incidents, armed citizens possessing valid firearms permits exchanged gunfire with the shooter.

• • In one incident, two citizens retrieved their guns from their respective vehicles, then shot and killed the shooter.
  • In one incident, a citizen armed with a gun confronted the shooter, but no gunfire was exchanged. A second citizen exchanged gunfire with the shooter, but neither was struck. The shooter fled the scene and was apprehended by law enforcement a short time later at another location.

Locations

16 .  Occurred in Business locations

5 .    Occurred in Education Settings

2 .    Were in open spaces

2 .    Healthcare facilities

1 .    Government property

1 .    House of worship

The Announcements Government

On the last day of August 2019, the day after the Odessa, TX shootings, New law went into effect in Texas that changed the way you can carry a gun in the state:

• You can now carry in places of worship
• Can no longer prohibit renters from having firearms
• Now you can keep your firearm concealed in your car at school
• No laws will be inforced on CCW when evacuating or returning to a disaster
• Disaster shelters will now allow you to bring them in
• If you are caught with a CCW and you did not know that the area prohibited concealed carry, if you're asked to leave and you do then there is no crime.

Overall, Texas sees the issue as not enough guns in the right places at the right time.

Big Business

Walmart announced that it will discontinue selling ammunition in .223, .556, and .22 calibers. They view these calibers as the primary for assault-style weapons and want to distance themselves from the murders. They also joining Kroger, Dicks Sporting Goods, Starbucks, Target and Wendy's in asking that people not open carry in their stores even if they have the right to. Today, open carry is only banned in California, Florida, Illinois and DC. Lastly they are pulling handguns from the only state they sell them in today which is Alaska.

20% .    Percent of the ammunition sold in the US that is sold by Walmart

6% .      Percent of the ammunition Walmart wants to sell in 2020 by eliminating rifle calibers

2% .     Percent of US gun sales done at a Walmart

Much of this is spurred by liability costs as in The Estate of Maurice Stallard v Kroeger. In this instance, the daughter of the deceased is suiting the store for letting guns into it and asking that they ban guns at all stores. Kroeger responded by asking that customers don't open carry. Kroeger stopped the sale of all firearms in their 45 Meyers stores as well.

When Dick's Sporting Goods realized that the Parkland, FL shooter who killed 17 purchased his gun from one of their stores, they started pulling guns from 10 of theris stores as a pilot which cost them $150MM. Despite that, their stocks are up 4% and they are looking to remove guns from 135 of their 730 stores by the end of the year. They also instituted a policy to only sell to those 21 and over which is quickly becoming standard amongst big box stores including Dick's owned Field & Stream locations.

Outside influence on Big Box

Camping World, owner of Gander (Formerly Gander Mountain), who is focused on selling RV's and Campers also sells firearms. The Sofware giant SalesForce had been toting doing an implementation at Camping World and had asked that Camping World change their stance on selling firearms. Camping World has not budged, but they are also no longer listed as a customer of SalesForce.

Links

Active Shooter Incidents In The Us 2018 041019

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kroger-gun-ban-woman-sues-for-gun-ban-in-kroger-grocery-stores-after-fathers-murder/