For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you need proof of that immutable law of physics, look no further than the retail chain Target. Mere days ago, the retail giant asked law-abiding gun owners to leave their firearms at home. The request was made with an eye toward keeping customers safer. So how effective is the new policy? The website Guns Save Lives (via Weasel Zippers) has the answer:
A man was robbed at gunpoint by three armed robbers in the parking lot of Gainesville, GA Target department store….
It’s unclear if thieves are catching on and targeting businesses that discourage law abiding gun owners to carry firearms, but it would not be surprising given the amount of media coverage these corporate decisions are getting.
Luckily, no one was hurt, and police managed to apprehend the suspects within several hours of the robbery. According to the The Gainesville Times:
“Officers … were quickly able to get a vehicle description and possible suspect description,” said Gainesville Police Department spokesman Cpl. Kevin Holbrook of the Wednesday incident.
Xavier Holland, 21, Zaccari Goudelock, 20, and Kenneth Loving, 17, were arrested later that day. The victim, Kyle Bledsoe, reportedly had more than $500 cash on him.
Besides, recent studies have revealed that if there is a correlation at all between the sale (and therefore availability) of legal handguns and crime, it is the reverse of the Michael Bloomberg/Barack Obama claim that mass shootings have become epidemic and a “new normal” in American society.
Northeastern University criminology professor James Alan Fox compiled the data of shootings with four or more fatalities from 1976 to 2012, and found that these incidents on a chart look like an EKG: up and down, not a steady rise.
