While shopping at our local Publix yesterday, pushing my cart up and down the aisles, I suddenly wondered what I would do if someone came into the store with a weapon – and started shooting. I would run, of course, but where would I hide?
I kept thinking about this as I passed the meat and the fresh fish section, which are at the back of the store. Also back here are the doors that lead into the employee areas and eventually outside. That was where I would hide if…
But suppose I was at the front of the store when the shooting started? Where was there to hide up front? Restrooms, but the shooter could just burst through the door. The pharmacy? Maybe. I could throw myself to the floor behind the shelves of medical supplies and drugs. Not an ideal spot. Maybe one of the employee offices or behind the front desk. Not ideal, either, unless the employee offices can be locked. Behind the bakery counter? Maybe, but again, not ideal.
This was around 11:30 AM June 9.
This morning, June 10, at 11:30 AM – just 24 hours later – there was a shooting at a Publix a couple miles from the one we use. A man who had posted a message on his facebook page that he would like to kill a child, had done exactly that. The boy was about a year old. His 69-year-old grandmother tried to fight off the shooter, but he killed her, and then himself.
From a friend, I later learned the grandmother had been the head nurse in a local VA hospital.
The 2nd amendment from 1769 says, “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”
Does that include nut cases? Does that exclude background checks? Does that mean we can all carry AK4 7s? The world in 2021 is vastly changed from the world 252 years ago. Why doesn’t the 2nd amendment reflect that change?
Your question is perhaps too complex for most supporters of the 2nd amendment who believe that freedom does not exist if you can’t shoot someone who disagrees with you. It’s been well established that most public venue shootings – college, church, movie theater et al – have been carried out by nutcases. Many though not all had actually sought help or been referred for help to clinics who specialize in mental health issues. Background checks are perfunctory, if and when they happen. They have, however, been written into law in most states.