[Recently, at the Weaverville Walmart, an] individual strutted through the store with his sidearm, while frightened mothers grabbed their children into the aisles or scattered out of the store. With mass shootings in the U.S. now a common occurrence, you can’t blame them if they do their future shopping online instead of exposing their families to this type of danger.
What is more difficult to accept is the cowardice and insensitivity of these gun-toting John Wayne wannabes. As a Korean War veteran, I’m appalled at the historical ignorance that allows them to terrorize women and children. The Second Amendment of our Constitution is still open to dispute; most people forget that during my lifetime, the right to bear arms was interpreted by the Supreme Court as dealing with a state’s — not individual’s — right to regulate ownership. It stood for 70 years. It was not until 2008 that, in the 5-4 Heller decision, the Supreme Court shifted to allow individuals, including, theoretically, criminals and the mentally ill, to possess firearms.
When less than 20 percent of our representatives have served in the military (only two congressmen from North Carolina) from over 70 percent 40 years ago, our population and its representatives have lost all connection and respect for weapons, violence and fear. There aren’t many seasoned veterans who, after the crucible of war, get a thrill at the look of fear in a mother’s eyes.
Shame on this individual and others like him. Shame on Walmart’s failing to put their corporate lobbying behind an effort to regulate firearms in a public area (if it’s not allowed on government property, why should it be allowed in malls?). Shame on our cowardly senators and congressmen who are on the NRA’s payroll and thereby conveniently close their eyes to the history behind our Second Amendment clause. Shame on us for not rising up in outrage and allowing this issue to disappear into another black hole news cycle.
— Richard Unanue
Asheville
Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Walmart Media Relations but did not receive a response by press time.
Excellent letter. Thank you.
Call the cops. Every time. By the time you’ve worked out for sure whether someone’s a responsible gun owner or a mass murderer, it’s going to be too late, so don’t wait.
LOL, and 5 minutes later call them pigs and tell us all how they shoot unarmed blacks every chance they get. And make sure you protest in front of the Vance monument and claim the 1st gives that right. And do it safely too because you can always call the police lulz.
I fully support the Constitutional right to own a musket, as part of a well-regulated militia.
But they should have to keep the minie ball in their shirt pocket like Barney Fife. Safety first.
Right. And if they want to turn it into an assault musket, they should have to have a separate Barney for each minie ball.
All kidding aside, the Founders never anticipated letting every crazy person who wants to be able to go out and buy weapons capable of murdering dozens of innocent people at a time. This obsession with guns is a sickness, like drug addiction. The NRA and the gun makers are getting rich pushing weapons into the hands of psychopaths, and it has to stop.
LOL but Planned Parenthood gets rich while pushing infantcide.
LOL but try to stay on topic for more than half a second.
LOL, but abortionist rely on tax money. Gun owners don’t. Abortionist commit murder and yet are protected by the likes of you.
As far as open carry, welcome to the South. Don’t like it then go back north where Chicago is a war zone. And Detroit has no police presence because of decades of crony democrats who ensured white flight and mismanaged policies.
Damn straight, abortion providers are protected by the likes of us.
From the likes of you.
Oh my …………..!!
This Vietnam Vet totally agrees with you. Excellent letter.
LOL and you got taught a lesson of what well armed peasants can do.
History has mixed results on this issue. Take for instance, the history of the Confederate States.
Interesting, isn’t it? Veterans are sacrosanct to conservatives until such time as it’s convenient to insult them.
Kudos Lulz this time, though not farther up.
So in other words the 2nd is a collective right while the rest are individual? LOL.
Not really – although the 2nd Amendment is a horribly antiquated provision of a political document written 230 years ago. As such, it stands as just one of the provisions which now simply do not comport with contemporary life and technology.
In that respect it is not that unlike, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11, which is still part of the constitution, and states, “The Congress shall have the power to… grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.” Or, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1, which states, “The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress…” The difference is, everyone pretty much concedes that these later two provisions made sense in their time, but are no longer relevant, even though they remain in the document. However, when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, there are a number of political and economic interests who have a great deal invested in continuing to treat the the 2nd Amendment as if it were the 11th Commandment.
The Constitution was/is not the inspired word, passed from some deity to those who wrote it. It was/is a very brief, sometimes remarkable, sometimes deeply flawed set of rules, which themselves are subject to broadly varying interpretations and, and ultimately to amendment or elimination.
LOL doesn’t comport with modern life and tech lulz. Because a police state that allows millions of illegals including MS13 in makes it irrelevant lulz. Me thinks the likes of you and your decadent and soft lives give you a false sense of security. You choose to not use your rights then don’t. But stop trying to take the rights of everyone else away. Pass all the un-Constitutional laws you can. Me thinks you’ll see a whole lot of non-compliance. And definitely do something real stupid and turn a 100 million people into felons overnight. But of course look the other way as illegals enter by the millions and make sure to defend them by BREAKING the law.
But of course what you just wrote tells us all that leftist think of the Constitution irrelevant lulz. LOL, doesn’t realize that gun owners have woken up to that fact. Or that leftist will kill or imprison them at a moments notice. And seek not freedom but to destroy any sense of it.
The “left” fights for the rights of the people. The “right” fights for the rights of the individual. The right is inherently self-centered. The “left” is fighting for the people’s freedom from being shot dead in a public space. The “right” seems to be fighting for an individual’s freedom to kill people as quickly and easily as possible in a public space.
How many of these mass shooting sprees have been committed by persons espousing left leaning ideologies?
Anyway people who openly carry firearms, seem to fear the outside world, or else why pack heat? I’d prefer to live in a world of equanimity rather than a world of fear.
Also it seems to me that openly carrying a firearm is kind of like wearing a sign that says, “try to shoot me first.”
Leftists don’t advocate gun control, on which revolution depends as you noted yourself about Vietnam. You are talking about elitist libtards and calling them leftists, which is an insult to true leftists like the civilian gun owners of the NLF. Other than that, good work Lulz. Also, the immigrant vote like MS13 is a major threat to abortion rights, so both sides contradict themselves. they are often scabs too.
Well explained, SpareChange.
all I know is that several of my female friends are now carrying heat…one of my neighbors packs everywhere she goes…everyday.
GOOD! maybe a woman will stop the next mass shooter or truck maniac.
Open carriers in well trafficked public spaces are generally being provocative by intent. It is a political statement aimed at the vocal anti-gunners. As childish as it seems to me, the reality remains that had the weapon been concealed the OP and his fellow shoppers wouldn’t have been one smidgen less vulnerable or more imperiled.
If they have big pockets, a small gun, and a rather expensive concealed carry permit, then provocation might be the main reason left, but they might have only a rifle, a small pocket or no CCP. or they might want to avoid having the shoot by deterring muggers in advance rather than after the fact when it’s too late. It’s entirely possible that a mass shooter was in fact deterred that day in Weaverville by the open carrier and ran off without ever being discovered.
Anyone who openly carries a weapon in public -Walmart or wherever- is a delusional -and dangerous- clown (as well as an ardent TheRump/IQ45 supporter) ….without question. Everybody knows this to be true (other than their fellow delusional Trump supporters of course) …..and I mean everybody. We need to build a really epic wall and ship all these deplorables south of it…. pronto.