"Who Takes Loaded Weapons to a Toys 'R' Us?"

Adding to the murderous frenzy of the holiday season is the story of the two men who killed each other in a Toys 'R' Us in Palm Desert, California. Evidently, a brawl erupted between the women accompanying the men, and the men pulled guns from their pockets, started shooting, and killed each other. A press release from Toys 'R' Us claimed that the dispute was not related to the shopping season called "Black Friday," but rather was the result of a personal dispute. However, we all know how frenzied the day after Thanksgiving is, with tempers flaring at the smallest provocation. What struck me most, however, was a statement from Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson:

"I think the obvious question everyone has is who takes loaded weapons into a Toys "R" Us?" he said. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper."

Where has this man been? Gun purchases increased dramatically after the presidential election because right-wing wackos (and some otherwise sane people) think Barack Obama is going to take away their guns and declare martial law. You bet there are "casual holiday shoppers" toting guns. Here in Georgia (as of July 1, 2008) people who are licensed to carry concealed weapons (these are ordinary folks, not law enforcement) can leave their guns in their vehicles at work, can carry guns in their purses or under their jackets on public transportation and in train stations. They can carry guns in restaurants as long as they don't consume alcohol while there. They can carry guns in public parks and recreation areas where guns are not prohibited by federal law.

When Governor Sonny Perdue signed Georgia's new gun law, Ed Stone, the president of GeorgiaCarry.org, had this to say:

By signing this legislation, Gov. Perdue has expanded the rights of law-abiding Georgians who lawfully arm themselves to protect themselves and their loved ones

So I guess, according to Ed Stone, that's just what those two guys were doing in Toys 'R' Us, protecting their loved one. Oh, yeah, casual holiday shoppers are totin', and they're gunning for the last Guitar Hero on the shelf.

Gillian Flacus, "Witnesses: Fatal Shooting Followed Toy Store Brawl," Associated Press, Nov. 29, 2008.

James Salzer, "Perdue Signs Law Allowing Guns in Restaurants," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 14, 2008.

Black Friday

I know I must be un-American in this choice: I have never participated in the mass mania of shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. I'm not much of a shopper, anyway. Two hours into my doing any kind of shopping, even looking for items I need, my enthusiasm flags. One personally anxious year, I even had a panic attack in a Bath and Body Works shop. And this was at a small mall in East Texas. But there were just too many people muddling around in the narrow aisles between towers of body lotions and lip gloss. The lights were too bright, the colors almost neon, and the smiles of the clerks uncannily cheerful.

I don't understand the desire to have something so much that a person will camp out in a parking lot of a big box store. And I certainly don't understand the fury of shoppers so anxious for that special that they actually kill a store clerk. A Black Friday Stampede at a Wal-Mart in Long Island resulted in the death of a 34-year-old Walmart worker. Good God! No Guitar Hero World Tour is worth a man's life.