Mall of America? I know - you just don't get it!

As with most of the liberal news sites out there, The Raw Story is somehow surprised that anyone (well, really Fox News) would suggest that being armed might be a good idea.

You know, I get it - you don't get it!  You clearly still think that the sign at the door of MoA that says no guns are allowed will deter terrorists or even common criminals from entering with bad intent.  I know, it is liberal mythology that such rules will stop crime.  Of course, since such behavior is crime because it is against existing law, law that has sufficient force of punishment, the idea that a mall policy will deter it is foolish on its face.  But there is no end to the magical thinking.

Now, as with most news sites - be they liberal or conservative - the basic approach here is to take an opposing idea and make it sounds as absurd or controversial as possible. So, as the headline suggests, the real insanity is saying that the should "arm shoppers." Let's use a little sleight of hand to direct attention away from the ridiculous notion that all shoppers should be disarmed by highlighting the notion that they should all be armed. Let's make this look like paranoia.  The interesting conundrum is that the gun control advocates will scream loud now that the idea of arming people against such threats is foolish and paranoid, but will scream even louder after an attack happens that we must ban all firearms. So, their foolish policies increase the likelihood of events that they will then use to promulgate those foolish policies.

Look folks - you can call this paranoia all you want and consider the idea that should take responsibility for their own protection foolish and archaic.  But I am sure the folks in Westgate Mall in Kenya felt the same way until it happened.  You may feel more comfortable believing that it can't happen here, but there is really no rational basis for believing so. You may prefer to take it on faith. But in that case a small number of armed assailants (the type who would ignore mall policy) killed over 60 people, wounding over 170.  How might this scenario been changed if only ten percent of shoppers had been armed that day.  Kenya has some pretty restrictive gun laws, too.

Be safe, be vigilant, be cautious, but be prepared and be capable.