More misinformation from Shannon Watts, founder of Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, and Bloomberg shill.

This is in reference to the heroic action taken by Elisjsha Dicken to stop a mass shooting:

“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but when a 22-year-old illegally brings a loaded gun into a mall and kills a mass shooter armed with an AR-15 after he already killed three people and wounded others is not a ringing endorsement of our implementation of the Second Amendment,”

First, think about that statement.  Gun controller Watts would rather have seen the mass shooter given free rein to kill more people rather than be stopped by a good guy with a gun.  How messed up is that?!

But here is the misinformation that so many will unquestioningly accept as fact: she states that Dicken “illegally” brought a loaded gun into the mall.  To say this is a massive lie is an understatement.  Unless the law designates a location as a “gun free” zone, IT ISN’T ILLEGAL TO CARRY A FIREARM THERE.

Some locations have declared themselves “gun free”; they have posted signs indicating this.  But in Indiana, as is true for the vast majority of states, such signs DO NOT HAVE THE FORCE IF LAW; they are essentially house rules.  The same is true of Michigan.  Now, if you happen to get caught carrying your firearm in these places, you can be trespassed, asked to leave the premises and not return.  If you refuse to leave, police can be called and you can be charged with misdemeanor trespassing.  If you return after being asked to leave you can be charged.   But carrying a firearm  in violation of what is essentially a house rule IS NOT ILLEGAL.

Shannon Watts is hoping that people won’t question her, will take her at face value when she says Dicken committed a crime when he stopped the mass shooter.

But her accusation actually goes farther than that.

You see, a claim of self defense under a stand your ground defense assumes that the defender isn’t committing a crime himself when he uses deadly force.  While Watts doesn’t actually say the words, that is the true gist of her statement: she wants him to be prosecuted for stopping a mass shooting, for saving lives.  Watts would rather see innocent people die while waiting for police to respond than to see an obviously prepared and well-trained lawful firearms carrier come to the rescue.Just how messed up is THAT?!

Boo Hoo, Kroger Told Me To Take A Hike!

Boo hoo, Kroger won't give me the time of day. That's the essence of an op-ed Shannon Watts, head of Moms Demand Gunsense for America, wrote for HuffPo:

For months, Moms have called on Kroger to make a safer and more family-friendly shopping environment by prohibiting the open carry of firearms in its stores, just as brands including Target, Starbucks, and Panera have done. 

Instead of meeting with us and reconsidering an irresponsible policy, Kroger's leadership has refused to listen. They have pressured radio stations to reject our ads and relocated their annual investor meeting to avoid interacting with customers. Just imagine how much easier it would have been if they would talk with us.

This week, Kroger executives and investors met in Cincinnati and I was there, along with dozens of Moms Demand Action volunteers from neighboring states, to make it as easy as possible for Kroger leadership to meet with us on an issue that women and mothers care about more than anything: the safety of our families. Rather than agree to a meeting, Kroger bullied radio stations into pulling our ads highlighting the absurdity of their gun policy (you can listen to the ads here and here). And this week, Kroger bussed its investors out of the hotel where they were planning to meet and to an alternate location -- probably to avoid the rally of mothers and customers we had organized to spark a conversation with them.

Evidently Kroger is growing uncomfortable with their gun policy, and frankly, they should be. Kroger is siding with gun extremists, rather than mothers, gun violence survivors, and the majority of Kroger shoppers, who support ending open carry in Kroger stores. 

Moms refuse to be silenced. The ads that made Kroger so nervous are nothing more than recordings of Kroger employees reiterating Kroger's policy, which is to prohibit children's toys and household pets in the name of customer safety, but to allow anyone to openly carry loaded firearms, even though no permit, training, or background check is required to do so in most states.

Instead of working with us to make stores safer, Kroger has cited politicians' inaction to regulate open carry to justify their own stubborn refusal to institute a policy that does more than force employees and customers into a position where they must guess whether the armed individual in the frozen food aisle poses a threat to customers.

How are moms shopping with children expected to know the difference between an activist and a threat to our families? In a majority of states, it is completely legal to open carry a loaded gun in public without any training, permitting, or a background check. In some states, there isn't even an age requirement to open carry a loaded firearm.

That's why open carry poses a unique risk to the public. That's why we want Kroger to act, just as so many other major companies have done. And 83% of Kroger shoppers agree - Kroger is well within their rights to stop open carry.

When I founded Moms Demand Action the day after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, I knew that it would be a long road towards gun safety. Since then, millions of Americans have joined this fight and we will continue to be relentless whenever we feel the safety of our children is threatened.

Kroger's customers deserve to be heard and Moms won't stop until we get the change we need.

No, Kroger isn't "growing uncomfortable with their gun policy," Watts just can't get it through her head that, just as Kroger has the "right" to DISCONTINUE a practice, it well within their RIGHT to do what they have said already said they are GOING to do - CONTINUE THEIR POLICY TO ALLOW FIREARMS CARRY. She needs to get that through her head! Watts only recognizes the rights of Kroger as they comport with her agenda, and she can't handle it that Kroger has the temerity to defy her and her sugar daddy, Bloomberg. She certainly can't reconcile the FACT that, since Kroger announced their intent to continue their policy, their sales have increased 21% with her supposed poll results indicating that 83% of Kroger customers agree with her point of view. She also ignores the fact that Starbucks has actually backtracked on their so-called "ban" on firearms carry, taking a more publicly neutral position on the subject - which is all they ever wanted to do in the first place.  In fact, if you actually read the statements issued by Target, Starbucks, and Panera, none of them actually "ban" firearms carry, they respectfully requested that firearms carriers not take them onto their premises, but all stopped short of actually banning them.  Watts still considers them to be victories.

Reality stinks, doesn't it Shannon!

Public Backs Kroger Firearm Carry Policy….

MSNBC has been running a poll to gauge public sentiment on the question of firearms carry in Kroger stores - and to bring pressure to bear on Kroger.

I'm certain the results aren't what they were expecting….

For the record, the Construction Zone supports and applauds Kroger's common sense policy:

"The safety of our customers and associates is one of our most important company values. Millions of customers are present in our busy grocery stores every day and we don't want to put our associates in a position of having to confront a customer who is legally carrying a gun. That is why our long-standing policy on this issue is to follow state and local laws and to ask customers to be respectful of others while shopping. We know that our customers are passionate on both sides of this issue and we trust them to be responsible in our stores," policy-on-customers-carrying-firearms-in-stores