Gun Violence
Friday Night Shooting at the Mall of America
Because nothing says Peace on Earth like gunshots.
Friday night there was a shooting at the Mall of America. According to police, a group of 5–9 people got into an altercation, and someone pulled out a gun. One person was killed, and a bystander was grazed.
This took place on the first floor of Nordstrom’s department store. Which is where my husband and I enter when we visit the Mall of America. We’ve walked through that area dozens of times.
The Mall of America is a gun-free zone, which doesn’t matter to people who think a gun is the answer to everything. It doesn’t matter that the shooter could have struck a child with a stray bullet, it doesn’t matter that it’s insane to take a gun to a mall. Or a grocery store or a restaurant or really anywhere other than a shooting range.
Tomorrow morning is Christmas day, and I know there will be guns under trees all over this country. Children will unwrap little hunting rifles while adults unwrap AR-15s or Glocks. Not books, oh no, God forbid we stimulate our intellectual curiosity, we need more guns.
After a particularly horrible week of gun violence earlier this year, I wrote a poem based on “Oh The Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss.
The Mall of America is now on an ever-expanding list of places you can’t go where you won’t get shot.
Merry Christmas.
