How it should have gone down

Scott Ott tells us how the Omaha mall incident should have gone down:

(2007-12-07) — When 19-year-old Robert Hawkins entered the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, carrying an AK-47 assault rifle wrapped in a sweater, he intended to become famous by shooting as many people as possible and then turning the gun on himself.

The mentally-troubled teen left a suicide note, and a trail of evidence on his computer and elsewhere that he knew the police would spend months investigating. He had done everything possible to ensure that his name would be mentioned along with other mass killers at Virginia Tech, Columbine High School and the like.

He knew that the Westroads Mall was a gun-free zone, with signs on the entrances warning people with conceal-carry permits that they may not bring their firearms into the mall. He took comfort from those signs, as he pushed through the doors carrying the stolen assault rifle.

As he ascended to the upper deck, Mr. Hawkins could almost hear the screams of the shoppers as they tried to flee the sound of his shots, but due to the echo couldn’t discern the shooter’s position. He pictured the confused mall security guards talking over each other on the two-way radios. He rehearsed in his mind the final trigger pull that would end his mortal pain, and imagined the silence that would follow, punctuated only by the groaning of his dying victims.

That was the plan — careful, premeditated and nearly perfect.

There was only one problem: some people don’t read signs, and others ignore them.

Go read the rest, you won't be sorry. Then contemplate the fact that mass shootings like this have been stopped by armed citizens on more than one occasion. Why do schools want to prevent teachers and other employees with concealed carry permits from being able to protect their students (or in the case of colleges prevent students from protecting themselves)? Why do retail establishments want to prevent their customers from being able to protect themselves?

In what universe is herding hundreds or thousands of unarmed people into a building and then putting a sign up advertising the fact that no one inside can protect themselves not going to attract lunatics who want to kill as many people as possible? In what universe is this a good idea?

H/T: The Dowager Viscountess