Two more die behind a "no guns" sign
by Jim Irvine
There was a double murder on Friday at Park-Ohio in Cleveland. The business has "no guns" signs posted, but as we have seen demonstrated many times, killers do not obey the signs. The victims always obey them, and are dead. Maybe that was part of the killer's plans.
The accused killer was a former employee. He knew company policy and protocol. He likely knew of the "no guns" signs and that neither his victims, nor any of their co-workers would be able to stop him.
Police say Graciela Morales was shot and killed in her car in the parking lot. Then the killer used her ID to enter the building where he killed Eduardo Pupo.
Park-Ohio has layers of security. A company ID is required to gain access to the building. The killer simply took the ID from his first victim to gain access to his second. It's amazingly simple to get through all layers of security if you are the only one with a gun.
The killings were apparently motivated by jealousy. The killer reportedly had a prior relationship with his first victim, and believed his second victim was currently involved with her.
It does not matter if his beliefs are true or figments of his imagination. He acted and killed two helpless people.
No business wants crime on company property, and murder of employees is among the most devastating. So why put up a sign banning guns? Why adopt a policy prohibiting employees from having guns? Why make your business attractive to people who want to kill your employees?
We know that 90% of multiple victim killings occur in the few places that citizens cannot protect themselves with a gun. They are pre-meditated killings. They are planned to succeed. Why do you never hear about such killings in a police station or NRA convention? Because they could not succeed – everyone has a gun. It's so painfully obvious it's laughable.
So maybe you don't want everyone carrying a gun in your business. Fine. But why on earth would you erect a sign telling the world that you have gone to the trouble of disarming everyone. The "no guns" sign tells everyone you are a safe place for killers. Any thug with a gun can go about his business undeterred; knowing that everyone he meets has been disarmed to make his job easy.
Response time is critical to saving lives. Police cannot be everywhere all the time. Most times they are only able to clean up the mess after the killings as was the case Friday. But the victim is always present. Imagine if Morales had a gun in her car and could have stopped her killer.
Odds are, any business with 50 employees has one with a concealed handgun license. That person on site with a gun can respond quicker than anyone responding to a "911" call. That person can provide a critical layer of security for the business for free – in only they are permitted to do so.
We know that people die in homes without working smoke detectors. We know that people die in cars at a greater rate when they don't wear seatbelts. And we know that people die at the hands of violent criminals when they can't defend their own lives. The only question that remains is how many more people will die before putting up "no guns" signs is widely recognized as being as negligent as removing smoke detectors and seat belts.
Additional Information:
What Business Owners Need to Know About CCW
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