Another mass shooting that didn't have to happen did happen last week -- this time in Tennessee at a Kroger food store, part of a chain that has implored customers to shop unarmed, leading to the obvious question that corporate America refuses to address once again: How many more times do these shootings have to happen, how many more people have to die, before these CEOs 'get it' and encourage people to prepare to defend themselves?
"A shooter attacked a grocery store in an upscale Tennessee suburb on Thursday afternoon, killing one person and wounding 12 others before the shooter was subsequently found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at the store, authorities said," The Associated Press reported.
"Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane said the shooting broke out at a Kroger store in his suburban community about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Memphis. He said the shooter shot 13 others and himself, and that 12 of the victims were taken to hospitals, some with very serious injuries."
One witness, Brignetta Dickerson, a checker, described what she thought was balloons popping.
“And, here he comes right behind us and started shooting,” Dickerson told the AP. “And, he kept on shooting, shooting, shooting. He shot one of my co-workers in the head and shot one of my customers in the stomach.”
The local SWAT team arrived and began clearing each aisle before finding the shooter dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The AP said police would go on to find customers hiding just about everywhere, including in coolers.
“We found people hiding in freezers, in locked offices. They were doing what they had been trained to do: run, hide, fight," Lane said.
Glenda McDonald, another Kroger employee, described the violence and chaos to WHBQ-TV.
“I was walking back towards the floral department and I heard a gunshot. It sounded like it was coming from the deli. And I ran out the front door and they had already shot the front door," she said.
Calling it a sad day in the community's history, Lane added: “I've been involved in this for 34 years and I’ve never seen anything like it."
That's amazing, considering how many times Americans have 'seen something like' this mass shooting (and thank God there weren't more deaths). But we see them all the time because too much of our society is run or managed by people who, for some reason, want their patrons and employees to be sitting ducks waiting to be killed by other people who don't give a damn how many "No Guns Allowed" signs they hang in their businesses or jot down in employee handbooks.
"The Kroger Company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, issued a statement that it was "deeply saddened" by the shooting and was cooperating with law enforcement. The company in 2019 asked its customers not to openly carry guns while visiting its stores," the AP reported.
But that's not all Kroger did to enable armed criminals and make victims out of its customers, as noted by Recoil Magazine, a noted gun publication:
You've made a run to the grocery store to pick up a few supplies, and decide to swing by the magazine rack to see if the latest RECOIL or CONCEALMENT is out yet. Hmm, not there, must have sold out.
In fact, not selling out is the reason you're having trouble finding us, as the memo below affecting all gun mags points out. You see, Kroger, who own the Fred Meyer and Fry's chains in addition to their eponymous grocery stores have decided to take it upon themselves to be arbiters of taste regarding what we put on our covers.
We think we put out some of the most kick-a** content in the gun world, so having an Arugula pusher look over our shoulders while we write and design it, didn't exactly sit well. So when faced with the choice of bowing to the corporate overlords or being left off the shelves, our answer was a full-throated ‘f**k you'. We'd rather take a hit to our bottom line than bend the knee.
Corporate America would rather see Americans killed than protect themselves, and that ought to tell you where our society is headed.
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