You just got off of work and need to stop at a place where you can make a bank deposit, pick up a gallon of milk, find a new blouse for your interview the next day and printer ink so you can print off your child’s permission slip for his class activity.

Where can you accomplish all of these tasks at one place? Walmart. That’s right, Walmart the place where you can “Save money” and “Live better.” I’m not going to get into the “save money” aspect of their motto because I personally don’t believe that their food prices are lower than any other food chain.

What I’m going to focus on is the “live better” aspect of Walmart. Walmart has had a pro-gun stance since April of 2011. They have sold rifles and ammunition in half of their stores, which is about four thousand stores give or take a few, and they sell handguns and assault rifles in Alaska. You can go to Walmart’s website under “home defense and recreation” and find guns that are manufactured for law enforcement and the military force. These are weapons that civilians can order on-line every day.

On Tuesday, March 22, 2016, a North Texas Walmart male employee was fatally shot and killed while working. The shooter then shot himself. It seems that Walmart has had many shooting incidents at their stores for several years. They had fifty-three shootings in 2012. They had eighty-three shootings in 2013. They had ninety-two shootings in 2014. By the end of the month of January 2015 they had seven shootings on their property.  

Remember John Crawford III, a twenty-two-year-old African American male who while shopping in Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio, decided to buy a toy BB gun? He picked up the item he wanted to purchase, the toy BB gun, and preceded to shop for other items. Just as you would pick up the gallon of milk, blouse and printer ink that you were shopping for at Walmart.

However, on August 5, 2014, Mr. Crawford III was shot and killed in Walmart by Beavercreek police officers for basically attempting to purchase a toy BB gun sold by and in a “pro-gun” establishment. Apparently for some people it’s not safe to attempt to purchase a toy gun and walk around the store with it.  

New Mexico, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, Philadelphia, Chicago, Ohio, Texas and other states have had Walmart shooting incidents. So it appears it hasn’t been “better living” for the victims who were employed at Walmart, went shopping at Wal-Mart or were sitting in their cars in the parking lot while waiting on someone to come out of Walmart.

What’s the “blue light special” at Walmart? Is it better living or a death trap? What’s your chances of coming out alive when you shop at Walmart? My advice is to keep your eyes open, your ears clear of wax and get ready to “duck, roll and find cover” if you hear gunshots.