Walmart ironically provides money for an active-shooter program

The corporate office of Walmart recently made a generous donation to the local fire department in their company's home town of Bentonville, Arkansas, to fund an active shooter response training program.

From an article:

Walmart is giving the Bentonville Fire Department a grant worth $97,000 to fund active-shooter training. ....

“If something does happen, as terrible as that will be, that our emergency responders will be doing their best to help me, my family, my neighbors and the community,” said Ken Senser, of Walmart.

The training will look similar to a practice in Clarksville in 2012, except paramedics will not be armed.

“They’ll be wearing the same body armor that the SWAT team wears,” said Kevin Boydston, of the Bentonville Fire Department.

Crews will come in behind police officers to treat victims faster.

“It’s the one thing we can do that’s becoming prevalent in the nation with EMS and fire service is to incorporate these tactics and get them out there in order to save those lives that are near and dear to us,” Boydston said.

EMS crews typically wait until police clear a building in active-shooting scenarios, which can take 30 minutes or longer.

The Fire Department said they will begin their training in May.

I applaud Walmart for making this important donation.  Keeping the community safe against the increasing numbers of shootings is a valuable cause.

And Walmart stores, in particular, desparately need such training for their local emergency response departments.  With 81 shootings at Walmart stores in just the last year, plus at least 75 armed robberies in their stores in the last year, I'd say is more critical than ever that Walmart does something to clean up their act, even if it is just to fund their local departments.

Can they fund such a program in every town where they have a store?  They need it.

There in Arkansas, there have been at least 6 incidents in the last couple years, including a shooting at the Walmart store in Conway, Arkansas, of a Walmart employee by another Walmart employee, just a few days after Walmart made its generous donation.  Maybe they can start there?

Or, better yet, take steps to keep the shooting from happening in the first place, like prohibiting the carrying of guns in their stores, stopping gun sales, removing banks from the inside of their stores, and placing security guards in their parking lots....

Walmart.  Save money.  Die faster.

Schools and non-profits rejecting donations from Walton Family Foundation

Because Walmart continues to take a pro-gun stance and continues to sell assault rifles and ammo, a number of school and non-profit programs are returning or considering the return of money that was donated as grants from the Walton Family Foundation, established by Sam Walton, founder of Walmart.

From an article from Huffington Post online:

A number of charter schools that rely on donations from a charity started by Walmart's founder are questioning whether they should continue accepting the funds in the wake of the Newtown shooting. 

The Walton Family Foundation, established by Sam Walton, has given more money to charter schools than any other private donor, Businessweek reports. But some of those schools are reconsidering whether they should take money from a foundation made up of family members who own more than 48 percent of Walmart, which sells more guns than any other retailer in the U.S. 

The New Media Middle School in Columbus, Ohio –- which has gotten $250,000 in gifts from the foundation -- is one such charter school that doesn’t know if accepting the funds is ethically responsible after a gunman took the lives of 20 students and six faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary School last month. 

“It’s a dilemma,” Principal Andrew Sweigard told Businessweek. “It’s a moral issue. Can we take funding from a company that is linked to a potential disaster in our school? Do we want to associate ourselves with guns?” 

Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg declined to address the pointed concerns raised by charter schools, Businessweek reported.

Also listed in the article, besides that Ohio charter school, are a charter school in Chicago and a soup kitchen in Arizona.  The soup kitchen actually received more donations BECAUSE they declined the donation from Walmart.

All the shootings (at least 53 in 2012!) and gun-related crimes (at least 21 other incidents in 2012) that happen at Walmart stores certainly seem to lend credence to the idea that Walmart's pro-gun stance is destructive to their mission.

Walmart.  Save money.  Die faster.