Walmart stores see an increase in shootings for at least the third year in a row

Shootings at Walmart stores have increased for at least the third year in a row.

Here at the Walmart Shootings blog, I have dutifully chronicled every media report of gun crimes committed at Walmart properties.  In 2014, there were at least 92 shooting incidents, leaving 16 people dead and 42 injured.  This is up from 2013, where there were 83 shootings, leaving 24 killed and 42 injured -- an increase of over 10%.  In 2012, there were "only" 53 shootings.

There are entire countries that have fewer shootings than just Walmart stores in America!

Of course, these represent only those shooting incidents which were reported to the police, then reported by the media in a way that it was caught by Google Alerts or to friends who alerted me.  Likely there were some that slipped through.

See the graph, to the right, which shows the shooting reports in a cumulative fashion over the course of all three years.

But there were also plenty of gun crimes where shots weren't fired.  There were 78 armed robberies and shopliftings by gunmen at Walmart properties.  Gunmen threatened shoppers and employees with guns, carjacked shoppers, and had accidents with their guns.

Walmart remains the largest retail seller of civilian guns in the world.  But in at least 19 incidents this year, guns were stolen from their display cases at Walmart stores, including assault rifles, like this case in Memphis where nine assault rifles were stolen, or this case in Tennessee where six assault rifles and another gun were stolen.

Walmart continues to allow customers to carry concealed or openly-displayed guns in their stores.  Does this make customers and employees safer?  Not at all.  In 2014, people with conceal carry permits caused 11 incidents, including many shootings of themselves and others, including the most recent case of a very pro-gun mother who allowed her two year old to get into her special gun-purse and fire the unsecured weapon, killing the mother in front of the toddler and three of her other children. 

There were four cases ruled as self-defense at Walmart stores.  But before the gun guys jump on these as evidence of making us "safer," consider that one of these cases was during an illegal drug sale. Another was by a man who got into an argument and shot the unarmed victim as he walked to the car, fearing that the other man was going for a gun.  He got off by using Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which only requires a person to claim they were afraid.  In a third case, the victim was also unarmed, and the two men had gotten into a fight, and the shooter had continued the confrontation prior to shooting the other man.  Only one case involved a man who was simply minding his own business and shot at an armed robber, after the robber was fleeing.

And it's not just Walmart shoppers who are endangered, threatened, and killed by gunmen at their stores.  Walmart employees have been the victims of incidents in at least 14 incidents in 2014, plus many other robberies.  In at least three incidents, Walmart employees were the suspects in shootings!

Where are Walmart's priorities?  Is it gun sales?  Or is it the protection of their shoppers and employees?  Clearly, they aren't interested in the safety of those who are in their stores!

Walmart bans all sorts of things in their stores that they deem "dangerous," including pregnant Barbie dolls, CDs with unwanted lyrics, and various books.  They stopped allowing paring knives in their bakeries after a single incident.  This Christmas, they even kicked out some high schoolers who were caroling in the store!  But Walmart has no problem continuing to sell guns, including five different models of assault rifles, and allowing people to carry guns through their stores.

Perhaps thinking about all of this, one sensitive Walmart employee refused to process a wedding photo for a couple posing with their shotgun.  Oh, never mind....  A Walmart spokesman quickly told media that the employee had been "misinformed."

With so many shootings and other gun crimes at their stores, it's not surprising they are trying to hide it from stockholders, refusing to bring up the issue in any official manner or at stockholder meetings.  We wouldn't want to allow blood on the store floors to distract from gun profits, would we?  Little wonder, then, that a major stockholder had to sue Walmart for the right to bring up the gun issue at stockholder meetings.  If the deaths of shoppers and employees aren't enough to convince the Waltons to change their pro-gun policies, perhaps money will?

This is why Walmart's motto "Save money. Live better" isn't appropriate.  Instead, it should be.....

Walmart.  Save money.  Die faster.

A drastic increase in Walmart Shootings in 2013!

(image from Per's Decent Blog)

Here at the Walmart Shootings blog, I continue to chronicle the shameful trend of gun crimes and shootings committed at nationwide Walmart stores.

In 2012, I was amazed to have chronicled a whopping 54 shootings at Walmart stores, more than one a week.  Here is a list.  Along with 24 non-shooting gun crimes, this amounted to 75 gun crimes that I could find.

Little did I realize that 2013 would blow the previous year out of the water!

In 2013, Walmart stores had 81 shootings, surpassing the previous year by last October!  That's 27 more shootings, or a 50% increase over 2012!  Those shootings left 24 people dead and 40 injured on Walmart properties nationwide.  See a full listing HERE.

But the shocking figures don't stop at shootings.  Armed robberies using guns at Walmart stores were also up substantially.  In 2012 there were a mere 21 that I could find.  In 2013, that number jumped to 75!  That's a whopping three and a half times more armed robberies with guns in 2013!

In all, there were at least 195 different gun-related crimes and accidents at Walmart stores nationwide in 2013, a drastic 2.5-times increase!  The vast majority occurred in the parking lots, but there were plenty inside the stores too.  There were 8 accidental shootings, 6 kidnappings using guns, 3 incidents of stray bullets, and 34 incidents that involved shoplifters.  Ten incidents were drug-related.

The NRA wants us to believe that arming people more would solve the problem, but the facts contradict that philosophy.  In 2013, people with conceal carry permits were RESPONSIBLE for twelve incidents of gun crimes and accidental shootings!  And the only self-defense shootings that happened on Walmart properties were by law enforcement and an armored car security guard.  In fact, three separate illegal shootings were committed by active Walmart employees!  Walmart currently allows conceal carry in its stores.  You would think that 12 incidents by permit holders would get them to rethink that policy! 

Law-enforcement involved shootings at Walmarts also jumped by 100%, up from 10 in 2012 to 20 in 2013!

Walmart continues to sell guns and ammo in many of their stores, including assault weapons.  They sell more guns to civilians than any other gun seller in America, and probably the world.  Often those gun displays are poorly-watched.  I've seen in myself!  No wonder that there were at least 15 different incidents in 2013 of guns and ammo stolen from Walmart stores, many of which were never recovered to my knowledge.

So what is it that causes Walmart stores to be such a magnet for gun crimes and shootings??  That's a question that Walmart will have to answer, and they'd better do it fast.  People are dying and getting maimed at their stores, and the numbers are only increasing!

That's why their motto should read:

 Walmart.  Save money.  Die faster.

A year of Walmart Shootings: 2012

(image from Per's Decent Blog)

When I started this blog, it was to chronicle what has become a sad fact: the retail giant Walmart, the number one retailer of guns and ammo in the United States, and possibly the world, has a higher rate of shootings and gun crimes on its properties than any other “big box” retailer in the nation.

As I have chronicled on this blog, Walmart had 54 shootings reported in the media in 2012.  That’s more than one a week, on average.  HERE is a listing of those incidents at the New Trajectory blog.  Though I didn’t look carefully until recently, I also found 24 other gun crimes where shots weren't fired.  That’s at least 75 incidents in at least 28 states. 

Crimes and shootings included armed robberies, customers angry at each other, shoplifters (including of assault weapons!), road rage, law enforcement encounters, drug deals gone wrong, and even suicides.  Twice there were accidental shootings, both times by gun owners with legal conceal carry permits.

I found 8 homicides, 25 attempted homicides or aggravated assaults with guns, 2 gang-related incidents, 4 drug-related events, 21 armed robberies, 11 shoplifting incidents, 2 accidents, 10 law-enforcement related incidents, and at least one murder/suicide (some of these categories overlap).  There were also two plots for mass murders at Walmarts.  An additional shooting was a man who stupidly decided to hunt for deer in the parking lot.

50 incidents were in the parking lots.  25 were inside the stores.  2 were at Walmart gas stations attached to the parking lots. 

In 2005, a movie was released entitled “Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices.”  You can see on YouTube, embedded below.  For their abysmal record on shootings and assaults, watch timeframe 1:16:11 - 1:25:06.  At timepoint 1:19, note that Walmart did their own internal study and found that 80% of assaults happened in their parking lots.  When they posted a roving guard in the parking lot, incidents dropped to nearly zero.  And yet, Walmart squashed the study and did not change their national policy regarding policing of their parking lots other than additional security cams.  No surprise, then, that here at Walmart Shootings we found that there is nearly twice the rate of incidents in the parking lots than inside stores in 2012.

It leaves you wondering.  Why Walmart?  What is it about Walmart stores that attracts gun crimes?  Is it their lax policy toward guns (they allow conceal carry in all stores, complicit with state gun law, are the number one retailer of guns in America, and even sell assault rifles).  Other retail giants, like Target, Kmart, and Costco almost never have gun crimes occur on their properties, so the issue isn’t just related to number of stores.  Or is it something about the clientele that Walmart sells to?  I don’t have an answer to these questions – seeking the answers is why this blog is here.

In the meantime, as we go into 2013, shop carefully if you go to your local Walmart.  There might be a Walmart Shooting coming to a store near you.

Remember:

Walmart.  Save money.  Die faster.