Mayor’s Statement on Shooting in ‘Gun-Free’ Mall the Definition of Insanity

How "Safe" Are You? The House of Cards That is Gun Free Zones, iStock-490657417
Mayor’s Statement on Shooting in ‘Gun-Free’ Mall the Definition of Insanity, iStock-490657417

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Guns have no place in shopping malls or other places in which crowds of people gather. Mayfair has a strict no-gun policy,” Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis R. McBride declared Saturday in a statement about Friday’s Mayfair Mall shootings when eight people were injured. “If the shooter had complied with that policy, no one would have been hurt yesterday.”

If only violent criminals would behave themselves! If only wishes came true!

Such “thinking” is worse than childish, it’s delusional. Not that McBride believes it. He’s just following an M.O. that’s allowed him to fool enough of the people enough of the time to gain political power in an area with a critical mass of useful idiots: Telling them what they want to hear.

That’s why he prattles on about Wauwatosa being “a safe and vibrant community.” McBride is trying to keep a lid on things and appease police who have proven inadequate at protecting the city, and the black community protesting an officer shooting and killing one of its own. Disregard that the circumstances of the shooting make it appear justified, although it being the third fatality for this particular officer in five years should raise more than eyebrows, and more than excuses about why the buck doesn’t stop at his desk.

True to form, McBride straddles the issue, offering a tepid “Statement Affirming Support of Wauwatosa Police Department” on the one hand while issuing  a virtue-oozing “Racial Justice and Equity” statement to mollify those inclined to exploit what Rep. James Sensenbrenner called “deteriorating security” in his letter to the mayor offering to help “restore law and order.”

McBride certainly seems to issue a lot of statements. If you’re utterly ineffectual at solving problems that are largely the result of a “progressive” agenda you’re pushing, you need to have the right weasel words ready to redirect and deflect when things predictably fail.

“The City and Mayfair are committed to ensuring that all who live in and visit Wauwatosa will remain safe,” McBride disingenuously declares, knowing there is no way he can guarantee that, and in fact is subverting true citizen security to promote his own. All one needs to do is consider his “guns have no place” fraud and examine his record on the issue (bearing in mind that on taking his office he swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, which includes the Second Amendment).

He didn’t just limit “no guns” edicts to malls, but to “other places in which crowds of people gather.” That means he’s against being armed in public, carrying openly or concealed (except for police like the aforementioned “trifecta” winner being “the Only Ones” who can).

And that’s not all, by a long shot.

He was a “proud” speaker at a student school walkout demanding prior restraints and gun confiscations without due process. He reiterated his demands to ban guns from “public places.”

“Let’s keep guns out of our public places and rely on our police department to protect us,” he concluded. Just like they’ve never been able to do. Seconds count, minutes away, and all that…

And Democrat voters fall for this rights swindler.

“I have no problem if people want to keep guns for hunting or for safety in their homes,” McBride offers as if the Second Amendment has anything to do with duck hunting, as if the right is limited to home defense, and as if he has any rightful say in the matter. And even that is a lie, as his gushing endorsement of a Biden/Harris administration, with its threatened ban and confiscation of semiautomatics and requirement to “lock up your safety” in the home (and much, much more).

As for Mayfair also being committed to safety, it’s “No Guns” policy has proven to be about as effective as a rational person would expect at stopping violent and predatory sociopaths with a “code of conduct” rule.

“The shooting on Friday also is at least the third time gunfire has been reported in or around the mall this year,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes. “Mayfair is managed by Brookfield Properties, a global real estate services company based in New York.”

I thought there was something familiar about the wording on its “no guns” rule that makes no distinction between lawfully owned and carried firearms and “illegal weapons.” Brookfield imposed the same “code of conduct” language at its Chesterfield Towne Center property in Virginia, where a man was shot to death in July while arguing over face masks. Just days earlier, an eight-year-old boy was shot to death and three others, a juvenile female, an adult male, and an adult female, were wounded at its Riverchase Galleria property in Alabama. All have an identical corporate policy.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” a widely shared quote attributed to, among others, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and Ben Franklin goes. Whoever said it first had it right.

That mayors like Dennis McBride can get elected selling such insanity points more to citizenship malpractice by the “majority” than anything. That’s why the Founders included a Bill of Rights, to codify that there are some things that aren’t dependent on what you can spook a herd into running from.

That’s why property owners like Brookfield would never agree to accept responsibility for the safety of customers who heed its insulting policies and then end up as victims. Test that yourself by printing out this card and seeing if anyone in authority will sign it:

Of course, they won’t, but it can be fun sometimes watching those who would deny your rights squirm when they realize they’ve been caught in a lie. What’s surprising is some deep pockets lawyer hasn’t looked at all the incidents and filed a lawsuit centered on the old boilerplate legalese standby, “knew or should have known.”

And yes, many gun owners realize the chances of getting “caught” violating the rules is low and in many cases, the charge would only be for “trespassing” if they refuse to leave, but the fact remains, posting a place a “gun-free zone” is the same as advertising it’s a criminal empowerment zone, meaning it’s just plain riskier.

That’s why we can probably assume Shannon Watts doesn’t have a “Gun-Free Home” sign in her front yard.


About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

David Codrea

David Codrea
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Vince

Making good people defenseless, doesn’t make bad people harmless. The mayor is an idiot!

JDC

Not mentioned is the possibility that the gang warfare that plagues Chicago (2+ hrs South) has now spread to the Milwaukee area.

You can bet the Wauwatosa Mayor will have police protect his house, just like Chicago’s did during the civil unrest…that is pulling police off protecting public property to cover her own private needs.

I would suspect that if Biden/Harris take over we will never see another “mostly peaceful protest” on TV as they just won’t cover them.

GomeznSA

JDC – I’d be willing to place a small wager that Milwaukee has its own gang issues 😉

Cruiser

Milwaukee has had gangs since the early 60’s but it was a small problem. The Democrats try to keep it quiet to promote Milwaukee as a safe place to live. “What they don’t know, won’t hurt them”.

Green Mtn. Boy

You expect different from a Leftist,one must remember that Leftism is a mental disease and they utter insane statements with regularity.

JoeUSooner

Leftists should NOT be allowed out in public without 1) prior extensive psychiatric treatment, and 2) a Keeper.

Green Mtn. Boy

That protocol may do more to reduce these types of events than anything else.

Mack

No, Socialism is Evil.

That’s it.

mcb

If the shooter had followed the “it’s illegal to shoot someone for no earthly reason, whether they are gathered in a crowd or alone on the beach” rule this would have never happened…..I think my rule is better because with my rule the Second Amendment still has validity.

JoeUSooner

“If – IF – the shooter had followed the ‘it’s illegal’ rule…” Hey, IF the Pilgrims had shot a skunk instead of a turkey, it would have changed the hell out of Thanksgiving!! [‘IF’ is the biggest word in the English language.]

gregs

yes it is surprising that someone hasn’t yet filed a lawsuit over the inability to protect oneself on private property and the owner of said property not protecting them while they are on their property. if a visitor comes to my home and hurts themselves, i am liable for that, why not them?
leftists are incapable of telling the truth. they use words that appeal to a persons feelings/emotions but are intellectually vacant. i do not follow laws that are in opposition to the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

RoyD

You are only culpable if your unreasonable negligence caused or greatly contributed to the harm which befalls your visitor while on your property. If a business or govt entity is checking everyone for weapons before entry and then someone manages to get a gun past the checkpoint and harms someone then they will have a level of negligence for which they will have to answer.

Last edited 3 years ago by RoyD
Elisa Delaurenti

Perhaps if we carried around release forms, to have the business/property owners take full responsibility for my and my families’ personal safety. “A gun free zone? Here, before we give you our money, we require you to sign this form, taking full legal responsibility for anything that happens to me or my family and property while in your “gun free zone”…..”

Last edited 3 years ago by Elisa Delaurenti
Fed-Up

The shooter was caught. 15 year old Hispanic male. There should be a law against 15 year olds buying guns!! Probably bought it from a gun show too!!! (Sarcasm)

RoyD

They are free to state whatever gun policy they want and I am free to disregard it if I want. Green Mtn. Boy has already posted what else I was going to say.

Green Mtn. Boy

You nailed it.

JohnnieBo77

“If the shooter had complied with that policy, no one would have been hurt yesterday.” Um, if the shooter had complied with the law that you’re not supposed to shoot people indiscriminately with the intent to murder, no one would’ve been hurt.

Forget completely that to every person intent on killing with a firearm, a “gun-free zone” is a target-rich environment.

Ram

The shooter will be charged as a juvenile, so about five years.
Mayor McBride should be charged with criminal negligence, for
his complicity in maintaining an unsafe environment.

KK

That statement was issued back when they were looking for the “THIRTY SOMETHING YEAR OLD DEMON WHITE SUPREMACIST WHO WAS CARRYING A GUN IN A GUN FREE ZONE” . . . now it’s a “15 year old boy (of color)” . . . you know, of the “Brown” variety – as in “Black and Brown people”. . . as opposed to white oppressors. From NBC 5 CHICAGO: After initially describing the suspect as being in their 20s or 30s [and uhhhh . . . WHITE!!! . . . YOU SAID WHITE!!!], authorities generated a new suspect description thanks to surveillance… Read more »

RoyD

The “news media” is almost exclusively populated by liberals. Some of us can remember the nightly “reports” by Walter Cronkite about the happenings that day in Vietnam. It was slanted and yet most did not see it. Satan is a wiley foe.

KenPCD

True regarding Cronkite. I remember his coverage of the presidential election when Nixon was elected. He was so clearly in he pocket of the Left even then. His bias was very clear to me even as a teenager. I never trusted his reporting or commentary after that.

Elisa Delaurenti

That manufactured racism, in their beady little eyes, gives them the “right” to shoot places and people up. And how dare any cracka complain.

Larry

I’m sure he was a “white Hispanic.” After all, he had a gun.

Elisa Delaurenti

If I’m in it, it is not a “gun free zone”.

uncle dudley

When these type of people create gun free zones they are just asking for some nut to come in and shoot up the place, where would a criminal feel more safe about not getting shot than a gun free zone,DUH!
If they don’t trust licensed conceal and carry people to enter their buildings then they don’t need my business or money.

GomeznSA

uncle – what they don’t trust is ANYONE that they cannot control. ALL of their rules are built around the fact that they want to have absolute and total power and control.

JoeUSooner

“elected by selling insanity” proves Churchill’s observation that “The greatest argument against true democracy is a 5-minute chat with any average voter.” (!!!)

Last edited 3 years ago by JoeUSooner
MICHAEL J

Sure, disarm honest people to stop criminals. Politicians are the stupidest people and we vote these idiots in, or something did. You could go after these thugs who won’t comply but it’s easier to target the law abiding.

KenPCD

Yet ANOTHER effing leftist democrat idiot.

Grim
  1. Let’s keep in mind Hizzoner McBride ain’t no rocket scientist and obviously skipped out on his class in logic to smoke a few doobies, instead. You can always tell a liberal arts major, but you can’t tell them much.
Snuffy

If the wishful thinking behind Gun Free zones actually worked, so would Crime free zones, Disease free zones and Poverty Free zones.

GAMtns

This is why I refuse to shop in Gun Free to Kill Zones. These idiots have been fed the delusional progressive pragmatism that if I wish it to be so (my safety it won’t happen. They must be given frontal lobotomies. I feel safer in Lauren Bobert’s restaurant in Rifle, Colorado where the waitresses and public carry than I do in most other places.

Chuck

I follow the same philosophy. A business that doesn’t respect Law Abiding Concealed or Open Carry, isn’t a business that deserves my money.
I’ve no problem with the business banning guns. As a private entity, they have the right to do so, even if I believe their policy is in error. And we have the right to not shop there.

Rowboat

Take a page from the Left; start yelling discrimination, you’re violating my civil rights, I’m offended and traumatized, stage demonstrations against them, Doxx the company executives and protest at their homes!
This approach has worked tremendously for the Left, why not the Right ?

Pa John

A reminder from articles past: Don’t Feed The Gun Prohibitionists!https://www.ccrkba.org/antigunbusinesses There were an absolute minimum of 110 to 126 million gun owners in this country in 2019, probably decidedly more. There are many millions more now with all the countless first time gun buyers so far this year. Imagine if we all simply and responsibly used the power of free choice that our free markets make possible, and simply refused to patronize anti-gun establishments, en masse. Get woke, go broke. This free market response is definitely working in sports and against traitorous Fox News and etc., and the power of… Read more »

Neanderthal75

Great article David!

What gets me is DA’s, cops, or Attorneys General in the states were these shootings have taken place, have bothered to file charges against the property owners and the management, for felony public endangerment with their gun free zones!

The lack of differentiation between law-abiding citizens caring legal guns, and criminals illegally carrying their illegal guns never seems to come to the fore, and it strikes me as ripe and fertile ground for successful lawsuits by civilians, and criminal charges by authorities.

Cheers from the Oil Patch in Central Wyoming

Mack

If all souls complied with The 10 Commandments, no one would need saving.

What would the Mayor say to that?

Cruiser

To all you so called Officials, You are elected to govern for Us, not govern over us.

Gene Ralno

Democrats want US citizens to believe making the U.S. safer for criminals will make it safer for their victims. Americans need to ask themselves if they believe being disarmed makes them safer? What kind of political leader would disarm his people while howling about the peril they face? They can’t have it both ways.

GomeznSA

What I have yet to determine is if folks like this particular mayor are really this stupid or if they know exactly how delusional they are. Do they really not understand that criminals are criminals because they do not follow any rules.

RoyD

This Mayor is too busy pandering to the “diverse” crowd and those who have a slavish devotion to them. A pox on all their houses!

Green Mtn. Boy

The Tardation is strong in hiz honor.

Mack

“Wauwatosa is a safe and vibrant community.” — Dennis R. McBride (2020)

“They who can give up essential Liberty to obtain a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” — Benjamin Franklin (1775)

Any questions?

MarkE

Added to the bottom of the sign that states “No Weapons Allowed Inside This Building” should be the statement ” Because Inside This Building You are Protected By This Sign”.
That signage would make about as much sense, but would be just as innovatively stupid, as the Mayor’s nugget of wisdom “If the shooter had complied with that policy, no one would have been hurt yesterday.” It appears Captain Obvious has met his civilian counterpart.

Stone

We can sit here typing out the situation being racist, white, anti-racist, black, all day. But most everybody has missed the bigger opportunity. Something I have done often is when walking into a restaurant or business that prohibits guns (most McDonalds today for instance) I ask about what type of protection upgrades they have made since posting that sign and restricting my God-Given right to self defense and the Second Amendment. Do you want to know what a deer looks like staring at headlights? That’s what the manager gives you when you ask that question. So look back at that… Read more »

RoyD

“Ain’t nobody got time for that!” Local story that went national. And fitting to your solution.

Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That (Original + AutoTune) – YouTube

nobodyuknow

McBride and his moronic statement is truly indicative of the mental midget that he is. Of course, such is the logic of these people. Most of them could not shove their thumb up between their gluteus maximus if they used both hands. What really boggles your mind is that the people of Wauwatosa voted this ignorant P.O.S. into the office of Mayor!

Rowboat

I hereby declare that all criminals, both felons AND scofflaws,cease and desist any criminal activity that has been and is planned .
Criminal activity has continued to be precariously high and makes our community look bad, and our elected officials appear inept.
So stop doing criminal stuff !
There, that will fix it .
Oh, wait ! I just saw a unicorn run past farting rainbows !

WP

“If only violent criminals would behave themselves! If only wishes came true!”

If wishes were fishes, we’d never eat meat on Friday.

Last edited 3 years ago by WP
GUNFUN

In Idaho, the rule is that when you are on someone else’s property, you must comply with their rules. Eitherwise, you can be found guilty of tresspassing. That means that if you enter a gun free property with a firearm, you can be found guilty of tresspassing if they decide to press charges. Obviously, that will never happen if you comply with them the times that you are caught. Interesting to note, they can make the same restrictions based on anything. For instance, they could have democrat propaganda free zone, a Levi jeans free zone, ugly sweater free zone, etc.… Read more »

2WarAbnVet
Maybe they need more "NO GUNS ALLOWED" signs. Then criminals would know they couldn't enter the area with weapons.
Last edited 3 years ago by 2WarAbnVet