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Few safe places are left in our armed America 

February 8, 2001

BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST 


There are only a few places left where I feel safe.

I still feel safe when I'm at church, when I'm at my doctor's office, and when
I'm in a casino.

Even though the church I attend collects thousands of dollars during Sunday
services, no robber has ever burst in and shot the place up. Thank the Lord.

I've never heard of some sick patient opening fire on other patients because
they had to wait too long to see the doctor.

And at the riverboats, the most security guards usually have to deal with is
settling disputes over who was playing what slot machine first.

But violence has reared its monstrous head in so many other places that it has
reduced our quality of life.

Most of us no longer consider schools safe. Not after the Columbine High School
shootings. In crime-scarred communities, residents do not feel relaxed sitting
on the stoop or on the back porch, and many of us ride the L keenly aware
hawkers could pull out more than socks from their backpacks.

Some of us now jog down our quiet neighborhood streets a little more wary
because we remember that Ricky Byrdsong was gunned down in front of his
children while jogging in an upscale suburban community.

Last week, the grocery store became another place where law-abiding people have
to look over their shoulders, fearful that what happened at a Northwest Side
Jewel store could happen someplace else.

When Irene Jones, a Jewel supervisor, was killed by a gunman during an
attempted holdup, we again witnessed our vulnerability.

Just as we no longer live in a world where the biggest threat at school is the
obnoxious bully, Jones' murder forever changed her co-workers' world. Instead
of having to worry about the occasional shoplifter, now they have to consider
that a strange character may be packing a firearm.

And no grocery shopper wants to worry about anything other than remembering to
give the coupons to the cashier.

Our sense of well-being was shattered again this week when four people were
killed and four other employees at the Navistar plant in Melrose Park were
wounded by a gun-toting criminal with malice in his heart.

It is no wonder that grieving relatives of the victims are demanding answers,
now.

When a person like Willie D. Baker, a convicted sex offender, thief, and now
murderer, can keep firearms illegally after a conviction, law enforcement
officials have failed to safeguard citizens.

Clearly, more could have been done to strip Baker of firearms. The least we
should expect is that someone on his way to prison, as Baker was, wouldn't have
had an arsenal of guns in his possession.

And we shouldn't have to witness a tragedy to discover that there are gaping
cracks in the systems that are supposed to protect us.

When you consider the level of violence many of us are exposed to in our daily
lives, it is ludicrous that instead of looking for weapons in 1998 when Baker
was convicted of a sex crime (he did have a valid Firearm Owners Identification
Card), prosecutors took Baker's word that he would not possess firearms.

We are in denial.

Denial is the only condition that explains why, given studies that show
workplace violence is an epidemic, employers would post unarmed security guards
in the workplace to protect employees.

An average of 20 workers are murdered each week in the United States, according
to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Nearly 1 million
workers were victims of non-fatal workplace assaults last year.

How are unarmed security guards supposed to protect us from disgruntled
ex-employees, dissatisfied customers, abusive ex-spouses or ticked-off readers,
in a society where guns can be so easily obtained on the street?

What makes anyone think that when these malcontents show up, they won't be
armed? And if they are, what can an unarmed guard do except try and save his or
her own life?

Without a weapon of her own, there was nothing the unarmed Navistar security
guard could do to stop Baker from going into the plant. She could have only
become a victim herself.

Reluctantly, I'm beginning to appreciate the other side of the gun-control
argument. If law enforcement fails to protect citizens from shooters,
law-abiding citizens should be able to protect themselves, anywhere.

This is the reality.

In too many places, we are sitting ducks.

If someone at the Navistar plant--especially the security guard--had access to
a weapon, Baker's victims may have stood a chance.

E-mail Mary A. Mitchell at marym@suntimes.com




 
                
"The militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves, ... all
men capable of bearing arms;..."