gun-free zone no guns sign mall of america
Officials lock down the west wing of the Mall of America after a shooting was reported, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022 in Bloomington, Minn. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

 

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota forbids card-carrying good guys — you know, law-abiding citizens — from possessing legal self-defense tools there. Criminals, on the other hand, are perfectly free to disregard the “no guns” signage and have done so for years.

So when two “groups” of teens had a mostly-peaceful disagreement Friday evening during pre-Christmas shopping, things went sideways when one of the participants pulled a gun and shot a 19-year-old multiple times, killing him.

Clearly the gang members groups of yoots not only didn’t care about the Mall of America’s policy forbidding guns, they really didn’t give much consideration to well-established laws against shooting people and killing them, either.

Signs around the Mall of America indicate that a lockdown is in progress after a shooting was reported Friday, Dec. 23, 2022 in Bloomington, Minn.  (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Meanwhile, the law-abiders who were in the mall at the time of the shooting had nothing but harsh words to use to defend themselves against the gun-toting teens thanks to MOA’s policies.


As Bloomington police Chief Booker Hodges made clear, he had 16 cops on the beat that night in the huge mall. Yet despite the police presence and a lot more who responded to the call of shots fired, the killers escaped the property, stopping at a White Castle for a quick bite after the shooting.

It wasn’t until the next day when police finally made arrests.

From the Associated Press . . .

Five people were arrested in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man at the Mall of America that sent the sprawling commercial center into lockdown on one of the final days of the holiday shopping season, police said Saturday.

At an evening news conference, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges announced the arrests in connection with the Friday night shooting in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington and said all would face murder charges, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Hodges said the arrested suspects were two men, 18, and three 17-year-old male juveniles, according to the Star Tribune, and they were taken into custody in the morning at a home in nearby St. Louis Park by SWAT team officers from three jurisdictions.

The chief added that one of the 18-year-olds is believed to be the shooter, though another suspect may also have fired a weapon. A sixth suspect was still being sought.

“In Bloomington, if you come here and murder people at our mall, you get one of these at at Christmas,” the newspaper quoted Hodges as saying while holding up an orange prison suit.

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. The only thing that stops bad people with evil in their hearts is a good guy with a gun, not a useless sign with make-believe magical powers. Or silly gun control laws.

Two first responders and an ambulance are seen at the entrance to Nordstrom at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., after reports of shots fired on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Depriving the law-abiding of their ability to defend themselves is not only short-sighted and wrong, it results in more dead bodies.

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114 COMMENTS

    • to the gfz’s.
      I will not comply. I will not hide because the government refuses to arrest, prosecute and imprison criminals.

      • Real question and not trolling. You gonna open carry while not complying? You said “Open carry is a “hard civil right”. “ I wonder how many here would actually take action on what they say they believe. It’s pretty easy to not comply when no one knows you have a gun.

        • Yes open carry is a “hard right”. But here I’m talking CCW. I don’t open carry in shopping malls.

          The two examples I can think of off the top of my head, one in Indiana and, one in Oregon. The good guys with guns intervened and stopped the shooters. Under the circumstances that they faced at that time, it made sense for them to intervene when they chose to do so.

          From myself to intervene I would have to have similar circumstances. In those two examples you had two individuals who were actively hunting people. People who were complete strangers to them. In this recent example at the Mall of America, there seems to have been a gunfight between two groups of people. Not an active hunter-killer situation. I personally would not intervene. Unless I noticed them turn their guns onto the random individuals around them.

          They most likely are going to leave the area, “as soon as their business between each other” has been concluded.

          For me open carry should be used “strategically” as well as “tactically”. The “strategic use” for example would be as a political statement in a public rally. Preferably with other open carriers. Or after, or during a riot when especially the police refused to stop the violence.

          The “Tactical use” of open carry is simply a demonstration to the General Public, that you can in fact open carry your firearm, and do so safely and responsibly. I look at this as general firearms education for the public. It’s actually common to see individuals open carrying in Kentucky and Tennessee. And when I say “common”, I mean I almost always see, at least one person open carrying a sidearm daily.

          I see them in lumber supply, farm stores and big and small food stores. And at gas stations. And I see them at restaurants as well.

          So I’m not sure about other states. Certainly in California the only people who are allowed to carry openly ae the police and the military.

          Also some of the shopping malls that I have visited do not have posted signs about weapons at all. Some of them do however say that minors must be accompanied by an adult. And I remember when the ACLU actually sued a shopping mall in Newport News Virginia. Because that mall put a ban on all minors unless they were accompanied by an adult. Fortunately for all of us the anti-family ACLU lost that case.

          So why doesn’t the Mall of America just ban these minors from coming to their business if they make so much trouble???
          Answer, because teenagers have millions upon millions of dollars that they spend in the retail business.

          So it seems these shopping mall business owners are willing to put up, with a few gun fights???
          In order to get the ($$$) that teenagers spend in their businesses.

          I understand that some of these credit card companies will actually issue a credit card to a 16 year old. So they will give a credit card to a child with no proof of possessing the concept of Financial and personal responsibility.

          But you can’t have a 16 year old who has been trained and educated and has been observed to understand what personal responsibility means, by their parents, and then to be able to possess, own, and buy a firearm?

          Thank you for the question. And I apologize for the lengthy response. But I thought it deserved it.
          big(smile)

        • Where did Chris say that? I will not comply doesn’t mean open carry necessarily. CC is an excellent alternative to being a victim.

        • Yes it is. But it can and does also save lives.

          The question comes: WHEN evil confronts and lives are in the line, WILL you bust your own cover and take control of the would be murderers stopping their crimes?

      • I appreciate the thought out response. Mostly here it seems if you question the narrative you get some childish hurt feelings reply that doesn’t lead to any further discussion.

        • @muckraker. The post about open carry a few days back.

          The far left seems to be more willing to defy authority against perceived threats than the middle or right. Of course it helps when authorities refuse to prosecute.

        • My apologies. But I forgot to specify that my definition of strategic open carry is specifically for long gun open carry. While tactical open carry, I reserve for side arm open carry.

    • If the mall bans the right to defend yourself they kind of owe it to the customers to provide a safe shopping experience.

    • If I don’t have to submit to a manual search, metal detectors, or body scanners then I ignore such signs.

    • The worst thing that happened is, some stores at the mall lost holiday shopping business. Of course, since they support the anti-gun MoA, they sort of deserve that financial pain.

        • {An illuminated sign apparently at the mall entrance}

          “In Accordance with
          Minnesota Law,

          MALL OF AMERICA
          BANS GUNS IN
          THESE PREMISES”

          H’mm.

          Well, based on the language in the ‘Bruen’ decision, it looks like signs like that will be ‘No Bueno’ in the not-distant future… 🙂

    • That be a “TwoFer” in LEO lingo.

      But au contraire, Ole Cordite Breath. That couldn’t have happened. Murder is illegal. It is a GFZ. IMPOSSIBLE, I tell ya, impossible.

      Politicians with laws never stop a bad guy with a gun.
      They only control the good guys, which is their true agenda.

      This is not Gun Violence. It is Defective Citizen Violence.

      I’m not saying we should shoot Defective Citizens. I merely advocate giving them guns and plenty of ammo, transporting them to the Halls of Congress, and let nature handle the issue.

      Now, THAT be a real TwoFer!!!!!

      • Yeah, I haven’t seen any updates on what took place after multiple busloads of recent boarder jumpers showed up in front of the veep’s residence. I would expect not to see it on the nightly newscast.

        • I’m confident they spared zero haste in busing them as far away from there as they possibly could…

    • The teenager who was killed in Friday’s shooting at Minnesota’s Mall of America has been identified by family, and five people have been arrested in connection with the his death.

      Johntae Hudson, 19, was identified by family as the victim. In a GoFundMe fundraising page, Johntae’s sister, Janayea Hudson, remembered her brother as “the most loving and caring person to his family and friends.”

      She added that Johntae, 19, “radiated positive and fun energy and his smile lit up the room” and was “an overall great person.” Janayea also said that she and her family now “want to give him the funeral he richly deserve”.

        • They have raised $9,775 raised of the $8,500 goal they set for themselves, so Johntae can have the funeral he deserves, plus over $1,000 for an open bar of ‘Foh-tays’ to poured over his fresh grave.

          (I’m sure alcoholics everywhere are wincing at the thought of perfectly-good 40-ounce beers being wasted, poured on the ground, and not filtered through drinker kidneys first… 🙂 )

      • Anyone want to wager whether or not he could read that diploma he was holding? I know in Decatur, IL, exactly 2% of BLACK students can read at grade level. 1% can do math. In one city ZERO percent of the black kids could read. But 87% graduate.

        • Meanwhile in other news Bryan Christopher Kohberger is a graduate in graduate school and he’s been arrested as a suspect in the stabbing murders of the 4 Idaho college students. Who cares who can read and write, a killer/criminal is a killer/criminal no matter how illiterate he/she is. Edjumacation is good, but guns are importanter.

      • Too much snow on the fields right now to run a manure spreader. But a couple of months steeping in the liquifier would give him the burial that he deserves, at least that way he’d have a future in agriculture.

    • If Blood A kills Crip B (or vice-versa) then no great loss. It is that their standards of marksmanship and firearms handling skills are lacking at best often resulting in a lot of collateral damage is the problem to all at large.

  3. No metal detectors…no patdowns…so no real enforcement of gun-free zone.
    Maybe the family should sue the mall for failure to enforce the rules.
    Just a thought.
    Then maybe those so-called gun-free zones might go away.

  4. Nordstrom doesn’t post at their entrances plus in MN posting is irrelevant if you’re concealed. If they see you carrying they can ask you to leave. If you don’t and the cops are called you could get a misdemeanor. All totally BS and against our 2A rights but doesn’t prevent you from carrying. Did it all the time when living in that shite hole. Glad to be out of there!

    • Same here in CA. Signage must be posted at every possible entrance to a property or establishment, or else it’s not enforceable. My local mall posts its “GFZ” text in tiny letters at only the main entrance and nowhere else, so it’s moot.

      • “My local mall posts its “GFZ” text in tiny letters at only the main entrance and nowhere else, so it’s moot.”

        I’m willing to bet that was deliberate, so they could act all innocent like if someone ‘violated’ that ‘rule’.

        ‘Bruen’ was clear, only *very* limited ares can legally be declared GFZs, and the Leftist Scum ™ are just gonna have to get used to it… 🙂

        • Bruen knocks out sensitive places laws, like this one seems to be. It doesn’t stop stores or malls from deciding on their own to ban guns. Those signs don’t have the force of law in my state, but they keep me out because I don’t want to give my money to somebody who hates me. I’ll take my money and go elsewhere.

  5. See, dacain the DUNDERHEAD and MINOR Miner49er how well your “safe places” work? Would you believe, not at all? Only a fool or a anti-gun radical would believe that such “gun free zones” do a darn bit of good.

    • They will just respond that (as far as they know…) this doesn’t happen in Japan. Therefore the “solution” is to be like Japan and not allow guns, immigrants, or minorities.

      • I agree with the “don’t allow “migrants” Meaning ILLEGAL ALIENS. Guns are not a problem nor are minorities. Criminals, and WOKE DA’s are a MAJOR PROBLEM.

  6. DA will drop most of the counts in a plea bargain, possibly some prison time for the shooter with the rest released on “probation”.
    This will count towards the clearance rate for serous crimes, although the punishment will be far from fitting the crime.

  7. Seems like some gang bangers killing another gang banger.

    Maybe the mall needs to ban gang members from entering, rather than law abiding citizens with CCW permits?

    In any event, one less gang banger and five or six criminals will be locked up for MURDER. Hope they all get the death penalty, or at least life without possibility of parole!

    Good riddance!

    • How about those NAMES? Are they issued with the drug inventory for the day, or what? I could sit around all day dreaming and not come up with names like that, much less pronounce them. WTF is the MATTER with people?

      • My late sister in law was a teacher in Minnesota, and had to try and pronounce some of these ScrabbleNames – Lemonjelo isn’t pronounced as ” Lemon Jello”
        “Shithayd” isn’t actually Shit Head, and who can forget La-a….it’s Ladasha, ” and the dash don’t be silent” said the darling’s mother Fahquief. Yes, Fauquief, as in I shit you not.

        • “Yes, Fauquief, as in I shit you not.”

          Pronounced “Fuck-queef”, by any chance? That would be so *perfect*… 😉

  8. “a mostly-peaceful disagreement”

    Are we sure this wasn’t a case of mutual combat? If that happened in Chicago, then there would be no need to charge them with a crime.

  10. I think there is a connection between an individual being given a name that is often not pronounceable and a later life in crime. Could it be a mental thing?

    • So I guess names like Micheal, Timothy, Bradley, Scott, Adam or even Kip means they won’t murder anybody.

      • Sure haven’t heard of any recently. And 90% of the people in this nation have names like that, seems like they would be more common on the murder rolls, hm?

        • Theodore “Ted” Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dalmer, Dennis Rader, Alton Coleman, Anthony Edward Sowell, Gary Ridgway,, John Allen Muhammed, Richard Ramirez, …..etc. I could go on all day long listing serial killers names that are very pronounceable. A persons name has nothing to do with their likely hood of being a killer. Unless you’re willing to say more pronounceable names makes you more likely to become a serial killer. The internet is a great place to see how foolish people really are in the real world.

  11. Stop, Search & Frisk,
    Sounds like a good tactic to me,
    Especially since it’s pretty easy to tell who the bangers are, they kinda all have a look & act like animals.
    I mean, what else have all those Mall Cop’s got to do?

        • Nope just illegal and undesirable. Stop and frisk was an extreme reaction to an extreme problem and as bad as NY is now it’s nowhere near as bad as it was then. We will see how bad we get before we get another change extreme or sensible as it happens.

  12. Clearly the Gun Free Zone signs failed to work and caused death and injury. When is someone going to sue the socks off the parties responsible for lying and leading the public into a false sense of security?

    When are these signs that are killing our children going to be banned? We need Sign Control Now.

  14. I knew the low life p. o. s. of garabage looked like before even seeing the arrest photos.. educated guess.. 2 groups arguing (probably about Lebron over MJ) and when one of them had their little feelings hurt because their dad is nonexistent and their mom gobbling on the corner of the mall and never raised them properly..

  16. There are an infinite amount of choices one can make to avoid this lifestyle and relatively few one could make to get into this lifestyle. Even with the proverbial deck stacked against you.

    You’d think there’s be more of a movement from the wokeys to inform their stated target audience that you don’t have to be a piece of shit. Instead they spend their time defending, excusing and deifying pieces of shit while encouraging people who may not be pieces of shit to go out and act like pieces of shit.

    Strange.

    • Actually shit is usually pretty laid back. It just lays there on the ground and dries up. Never saw any murderous shit. You can see the process in any field where farm animals are grazing. 😉

      • There are photos above of murderous pieces of shit for your reference, if you haven’t seen any before.

    • …”it’s a cultural thing” seems to sum it up…so does “don’t be a rat”…so don’t expect much change…

  17. “the killers escaped the property, stopping at a White Castle for a quick bite after the shooting.”

    Murderers do get hungry. Out of or in Prison. And it gets expensive to feed them in prison. Unless the place is run by Sheriff Joe.

  18. Thank you to the open-borders crowd. And thank you to the removal of the father and replacing him with a welfare check crowd.

  19. 3rd world mentality right there. Time to remove the trash from America. Anyone who can’t behave need to be removed, sent to live someplace else. Prison or Antarctica, I don’t care which. And BTW, the Mall of America sign banning guns may be legal there, but not in Texas. If I see one like that here, we still walk right in anyway, me and Mr. Sauer.

    • So does any licensed carrier here in Minnesota. If asked to leave, leave. If you want to make a statement, cough up the $25 for the administrative fine. Me, I choose not to be in the mix of stupid people in stupid places, and have made the 28 mile round trip there exactly twice since it opened and carried exactly both times.

    • Could evict them to Liberia but I’ve heard African-Africans don’t like African-Americans for their attitude.

    • I think it’s a funny observation to me at least. But it does seem that the “Glock switch” is far more likely to be in the possession of black criminals than white criminals. Of course they could be equally distributed?
      But the news reports don’t seem to indicate that.

      And I don’t think it should be illegal to possess a Glock switch. In fact I think everyone should be able to EDC a machine pistol. It would force everyone to be more polite to each other.

      • “And I don’t think it should be illegal to possess a Glock switch.”

        LKB thinks we can kill the ‘Hughes’ amendment, and if we do, I want me a Glock switch on a long-slide Glock SBR with a forward grip on the flashlight rail.

        Call it a poor man’s non-roller-delayed MP5… 🙂

  21. “GUN-FREE ZONES” are really not gun free. It’s about time we start calling them by their realistic name, “KILLING ZONES.”

  24. Interesting that when black men commit these crimes and are clearly guilty no one says a word about it. If that had been a white person they would have been called a white supremacist
    conservative Trump supporter. And no I am not a racist having 5 black cousins. two Chinese cousins and a grandson from South Korea. I just call things the way I see them. We get people blowing a gasket whenever a black person gets put down even justifiably and the entire nation erupts in outrage. Lets understand the issues before we keep overusing the term racism. Most of the worst racists today are the radical Leftists because they don’t like anyone or anything that disagrees with them and it is not only race, but religion, and other issues as well. If you don’t like this comment, tough!!!!

  26. groups of yoots not only didn’t care about the Mall of America’s policy forbidding guns,

    I have never paid any attention to bull–it signs “forbidding” firearms, but then I do not go around indiscriminately shooting and killing people because they upset me.

  29. TILL THEY SETUP THE MALLS LIKE AIR PORT SECURTY , WON’T BE ABLE TO CONTROL WHOEVER WANTS TO CARRY IN A FIRE ARM …
    SO BEST TO ARM YOURSELF , GUESS STAY AWAY FROM MALLS … ???
    HAVEN’T BEEN TO ONE IN LAST TWO YEARS …

  33. Funny how those with criminal intent, or inclination never bother to read the signs prohibiting firearms. Seems those signs only apply to the more or less law abiding.
    Perhaps they should instead put up signs declaring such areas as Target Rich Environments. Or free fire zones.

  34. the 19yo will be counted by grabbers as a child murdered by gun violence.

    any bets on the shooters being on some form of supervised release when it happened?

  35. GOOD GUYS WITH GUNS??

    Remind me here. HOW MANY elfin GOOD GUYS with GUNS [ie POLICE OFFICERS] were present in the MALL ? Did not ”Make a Jake’s’ worth of difference did they so how many GOOD GUYS with guns do you suggest are needed to control a couple of young lunatics with guns in the first place?? Alongside a dozen or so Police Officers??
    What absolute bloody crap you come out with?? Defy’s any kind of Logic or Critical thinking that’s for sure.
    With FiREARMS so easily and widely available and with the obvious involvement of those obtaining firearmes legally turning over a buck or several, there is absolutely NO WAY on god’s Green Earth that can prevent firearms falling into criminal hands.

    • Albert L J Hall, First of all let me clue you in. In America a Shopping Mall is considered private property and is NOT usually patrolled by police. It is the RESPONSBILITY of the Mall owners to provide private security. Very few have a regular police presence.
      Now don’t you think it’s tie for your to shut up as you have no clue what you are talking about?

  36. This happens over and over just look to democrat controlled cities that ban firearms like Chicago, at least one shooting a day. The only conclusion that makes sense is that liberal gun grabbers just aren’t very smart, or live in a fantasy world.

  37. Meh I just sit in my Denver apartment touching myself and would rather be victimized instead of defending myself or loved ones.

    C’est la vie.

  38. I just sit in my Denver apartment touching myself and would rather be victimized instead of defending myself or loved ones.

    C’est la vie.

  39. No doubt the “yoots” were laughing like hyenas and high-fiving each other while they ate their burgers. By the time they reach their teens, gang members are soulless animals.

  41. until young black males become a targeted group this will continue…don’t hold your breath…but it is doable….

  42. Look at it this way: It’s a win-win situation. One creep is incarcerated for a few days, thus keeping him form shooting anybody for a short while and the other creep goes to the morgue, thus permanently taking him off the streets. When one gang banger killed another we used to call it misdemeanor murder and a win-win for society. We used to send murders to prison back then so it was a better win. One creep in prison for a few years instead of a few days as it is now and the other in the morgue. Two wins for the price of one prosecution.

  43. How are they enforcing that no-gun policy?
    Maybe these places should get sued a few times for non-enforcement/negligence.
    That might make them think twice about putting up signs about a policy that they have no intention of enforcing in any meaningful way.
    Otherwise they would have metal detectors of some sort along with security personnel at every entrance.
    Just putting up the signs is meaningless.

  44. I always carry concealed, no matter what. We have a beer bar in Tucson, Craft Republic, which has conspicuous signs saying No Guns Allowed, I which I always carry. However, I also ask the greeter, while pointing to the sign, if they are going to take a bullet to save me. Sometimes I get a blank stare, sometimes a titter, but never a straight answer.

  45. Signs don’t stop anyone from packing , they just suggest you don’t do it . I ignore that crap as we are a constitutional carry state. Gun free zones create a target rich environment for criminals and I refuse to be a victim due to some clowns fear of a armed law biding citizen .

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