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How To Avoid Another Las Vegas Costco Shooting

The coroner’s inquest into the shooting of Erik Scott outside the Summerlin Costco by Las Vegas Metro Police is today. I don’t know how it will turn out and that isn’t the subject of this blog post. There has been a lot of speculation about the case and a Google News search will turn up hundreds of stories.

Michael Bane has just devoted a full episode of his Downrange Radio podcast to this shooting and how one can take steps to avoid something like this happening to you if you are carrying concealed.

As Michael says in the podcast, if you are accosted by staff in a Big Box store about carrying concealed, you have just entered Condition Red. Your goal is to do what is needed to get out of the situation unhurt and in one piece. You need to de-escalate the situation and get out of the store. The podcast gives some good advice on how to do this.

The next major bit of advice that he gives is to be the first one to call the police. Do it if you have been accosted by store employees or store security, do it if you suspect that they have called the police, and especially do it if they are trying to prevent you from exiting the store. All 9-1-1 calls are recorded. Use this to your advantage to get your story on tape – leave the cell phone on to establish a record of your behavior.

Finally, if you leave the store and police are waiting for you outside, do what they say. You can work out the legalities, the rightness of it, etc. later. Your goal is to survive. Put your hands in the air and announce you are going to your knees. Tell them you are a CCW holder and where the gun is located on your body. But for God’s sake, do not reach to show them the gun – let them take it off of you.

We may never know the full story out of Las Vegas as videos have disappeared and there are conflicting stories. What we can do is make sure it doesn’t happen to us.

The podcast is available on iTunes as well as on the Downrange Radio website. It is well worth listening to however you do it.

PS: As Sailorcurt on Captain of a Crew of One has noted, Costco Wholesale Clubs have a restrictive policy that only allows law enforcement to carry in their stores. I posted on it here. Whether I am carrying or not, I do not plan to give them my business.

Costco and Guns

Sailorcurt of the Captain of a Crew of One blog has an interesting post about the wholesale club Costco and their policy on guns in the store.

Their policy is that guns are not allowed in the store except for law enforcement personnel. As a membership store, this is, of course, their right to do so. But as Sailorcurt points out, you have to dig to find out this information. It is not in the FAQ’s on their website nor in their brochure outlining the terms and conditions of your membership.

Not that long ago, a West Point graduate who was carrying concealed was shot and killed by police outside a Costco store in Las Vegas. It is still not clear exactly what happened and, while I hate to be a cynic, I expect the outcome to exonerate the Metro Las Vegas police. What is clear is that a Costco employee called 911 and reported a man with a gun in their store.

It is up to you whether you want to deal with Costco or not. For me, it is a non-issue as we don’t have any Costco’s in western North Carolina. We only have Sam’s Clubs and their policy is to abide by the laws of each state and locality with regard to guns. I suggest you read Sailorcurt’s post above and then make up your own mind after reading it.

UPDATE: “nealatkins” below suggests that I’ve been punked. By extension, then Sailorcurt has been punked. The suggestion that this is not really Costco policy is because of the header which leads to Costco’s in-store firearms policy. It reads:

https://costco.egain.net/system/selfservice.controller?CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=1101&REQUEST_FRM_ESCALATION=true&CONFIGURATION=1001&PARTITION_ID=1&isSuggestedArticle=true

If I just looked at the header I might have agreed. Since I was challenged to “prove” it I will. If you go to www.costco.com and then click on the menu header for Customer Service you will get this:

http://shop.costco.com/Customer-Service/Index

Once there click on the link to “Membership Information”. You will then get a header that looks like this:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/ProductSet.aspx?Prodid=24743

On that page is a section called “How Do I Join?” The fourth item reads:

Membership cards will be issued immediately when you apply in person, or mailed within 7-10 days after receiving the application in the mail. If you desire additional information, please contact our call center at 1-800-774-2678, or e-mail us at customer comments and suggestions.

The part that reads “customer comments and suggestions” is a hyperlink. Clicking on that you will get:

https://costco.egain.net/system/web/custom/initialPage.html?lang=en-US&topnav=&whse=BC

The link to the firearms policy quoted by Sailorcurt begins “costco.egain.net” just as the hyperlink to customer comments and suggestions reads “costco.egain.net”. I am presuming that they have outsourced either parts of their customer service or IT infrastructure. Checking using whois, egain.net is registered to Savvis.net. Savvis, Inc. provides data centers and other IT professional services.

Why did I just go to such lengths just to show that the information presented on this blog is correct? Because I strive to do my best to provide honest, verifiable information on guns, gun laws, legal issues dealing with firearms, and gun policy.