To: The Mall Of America
From: Mitch Berg, Guy Who’s Never So Much As Stolen a Candy Bar, Ever
Re: Adios
Dear Mall of America,
There’ve been muggings in your parking ramps.
I had a friend get her catalytic converter stolen in your ramp.
And of course, crime has become endemic all around the Mall, starting when the Blue Line started almost 20 years ago, and growing ever since.
And of course, there’ve been shootings (and, let’s be honest, worse).
So, this is your response?:
After several high-profile shootings in the past two years, the mall has added its first gun-sniffing dog. For about 20 years, MOA has used K9s to sniff out explosives, but now they’re training all eight of their dogs to detect firearms, a fairly new concept in the canine world.
Kenny McDonough, the mall’s Canine Lt., says the dogs undergo an extensive eight-week training in-house. They learn to smell every component of a firearm to detect who may have a gun on them.
Of course, I could have told you the result:
Mall officials say most of their finds have been conceal and carry people who weren’t aware that the mall is private property and doesn’t allow firearms.
Which, of course, violates state law – but as the late great Joel Rosenberg taught us, “test cases are for other people”.
The only shame is that, like so many other products, services and companies that people who care about freedom are boycotting, I haven’t patronized the MOA for a couple of years now. It’s just not fun anymore.
But you’re making it clear that people like me – people who care about protecting the lives of the innocent – are your real enemies.
So thanks for the memories, MOA. I’m done with you.
That is all.
Glad to see you’re catching up, Mitch. I decided I was pretty much done with the MOA around 2005, when they started posting. It also didn’t hurt that getting in there is a zoo, and I can’t think of too many stores at the MOA that don’t exist in better form somewhere else within an hour’s drive.
Most of the malls around here are dying so there’s no point in visiting them anyway. Interestingly, one of the few in our area that is still doing OK has never had much crime reported there.
I’m sure it’s only a coincidence that it’s also the only one in the area that doesn’t ban the lawful carry of firearms.
The two malls nearest my house both had “firearms prohibited” signs at the doors until they went out of business and closed down.
I gotta wonder how effective the new policy will be.
Sniffing out permitted carriers does not reduce the risk because they pose no risk.
Sniffing out un-permitted carriers would reduce risk if you could effectively expel them, but can you? Can you ban someone who made one mistake once? Can you take the chance of letting them back in, knowing they flouted the law before? Can you do anything at all, if your actions will have a disparate impact on a member of a historically underrepresented minority race; i.e. racial discrimination because you jus be pickin on the po bla yutes?
Sounds like more about virtue signaling than effective customer protection. I think I’ll continue to shop where permitted carriers are welcome, at Fleet Farm.
Regarding the notion of “how do you make the MOA safe?”, it’s very difficult, because the mall is a rabbit warren of hiding places, as are the parking lots. They actually train their security staff in Israel because it’s so difficult. I was actually with my kids at the Radisson Blue that day the BLM protest came (ringing bells at Christmas, not doing much shopping), and the overall impression was very similar to when I’ve seen the Secret Service around Presidents.
So they are trying, but what I think is really going on is that the mall never really made sense financially, and they imported a fair number of criminals (and destroyed downtown Minneapolis shopping) when they took the Death Train there.
Dunno what you do to fix it, because if you want ordinary things, you go to ordinary shopping areas, and if you want high end things, you go to the Galleria in Edina, the outlet malls in Savage, or Maple Grove’s outdoor mall. It’s a sad saga of hundreds of millions of dollars squandered for the MOA, billions for the Death Trains, and billions squandered for the new stadiums.
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OK, had a thought about something that might be really fun. Those dogs are hoping to smell one of these three things; gunpowder, the primer, or the oils that clean and lubricate guns. So what you do is get a bunch of guys together to go to the range, then clean the guns, and then you go to the MOA and watch the dogs go berserk. Maybe even put a pinch of powder in your pocket. Make it obvious by your attire that you are not, in fact, carrying.
Then when they demand to search you, you ask them if this is how the mall likes to treat customers, and exactly how incompetent their dogs are if they cannot tell the difference between real hazards and ordinary shoppers.
While the MOA is having issues it’s still safe and convenient comparatively speaking with amount of people that come thru..I go there a few times per year to shop, I live close, go on a weekday morning when it is not busy, head to Macy’s, Ragstock a few others and get some stuff. But Marshall’s is now gone too which I went to every visit. Our company downsized but we now are located in the Offices at MOA. Great view looking north!