The grainy photo at left shows a man who entered a mall in Burlington, WA with a rifle and shot and killed, at latest count, five people. It is my understanding that the Cascade Mall is a designated “Gun Free Zone” with, according to the Mall’s website “Uniformed Security Officers patrolling the interior and exterior of the Mall.” Are those security officers armed? How many of them are on duty? The first reaction of many will be to once again call for more “gun control”.  Let’s think about that for a moment. From the picture, it appears that the killer is carrying a hunting rifle, not a so-called “assault rifle” or a handgun. So, should we trash the Second Amendment and ban all firearms in this country, as was done in Australia? While that might make some feel safer, it is a false sense of security. Virtually all mass shootings in this country and elsewhere have occurred in so-called “Gun Free Zones”. Since terrorists, criminals and crazies don’t follow the laws, it is apparent that the only thing between law abiding citizens and violent injury or death is the thin blue line of our law enforcement and the ability of individuals to protect themselves and those around them. From reports, it took police in Burlington approximately 5 minutes to respond to reports of shots fired at the mall. That’s not a long time. However, it is said that when seconds count, the police will be there in minutes. During that time interval the “Gun Free Zone” becomes a “Free Fire Zone” for the shooter. It has been proven over and over that the only thing that ends a so-called “Active Shooter Event” is when someone shoots back, whether that be law enforcement or legally armed and trained private citizens. In a future post I will describe an excellent program which is available to residents  of Beaufort Country , SC, where I live. For now, I can only say that for me, a “Gun Free Zone” is an area that I avoid if at all possible. They are potentially very dangerous places to be.