A Mile In The Shoes

Here's a story that resonates close to home. With respect to the chaos post-Katrina:

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Karen Burk, attributed the company's decision to pull guns from the shelves to ''some very fluid circumstances and changing situations" in the region. She did not elaborate far beyond that. ''We're trying to take care of our customers and community and be a responsible retailer at the same time," Burk said.

Wal-Mart clearly has issues with their guns, and they took a big hit in Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine. I've already expounded on this site my contempt for the whole Wal-Mart culture.

But living in the D.C. area, I've also given a lot of thought about what might happen if a dirty bomb is set off. I fixate about sitting at my desk at work, hearing a radio report and subsequent bulletins trickling in about mounting casualties. HazMat crews have been called to the scene; the fear of radiation, like the radiation itself, spreads throughout the southern region of the city and into the suburbs of northern Virginia. My cellphone ceases to function.

One imagines the place becoming instantly uninhabitable with major panic ensuing. I think about my ex-wife and where she must be at the moment. Do I go to her aid? Is it too late? I look out at the highway and see it filling with congestion. People running about, screaming, brandishing weapons out of fear and anger.

Do I want a gun then?

Kinda.