James’ point was that he didn’t want to make the employees confront armed people in their stores (because that’s not necessarily a safe thing to do — which kind of makes my point). Walmart seems to feel the same in that they will simply ask nicely and not necessarily enforce their own policy (because that’s may not be safe). It’s probably fine with most people, but since you don’t know who it’s unsafe up-front, better not to ask.
Although it is theoretically possible and has happened a few times in the past that an armed civilian has stopped a shooter, they are nearly always people with law enforcement backgrounds or there are some other mitigating factors (see the link below). I still don’t feel comfortable being around people I don’t know, whose intentions and gun safety record I don’t know, who are armed. My analogy to all the bad drivers on the road still stands. At least if someone has a concealed weapon, I’m a lot less worried about it going off accidentally or about the “I’m out to make a statement” factor.
“The average gun owner, no matter how responsible, is not trained in law enforcement or on how to handle life-threatening situations, so in most cases, if a threat occurs, increasing the number of guns only creates a more volatile and dangerous situation.”
