NYT Criticizes Virginia’s Open Carry Law After Manager Allegedly Kills 6 Where Open Carry Is Banned

The New York Times criticized Virginia’s open carry law the day after a manager allegedly “pulled out a handgun” and shot six people dead in a Walmart, where open carry is banned.

The NYT failed to note at least two things:

1. Witnesses described the manager pulling the gun from concealment, not open carrying.

2. Walmart banned the open carry of firearms in 2019.

The NYT praised Virginia for passing numerous gun controls, which include universal background checks and a red flag law. Then the paper seized on the fact that open carry is legal in the state: “Even so, Virginia — site of one of the country’s worst mass shootings, the 2007 rampage at Virginia Tech — remains permissive in some ways. For example, it allows the open carrying of handguns without a permit, with some exceptions.”

First point: The Walmart manager who shot six people to death Tuesday night was not openly carrying his firearm; the Associated Press reports the manager “pulled out a handgun.”

Second point: Walmart banned open carry in its stores in September 2019, including open carry for self-defense.

On September 3, 2019, Breitbart News reported that Walmart issued a ban forbidding customers from openly carrying handguns, even where legal. At that time, CNBC noted that Walmart was putting up signage at its stores, making clear that the open carry of handguns was not allowed.

A third point which the NYT article overlooks: Determined attackers do not follow gun laws, thus gun-free zones and other areas with visibly high firearms restrictions are target-rich environments for killers.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.