July 3, 2014
Fred Meyer
I am missing Fred Meyer. For those of you who live elsewhere, it is a store akin to Target -- one stop for all your needs. But, Fred Meyer decided over a month ago to begin selling guns. I was meandering around the hardware department in one of their two Bellingham stores looking for sandpaper and wondering where the toys went. They had remodeled, and I wanted a new jigsaw puzzle.
Imagine my surprise when I came across a huge display case filled with small handguns and two children standing in front of the glass mesmerized by the merchandise at their eye level. Designer guns. Pink as well as the standard black. There were rifles higher up in back of the case and further up behind the entire display were the bikes. I guess this was Freddie's new sporting goods department.
It's not as if I am totally anti-gun. As a child, I made my own rubber guns out of wood and a clothespin and along with the other children on my street, I shot at critters. I'm sure I had more than one cap gun. My dad owned an air gun and we shot the pellets from time to time at various targets in our back yard. I think my mom sold that gun after he died.
I never bought a toy gun for my children, although they like all children simply used their two fingers and imaginary weapons when needing to shoot their imaginary enemies. Now, of course, most children's action figures shoot for them. In fact, figures without action seem to be passé these days.
Fred Meyer prides itself on being a family store. They even have family checkout stands that do not have candy or items that tempt children to drive their parents crazy saying "NO!" We, we are not a city that deprives those who wish to buy weapons. In fact, stores like WalMart even cater to children by selling "starter shotguns." Since we have a WalMart in Bellingham and other sporting goods stores that sell guns to hunters (and criminals, too, I am sure), I don't know why Fred Meyer has to jump on the bandwagon. Well, actually, I do. Statistics show that more and more women are buying guns to protect themselves. I guess they might prefer pink so that their murder weapon will match their outfit.
It escapes me as how such a store as Fred Meyer that claims to care about families, in the wake of all the pain of the school shootings that are so fresh in the minds of every human that cares about the welfare of children, would begin to sell guns at this time. Furthermore, why they would artfully display them in a glass case at the level of a six year old and in close proximity to bikes and not far from toys.
That, to me, does not say "Family Store." That says "Anti-Family Store" because a great deal of pain is caused by guns that are readily available to disturbed humans. What on earth has happened to our nation that we allow such nonsense?
For these reasons, I have not been back to Fred Meyer except to take a picture of the display which I was too shocked to take on the day I first saw it. When the young girl who was selling the guns asked me if she could assist me, I told her she most definitely could not. And, I walked out for the last time.
It is difficult. I am sad. Sad for our nation. Sad that I can't go back to one of my favorite stores. Sad that my car keeps wanting to turn into their parking lot. Sad that I have to keep reminding myself not to automatically run over to Fred Meyer. But, somehow we all have to make some kind of statement. Perhaps it will make me feel better. I doubt whether or not that it will even affect Fred Meyer.
Posted by Marilyn at July 3, 2014 9:58 AM