FTA: By using his employee keycard to access employee-only locations where the shooting occurred, the killer ensured that no one would be carrying a concealed firearm. This gave him a chance to kill more people, without anyone firing back. The shooter also gained time because the police had trouble entering the area without an employee keycard. The one person killed who was alone in the parking lot was not an employee.
These killers aren’t as stupid as some people imagine. They want to kill as many people as possible, so they deliberately attack gun-free zones. Since 1950, 98 percent of mass public shootings in the United States have occurred in places where general citizens are banned from carrying. Unlike all of his law-abiding colleagues, the Virginia Beach killer didn’t obey the ban.
Kate Nixon worked as a compliance manager on the second floor of Operations Building 2 in the Virginia Beach Municipal Center. The 42-year-old was described as “always helping others.” She was president of the Pembroke Meadows Civic League and a devoted church goer at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church.
Kate was also one of the 12 people killed by another employee, DeWayne Craddock.
As far as the national media has been concerned, that was the story.
But in the evening of Thursday, May 30, the night before the attack, Kate was worried that DeWayne Craddock and another employee were dangerous. She talked to her husband, Jason, about whether she should hide a pistol in her handbag. Kate decided not to, because the city bans public employees from having permitted concealed handguns at work.
Not all municipal governments in Virginia ban employees from carrying guns. If Kate had worked in Bedford or Campbell Counties, she would have been able to carry her pistol to work.
by John R. Lott Jr.
