Coming to grips with common ingredient in mall mayhem
It was the day before Halloween in 1985.
Thirty-three years ago. A couple of new words were about to enter our lexicon, at least here in Delaware County: Mass Shooting.
A troubled young woman walked into the parking lot of the Springfield Mall armed with a rifle and opened fire. Then she headed inside the mall.
Sylvia Seegrist killed three people – including a 2-year-old – and wounded seven others before she was overpowered by several shoppers.
She had been diagnosed with severe mental illness a decade earlier. Seegrist was found guilty but mentally ill and remains in a state correctional facility today.
Today, more than three decades later, we’ve unfortunately become all too accustomed to mass shootings.
Words like Columbine and Sandy Hook are now emblazoned on our psyche.
There will always be people with access to guns intent on delivering evil. And so we continue to deal with these kinds of mass shootings.
But 33 years later, another incident at the very same mall showed another glaring change in our society, especially when it comes to guns.
On Saturday police believe two groups exchanged unpleasantries inside the mall. A fistfight ensued. Unfortunately, it did not end there. Instead it spilled out into the parking lot.
And that’s when things took a noticeable – and very dangerous – turn for the worse.
There was a time when these kinds of disagreements would have ended the way that argument inside the mall started Saturday.
Blows would be exchanged. Eventually the combatants would be separated. Life went on.
Today, all too often, that is not the way we settle arguments. Not in the local mall. Not on the roads. Not in our schools. Not in our work places.
Today we too often try to settle these kinds of routine disputes with a gun.
Police believe both groups exchanged gunfire in the mall parking lot Saturday afternoon.
Miraculously, no one was injured. The same could not be said for several cars, which clearly showed the result of such gunplay, with bullet holes pockmarking several vehicles, along with shattered windows and windshields. At least five cars were struck. Police taped off the area and recovered several shell casings.
The mall was quickly closed for the rest of the day. But not before some very tense moments for mall workers and shoppers. The incident initially was described as an “active shooter” event. A small army of police converged on the mall. Video captured some patrons – including children – walking out of the mall with their hands raised over their heads.
Police continue to investigate and hunt for the suspects involved.
There are some positives to take out of this harrowing experience. Police now train specifically for this type of event. In fact, here in Delaware County, police and first responders carried out just such an exercise a few weeks at Archbishop Prendergast and Monsignor Bonner High School. Those lessons were put into a real situation Saturday.
What’s changed is how casually so many people now resort to a gun to settle a routine argument.
Yes, there has always been guns, and there have always been issues surrounding them.
But not to the extent we see them today.
A caution here. This is not about the Second Amendment. Nor is it about taking away anyone’s guns. That’s not going to happen. Nor should it.
Instead, it is about continuing the process of using some common sense solutions to limit the access to guns by people who clearly should not possess them.
A perfect example is the recent legislation championed by Sen. Tom Killion, R-9 of Middletown, to get guns out of the hands of those convicted of domestic abuse or who have a final Protection From Abuse order lodged against them.
The state Legislature passed a bill that mandates that those individuals now surrender their firearms within 24 hours, not the 60 days they now have. And they must turn them over to police or a licensed firearms dealer.
The bill marked something of a sea-change in Harrisburg, which has long been under the thumb of the powerful gun lobby. A lot of people thought that changing laws when it comes to guns was a losing battle. Maybe that sentiment is shifting - if only just a bit.
Yes, Pennsylvanians love their guns, and they do not look kindly on talk about limiting their gun rights.
But they also have shown that they are tired of people possessing guns that have no business doing so.
It happened 33 years ago at Springfield Mall. And it happened against last weekend, for entirely different reasons.
Asking people to put down their guns is not going to happen. Continuing to push for enforcement of existing laws, including background checks and other common sense measures, as well as working to enact new measures will.
That is the challenge.
If it worked in areas of domestic abuse, it can work in other areas as well.
Before another person with a gun opens fire.