On the heels of the latest mass shooting at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana this past Friday, a gun shop merchant opened for business to which Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear reportedly didn’t take too kindly. Free enterprise is a basic tenant in the American commerce landscape. The Second Amendment is a basic right accorded the American people, despite oppositionists feverishly trying to abolish that constitutional covenant. Having procured the requisite license(s) to legitimately operate in the city of Noblesville, and having pre-established agreement for an NRA tent and representatives on its premises, Hoosier Armory marketed guns and related accoutrements on Saturday, one day after the May 25 school shooting.
Hoosier Armory “is a family business whose mission is to provide firearms and firearm accessories at a fair price, to promote the free exercise of our Second Amendment rights, to educate the community regarding the enjoyable, safe, and responsible use of firearms…,” their website announces. Sounds legit, cognizant of accountability, safety-conscious, patriotic, and consumer-oriented.
Although it is rather customary for local leaders to welcome businesses in their community, it is not necessarily any politician’s position to downcast a proprietor’s open commerce or special consumer event, including its legal product line abiding by regulatory stipulations.
According to CBS4Indy.com, Noblesville Mayor Ditslear did the ignobfor which he claims he was asked to vacate the premises on Hoosier Armory’s grand opening day.
Before reading the somewhat wishy-washy commentary uttered by Mayor Ditslear, you should know he fancies himself “a Second Amendment guy” adding “but I also know and respect guns, and if you’ve got young children in the house…any and all guns should be locked up and not accessible to kids, period.” Of course; no argument in the face of an endemic expression regarding responsible gun ownership, handling, security, storage, maintenance, and preservation of life.
But it got a tad murky.
Mayor Ditslear made questionable and odd remarks to Hoosier Armory’s owner, admitting, “I did approach the owner and I just told him that, ‘No one expected this [NRA presence] but you’re hurting your business, in my opinion, strongly, and you’re hurting our city, and I asked them to maybe just think about it and take the tent down, and I was asked to leave. And with those types of attitudes, those are very difficult but something needs to happen.
“The NRA needs to realize that they have a place in this to protect gun owners but they also have to make sure that gun owners are responsible.
“I was not happy that I was asked to leave,” Ditslear said in conclusion. Hmmm, more on that later. Buy why is the mayor strongly implying the NRA is solely accountable for individual citizens’ gun ownership? Am I reading that correctly? Or am I merely reading into it? Either way, are the citizens of Noblesville that irresponsible for their mayor to render such implicit remarks denoting ineptitude regarding gun possession? If he genuinely is a “Second Amendment guy,” what made him think the NRA membership on scene would not transfer knowledge having to do with gun safety?
Or is he merely—and understandably—speaking from a leadership position who feels helpless after a grievous incident involving children, guns, and casualties at an area school on Friday? That much is readily comprehensible without the seeming knee-jerk posture he is taking. Yet there appears to be some hypocritical seeds under foot. What 2A guy wouldn’t embrace the NRA?
This is a case of an understandably sensitive and emotionally raw climate borne of a community which is reeling from an unidentified 13-year-old middle school student wielding and shooting firearms at his teacher and classmates on Friday. In the boy’s aiming and opening fire, one student and one teacher were struck with bullets. Both are expected to recover.
Tuesday, the alleged suspect and his parents were in Hamilton County Circuit Court, represented by a public defender, for a 24-minute closed hearing to sort through preliminary details involving juvenile detention policy under Indiana law.
Hamilton County Prosecutor D. Lee Buckingham provided a blanket statement about how juvenile violators are handled with respect to due process: “The state cannot confirm the identity of the suspect, describe the nature of the offense, detail any steps in litigation, and so forth until [a juvenile delinquency] petition has been filed.” There are about 1,350 students enrolled in Noblesville West Middle School. Although that may seem like a large number, it is likely most if not all know who the alleged shooter is. Word-of-mouth in horrific circumstances often has quite an ability to spread like wildfire on an arid day.
Undeniably, Noblesville is trying to mete out some hypersensitive issues, and filtering reality may come with encumbrances. Community leaders may bear unspeakable burdens and the feeling of helplessness. It’s understandable. As a cop, I toted those anvils.
Mayor Ditslear also has children and eight grandchildren, so the heartstrings must be taut at this point, causing deep introspection. Proprietors at Hoosier Armory introspect as well.
Pre-Grand Opening
There usually is more to every story with varying sides and differing attitudes. Hoosier Armory’s grand opening on Saturday—whereupon the mayor decided to seemingly instigate—was preceded by actually opening for business earlier. Directly from its Facebook page was the following post from May 10, 2018: “Hey Hoosier Armory Family, We are looking to hold an NRA/Grand Opening May 26th from 10-5. We are wanting to have a food truck. Any ideas? Anyone have a favorite food truck or know of someone who owns a truck and would want to come to our Grand Opening? For those of you who don’t know we are in downtown Noblesville. Thank you in advance!”
Again, that gesture and solicitation for community was publicized May 10, two weeks before the Noblesville West Middle School Shooting. We can thus denote that prescience is not among Hoosier Armory’s business model–join the crowd. But they do have empathy, sympathy, and honesty.
On their business website is written the following words testifying to the school shooting, the run-in with the mayor, and the overall embrace of the community during duress and heartache:
“After the school shooting, my partners and I had a long, heartfelt discussion about what to do about our grand opening on Saturday. If anyone thinks we made the decision to continue with something we had been planning for months without a lot of concern and anxiety, you are mistaken. This was a hard decision for us. We feel horrible for those injured in the shooting. We thank God for the fact that no one was killed. At the same time, we are getting tired of gun owners and the NRA being blamed for every shooting that occurs in this country. For this reason, we decided to continue with our plans.
“Some members of the team from the NRA had flown in the night before to attend our grand opening. They had time and money invested in the visit and it had been planned months ago. They offered to stand down but we asked them to set up anyways. They made an offer to not accept new registrations at their booth and to only answer questions about what the NRA does and we accepted that offer. No new NRA members were registered that day.
“This has been a painful few days for us here at Hoosier Armory. The mayor of Noblesville literally lied about his visit to the shop. He was never asked to leave and he ended the conversation mid-stream and left without allowing us to plead our case. In other words, he told us his feelings about the situation and then left to join the protesters because the media had arrived.
“We know we will take a hit on this, our Facebook page is already lighting up with bad reviews from people who have never been in the shop and don’t know what we are all about. No news media has mentioned any of our charitable activities involving helping injured police officers and helping with firearm suicide prevention.
“I want you all to know, we are devastated every time there is a shooting like the one in Noblesville. My partners have kids and grandkids so we know the concerns of parents everywhere. However, we also see the black eyes given to legal law abiding gun owners every time something like this happens. We all know that in reality, gun owners are the most law abiding group of people out there. We see the NRA villainized for school shootings when they offer more ideas to prevent them than our politicians ever do.
“I will say that the majority of gun owners have supported us so far through this. I hope we can count on all of you.”
Besides that self-professed poignant message, the business reviews for Hoosier Armory date back to December 2015. I read each and every one and, with no exception, customers raved about this Noblesville-based gun shop. Why a grand opening now when it appears they opened over two years ago? I found no indicator to answer that question. But, germane to this discussion is that they were quite established in the community already, and didn’t just plunk down the day after a local school shooting and invite NRA representatives to throw salt in open wounds.
As you read, the NRA folks had heart, insights, and courtesy, and so preemptively set out to simply meet and greet, disinterested in anything other than chatting about gun safety with folks while supporting a Second Amendment-based business. So, Hoosier Armory says they never asked the mayor to scram. Conversely, the mayor claims he was invited to use the exit door. Someone is not sighting properly.
Interestingly, 17-year-old Noblesville High School student Clara Lawson exploreded both sides—actually, all sides—quite well when she said: “We’re not trying to take away your guns. We understand that’s a right and I understand that, too. I was protesting the NRA booth, not the Hoosier Armory, because I understand that’s their store, they’re fine if they’re there, that’s their right, but I thought it was really inappropriate that the NRA booth would be there when they saw what had happened the day before but they still set up and they continued what they were doing right across the town from a tragedy.” That’s fair enough. I wonder if she ought to be a mayor someday. If and when that time comes, and the NRA stigma is dealt with, perhaps she will then see that the NRA isn’t the monster they are made out to be, that people activate a gun’s purpose and are the sole responsible party, and that the NRA can never conceivably babysit every parent’s gun stash nor should they be in a position to…much like Mayor Ditslear implied.
Not to be insensitive, but we keep aiming fingers in the wrong direction. I’m surprised the mayor didn’t pin it on President Trump. Perhaps he did and it just didn’t make it to the airwaves, yet.
I sympathize with the entire community, the tragedy they sustained, and its local and national fallout. Nevertheless, once again we are positioned to ask: Where’d this young person get two guns? Was Mayor Ditslear referring to the adolescent shooter’s parents when he suggested the NRA “make sure that gun owners are responsible”? NRA materials are replete with notions of gun safety, security, and personal responsibility.
Hoosier Armory’s Rich Ripple is correct: The NRA continues to achieve more material gains with respect to gun ownership/safety than the US Congress does with its myopic create-a-new-gun-law reactions and soundbite rhetoric. Speaking of soundbites, I think the mayor is miffed at Hoosier Armory folks: “Hopefully they learned a lesson. I’ve not talked to them. Again, I was asked to leave so I won’t go in there until I am asked to come back.”
Time heals all wounds. Time will tell; it’s been only mere days since the Noblesville school shooting, and the rawness is real.
What’s your take on this Hoosier/NRA/Noblesville mayor dustup?
