Trip to
the Doctor
by Robert
A. Waters
Today I drove
my wife to a kidney specialist in the mid-sized city of Ocala, Florida. This doctor was new to her, and after
locating the place, I was surprised to see a huge “No Guns Allowed” decal on
the entrance door. My birthplace and
hometown is a fairly conservative city filled with retirees, lots of transplants,
and locals. (When Donald Trump ran for election in 2016, my wife and I saw
literally thousands of Trump bumper stickers all over Ocala and Marion
County, and exactly two Hillary Clinton bumper stickers.)
The
unusual no-guns-allowed sign got me thinking: what kind of protective measures
does the place have? What if some maniac
is angry enough with this doctor to come in with a gun and start blasting
away? He could kill everyone in the
place within seconds.
People
with concealed carry permits are the most law-abiding people on earth. Their guns may be in holsters or in their
pockets and no one ever knows. In the
church I attend, for example, out of 350-400 congregants, I personally know of
20 men and women who carry. (There are
probably more—I don’t know everyone there.)
Each Sunday, these carriers sit peacefully in their pews worshipping
God. Yet if someone were to threaten the
church-goers, he would likely be met by a group of trained gun-owners.
So,
sitting in the no-gun doctor’s office waiting while my wife saw the doctor, I
looked around for signs of security. I
saw none. Two clerks sat
at desks signing patients in. The
waiting room had seats for about 25-30 people—a few patients sat waiting to be
called. I saw no video cameras (which
are useless in stopping crimes, although helpful to cops in determining what
happened after the fact) and no security guard.
I looked
on my cellphone app and found the following case of an attack in a dentist’s
office.
On
February 19, 2019, Larry Seagroves, a permit holder, sat in the Sullivan
County, Tennessee dental office of Dr. David Guy. Several other patients were in the lobby while
two clerks, including Kelly Weaver, worked behind the counter.
Suddenly,
a man, later identified as Harry Weaver, entered and pointed a gun at his estranged
wife, Kelly. He fired, then aimed at the
second clerk.
Seagroves
explained in a court hearing what happened next. “I got up,” he said, “spun around, and saw
Mr. Weaver pointing his gun at Kelly and Sabrina, and I began firing. I fired three times.”
Weaver
went down. Seagroves told the court that
once he shot Weaver, “I looked for his gun immediately, and found it laying at
my feet, and I kicked it down the hallway.”
Unfortunately,
Kelly Weaver had been hit and died almost immediately. Seagroves held Harry Weaver until deputies
arrived.
Sullivan
County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy told reporters that the permit holder was a hero who saved
many lives. “[Seagroves] was flawless in
his execution,” Cassidy said, “eliminating the threat, holding the threat down
until law enforcement arrived.”
Back in
the no-guns-allowed doctor’s lobby, I watched as my wife approached. “Good news,” she said with a smile. “Good news,” I agreed, helping her out the
door.
As we
drove away, I took one last glance at that large garish door decal. I took my wife out for dinner and she told me
how much she liked her new doctor. “He’s
very personable,” she said. “We joked
around a lot. Oh yeah, he’s from
Nigeria. And he likes Diet Snapple just
like I do.”
The
restaurant didn’t have a no-guns-allowed sign and we had a great meal.
Please check out Guns and Self-Defense: 23 Inspirational True Crime Stories of Survival with Firearms. Co-written with my son, Sim Waters, this book will keep you turning the pages. It describes several accounts of concealed carry permit holders stopping deadly attacks.
Please check out Guns and Self-Defense: 23 Inspirational True Crime Stories of Survival with Firearms. Co-written with my son, Sim Waters, this book will keep you turning the pages. It describes several accounts of concealed carry permit holders stopping deadly attacks.
1 comment:
I live in the same town you do and my doctor's office also has a no guns sign. I discussed this with the doctor, who is actually a gun owner and a recreational shooter. He said that they ask patients not to bring in guns. Staff is not prohibited from carrying concealed and he knew of at least four people, working that day, that were doing so. That made me feel a bit better but I'm still responsible for my own safety. They will never catch me carrying in there, unless I'm in fear for my life.
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