Two Maine teen-agers are under arrest for detonating 2 acid bombs inside a shopper-filled local Wal-Mart, according to the Associated Press. Fortunately, no shoppers were seriously injured by the explosives, which were reportedly made from household items. The motives for the attack remain unknown. The AP report states,
[Public Safety spokesman] McCausland said he had no information on why the bombs were set off in the store and whether the two juveniles had been in trouble with the law before.
He said the boys had made three additional explosive devices and placed one on the roof of a downtown business and two on the lawn of a residence. Those three bombs, none of which had detonated, were retrieved by investigators, he said.
Given the other targets, the two boys may not have been Wal-Mart haters, inflamed by the rhetoric of the anti-Wal-Mart movement. But we don not know.
The blog Verum Serum has assembled a list of other bomb threats against Wal-Marts nationwide. It is rather alarming. - Bomb threat at Branson, MO Wal Mart.
- Bomb threat at Mansfield, OH Wal Mart.
- Bomb threat at Eden, NC Wal Mart.
- Bomb threat at Morganton, NC Wal Mart.
- Bomb threat at Paris, TN Wal Mart.
- Bomb threat at Hobart, IN Wal Mart.
- Bomb threat at Casper, Wyoming Wal Mart.
- A bomb threat closed the Carlisle, PA Wal Mart on the same day as one in Hillsborough, NC.
- Bomb threat at the Neosho, MO Wal Mart on 10/27 [No link as it requires paid subscription. Google it.]
- Bomb threat at the St.-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec Wal Mart.
- Here is a report of three more Quebec area Wal Marts which all received bomb threats in just two days.
- Bomb threat at a Waynesboro, VA Wal Mart that turned out to be a Halloween prank.
- Bomb threat at a Tuscaloosa, FL Wal Mart.
- Bomb threat at a Cocoa, FL Wal Mart
- Bomb threat at a Carbondale, IL Wal Mart.
- Bomb threat at a Christiansburg, VA Wal Mart earlier in 2006 (This is my old college stomping grounds, just 10 minutes from VA Tech).
- Bomb threat at the Gallup, NM Wal Mart in Oct. 2005.
- Here’s one about a Wal Mart employee accused of making bomb threats against 7 other stores. The police suspect he had help.
- Finally, this page on the Portland Independent Media Center where someone has collected 14 other incidents going back as far as 2001.
Imagine substituting “abortion clinic” for “Wal-Mart” in these reports, and imagine the degree of media coverage that would result. Imagine the reactions of politicians. Imagine the blame that would be thrown at abortion opponents, even those dedicated to strictly non-violent protest.
Strangely, those who agitate against Wal-Mart have not been subjected to any criticism at all based on these threats and violence. Probably, that is the way it should be. We all have the right to object to anything without being accused of fomenting violence.
All I would ask is the street be a two-way artery.
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