Q. "Why Do You Carry a Gun?"

A. Because evil still walks the streets.

Suspect Sought For Attempted Abduction At Macy’s In Downtown Crossing

BOSTON (CBS) – Boston police are seeking public’s help in finding a suspect wanted for an attempted abduction of three teenage boys.

The abduction attempt happened Saturday afternoon at the Macy’s at Downtown Crossing. Boston Police spokesman James Kineally said the teenagers, who are from Quincy, said a man approached them inside the store, telling them he was a police officer, and offering them a ride.

Nice. There's two good parts to this story: First and foremost, the boys did exactly the right thing - they asked to see his ID, and, when he failed to produce ID, they ran. The second part is that he's setting himself up for impersonating a police officer, which can be added to the attempted abduction charges.

What's scary is that this happened in a "good" area; the Downtown Crossing area is adjacent to Boston Common and the financial district - all snark about bankers aside, it's about as "safe" an area as you'll find in a large urban city. There are lots of shops both large and small, and plenty of real police officers walking around to make sure that the flow of commerce continues unabated.

And yet someone tried to kidnap a group of young boys here.

"Safe" places simply do not exist. They never have. In fact, a pretty good argument could be made that you're at more risk in a "safe" place than in a supposedly dangerous place, because in the "safe" place you might be tempted to let your guard down. Like, say, a "gun-free zone", where only the law-abiding folks are disarmed of the best tools for defense - predators, goblins, and thugs aren't going to care that they're breaking the law about not having a gun in place [X] if they're mugging/abducting/killing you.

There's a reason we on the pro-freedom side derisively call "gun free zones" by their true name: Criminal Empowerment Zones. In the absence of credible, real deterrence in the form of folks what might shoot back, the strongarm thug - or the thug not stopped by pieces of paper - rules the roost should he so choose. Goblins don't care about breaking one more law - but they sure love it when we herd ourselves into a place that disarms us for them.

Know your surroundings. Watch your kids. Carry your guns.

That is all.