A Somali affiliate of al Qaeda has called for attacks against Western shopping malls, which they see as soft targets. The call for attacks was seen in a video celebrating the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.
“If just a handful of mujahedeen [militant jihadists] fighters could bring Kenya to a complete standstill for nearly a week, just imagine what the dedicated mujahedeen could do in the West to American or Jewish shopping centers across the world,” a masked gunman says toward the end of the video. “What if such an attack were to occur in the Mall of America in Minnesota? Or the West Edmonton Mall in Canada? Or in London’s Oxford Street?”
England is notorious for the number of radicalized Muslim immigrants that are in the country, as is Minneapolis, Minnesota, where a large population of Somali Muslims has been imported and resettled by the American government. Edmonton, Canada, also has a significant population of Somali Muslim immigrants from which jihadis are being recruited.
The threats seem credible, but as people are banned from carrying firearms in all three locations, the “gun free zone” signs may provide some protection.
Virtually all of Canada and England are Gun Free Zones, as self defense is not considered a valid reason for citizens to carry guns in those countries. But a crucial difference exists in the United States. The malls in Canada and England lack the protection of gun free zone signs. In comparison, the Mall of America, in Minneapolis, has particularly large and prominent gun free zone signs, as shown above.
While gun free zone signs have failed in a number of locations, it may be that they were not large enough or prominent enough. John Lott, an academic who has studied these shootings, makes this statement.
















