If security guards start carrying guns at department stores, I’m going to stop referring to them as rent-a-cops. Not because they’ve suddenly jumped up on my respect-o-meter, but because they might open fire. At a mall in Virginia last Sunday, a J.C. Penney security guard pursued a shoplifter into the mall parking lot and fired a gun into the air. The shoplifter was arrested, and the police confiscated the guard’s gun. The store won’t say whether it was owned by the guard or issued by management.

On the plus side, wearing clothes from J.C. Penney just became sort of bad-ass if you live in this town.

“Security guard’s gun use at Valley View Mall called ‘crazy'” [Roanoke.com] (Thanks to Tracy, who’s glad there’s a J.C. Penney catalog to shop from)

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