Armed Citizen: Something tells me we're going to see more of this.

Armed Citizen

That guy In the store in Long Island just painted a giant bullseye on his head, Don't get me wrong, I'm glad everything turned out well, but that guy wanter the money and not the milk and bread and I bet his next stop will be the neighborhood crack house, This guys biggest mistake Is telling everyone that the shotgun was not loaded, he should have kept that little thing to himself!!! I know that it will come back to haunt him big time. I wish him well.
I hear all the people out there that hate guns, It's not the gun, a gun is a tool just as a hammer can be a deadly weapon, and I well know the can of worms I just opened. It isen't what you have it's the way how you use It that counts, the deadelyest weapon that we have at our disposel is the auto, car, truck or bus. Just how many people are killed on any giver hoiday weekend, the summer vacation season comming up and how many will be killed? Now the talk of the town is smaller cars, I just saw this little 4 seatter, and all it needs to round this thing out Is 4-6 handles on the sides so that you can be burried In It and save on a cofin cost, I dont hear them talking about smaller trucks and or busses that use the very same roads as we drive on. There is always many sides to to everything, so we don't look at everything with the same eye. Right now how many people that you know can say that a car saved there life, now ask the same question about a gun, Just how many people that you know of were saved by a gun! Now play along with this can of worms, How many people do you know of that were killed by a gun, and with the same eye, how many people that you know of were killed by a car??? So when you look at this from another view, it tends to look a little differant. A gun is an inanimate object, just as a car In it's a machine, like a machinegun, It takes someone to run the machine, someone to drive the car, some one to shoot the gun, but once we hange this magic mistery to It, it seams to change Into something else!!! sorry for the spelling!
Semper FI to all, Hank D.
 
Great end to the story. If an empty gun is all you got against a guy with a bat who wants to beat you and take your money then its worth a shot.

I'm not bagging on this guy but I agree with most here that it would be very foolish to bet your life on a bluff...

have ammo.
 
That guy In the store in Long Island just painted a giant bullseye on his head,
Sad but true, I would never condem someone for finding a peaceful solution but the next guy with a bat, or knife or gun may not blink an eye at taking out a shopkeeper publicly know for being soft on a robber.
I hate to think that a persons generosity would be used against them, but we have all seen it a hundred times in one form or another:(
 
I guess a lot has to do with the robber's demeanor after the store owner pulled a shotgun. While the typical reaction would be fear, maybe the robber expressed genuine remorse. Maybe he really DID have a family to feed rather than a drug habit that so many are quick to assume. I'm not saying what the robber did was right, but we weren't there to witness what really transpired.

I bet that if I put up a poll to see how many people have been affected by the economy, I bet almost everyone would have to vote yes. I'm sure that there are many on here that have lost their jobs as well. Many people have worked hard all of their lives and got messed up because their employer went under (Dodge, Chrysler, GM, etc...). They were pretty responsible with their money, but jobs are hard to come by and there are bills to pay and mouths to feed. Government assistance is trickleing in at best and many people are losing everything. I'm sure few people would admit it, but if things really went to heck, I'm sure there are some of us on here that would consider criminal activity. There was a movie with Jim Carey that was kind of like this situation... Only in real life, it isn't funny.
 
escalating responses

Presentation of a firearm may immediately defuse the problem, but it may also escalate it. If you run the risk of escalation, you should be prepared to deal with that escalation.

Bluff if you want, but realize it's better to have ammo and not use it, then not have it and suddenly realize you really needed it.

I'm happy nobody was hurt, and I think it was commendable that Mohail wanted to help somebody who had just tried to harm him, but I think it was a bad idea for him to use an unloaded shotgun and an even worse idea for him to tell the media that he keeps it unloaded.
 
The store keeper gave the guy $40.00 and a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk, he kept the $40. and left the bread and milk, why???
Some time ago my wife and I were In the Florida Keys, ( Key West ) on vacation and we were walking around the town and it was a cool night and I had my Marine jacket on, and some guy came up to us and ask me, Hay Bro can you spare some money for a fello Marine so I can get something to eat, and with that because we were on our way to do just that, Eat, and I said to him, I'll tell you what, we are on our way the get dinner and I want you to join us for dinner and do you know what I got In return? F--K You and he turned away and left. In the passed I have paid for other meals for people, If I see some one that truly down on there luck I will buy them a meal but I will never give someone money for booze or to stick It in there arm, no way. My dear Mother always told me " If you have enough water in your well, let others drink " Some other guy wrote In about buying a guy a cheese steak sandwich, which I think is great, I have no problem with something like that. But I will never help someone destroy themselves, no! Sorry for the bad spelling, Semper FI to all, Hank D.:)
 
I really liked that story, but...

One, he better load the gun now that everyone with a TV knows it is unloaded.

Two, that is not a shotgun. It is a Hi-Point carbine.
 
Sometimes an act of kindness is all a person needs from another. Folks just dont seem as charitable but I can understand with all of the imposter poor folk on the corners with their signs. I have offered food to these folk and all they wanted was the money. I even offered to take a few to the farm and do work for cash, was turned down.
 
^ A got taken for a dollar by a bum with a crazy limp. I turned the corner
| and looked back and he was magically cured... Needless to say I think
| twice about my charity efforts
 
You people are unbelievable. this is a beautifl story and the op was trying to point that out. but you paranoid wanna b milisha troopers have to shoot the story down, with out taking in the facts
.

This is the tactics and training forum, people are examing and commenting on the tactics used. Why are you so worked?
 
Last edited:
I just saw the story on CNN again, and...

...it is nice to see that they are referring to it as a "rifle" now and not a "shotgun." :)

It seems now that the store owner is receiving calls from all over the country praising his behavior and restraint.

I did notice that Jack Cafferty referred to it as an "automatic rifle" though when he said "I guess if you point an automatic rifle at someone you can convert them to anything."
 
Maybe I don't get it. I hated almost everything about this story. The fact that it is such an unlikely outcome is why it is news. And it's a bad object lesson from both sides.
Don't brandish a deadly weapon during a robbery and expect mercy.
Don't brandish an empty weapon (the bat was actually more lethal) in defense and expect success.

I'm not advocating shoot first, convert later; just be ready to shoot if the bad guy doesn't fall down crying and begging for (fill in prophet of your choice).
 
I read this story yesterday evening. :-)

I hope the shop owner keeps his shotgun loaded in the future; *that* could have led to a tragedy if the bad guy had been more of a bad guy. But I really like the shop owner's compassion on the bad guy after he backed down, and his willingness to help him out. Owners of small convenience stores are not rich; they often operate at the ragged edge of profitability. His generosity was all the more impressive given that it cost him money and supplies he probably needed for himself.

Unlike many Americans, I know and have been around a fair number of Muslims. I've met Muslims like this before, and they're the salt of the earth, just like Christians, Jews, and non-religious people who don't walk past when they see somebody in pain or in need. Wish we had more people like this out there.

I too have known Muslims like you talk of, one in particular who started out in this country working in a gas station, was nursing and going to school to be a doctor the last I heard of him. Great person. He carried a spent shotgun shell on his keyring, it was one a robber had discharged at him back when he was clerking at the gas station. It missed.

I can see him doing just what this clerk did though, had he been in that situation.

Many of them are very good and caring people.

I agree though, the clerk should have never spilled that his gun was not loaded, nor should it have not been not loaded, and it had better be loaded now. :o
 
I highly agree, I really hope he has the sense to have that thing loaded in the future, now that everybody knows it wasn't.
I absolutely refuse to give money to someone who is begging, I would much rather buy them a meal instead.
As for the robber, nobody knows if he really did have a family to feed, he may have just wanted to get the heck out of there before his "luck ran out", we'll never know.
But I do know that if I had to look at my own kids and know they were hungry, and I had no means to feed them, I know I would d*mn sure resort to whatever I HAD to do to get food in their bellies. And I would hate to have to say it, but if that means I have to steal from your family to feed mine, than you better believe thats what I'm going to do.

And most of you will agree with me if you really take some time to think about it.
 
Well now seems that guy with the rifle was caught in a sting selling bongs and such. Ya just never know about some folks. He claims he didnt know selling that stuff was illeagal.....
 
No good deed goes unpunished...

Is the clerk a US citizen? Is that gun legal in his hands?

How many clerks have had their brains blasted out during robberies this year across the country? Do you honestly think this one bizarre event underscores the hundreds of robberies that went not-so-well for the clerks? The guy was probably high on pot--hence the uncontrolled bawling.

Anyone here honestly think that the criminal had some sort of grand epiphany and is now, as we speak, out on a street corner preaching the quran? I'd bet a cool quarter hes casing his next victim.

There is the newspaper, then there is reality.
 
Anyone here honestly think that the criminal had some sort of grand epiphany and is now, as we speak, out on a street corner preaching the quran? I'd bet a cool quarter hes casing his next victim.
Not really. As Jack Cafferty said..."I guess if you point an automatic rifle at someone you can convert them to anything." Cynical as that may sound, I am betting his change of heart lasted only until he managed to flee the scene. The one thing I would have never done is give him the money. The food I was okay with.
 
About conversion...
A protestant moved into a completely Catholic
community. Being good Catholics they welcomed
him into their community. But, also because they
were good Catholics, they did not eat red meat on
Fridays. So, when their neighbor began barbecuing
some juicy steak on Friday nights, they began to
squirm.
They were so annoyed that they went to talk to
him about it. After much talk they convinced him
to become Catholic. The next Sunday he went to
the priest and the priest sprinkled holy water on
him and said:
You were born Protestant.
You were raised Protestant.
But now you are Catholic.
And so, the next Friday, as the neighbors sat down
to eat their fish, they were disturbed by the smell of
roast beef coming from the neighboring house. They
went over to talk to the new Catholic because he
knew he was not supposed to eat beef on Fridays.
When they saw him, he was sprinkling BBQ sauce on
the steak saying:
You were born a cow.
You were raised a cow.
But now you are fish.

Or this one...

An atheist was walking through the woods one day when suddebly an 8-foot grizzly bear began to charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could down the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was rapidly closing on him. Somehow, he can't ran even faster, so scared that tears came to his eyes. His heart pounding in his chest, he tried to run faster yet. But alas, he tripped and fell to the ground. As he rolled over to pick himself up, the bear was right over him, reaching for him with its left paw and raising its right paw to strike him.

'OH MY GOD! ...' Time stopped.......... The bear froze ........... The forest was silent...........Even the river stopped moving ...

As a brilliant light shone upon the man, a thunderous voice came from all around, 'You Deny My Existence For All These Years, Teach Others That I Don't Exist; And Even Credit Creation To Some Cosmic Accident. Do You Expect Me To Help You Out Of This Predicament? Am I To Count You As A Believer???'

Difficult as it was, the atheist looked directly into the light and said, 'It would be hypocritical to ask to be a Christian after all these years, but perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?'

'Very Well.' said The Voice. The light went out....... The river ran....... The sounds of the forest resumed and the bear dropped down on his knees, brought both paws together, bowed his head and spoke:

'Lord, thank you for this food which I am about to receive.'

Naw... I think he was "A muslim for a moment"...
Brent
 
Did the deli owner violate the first two rules of gun safety? Would you rather buy a lottery ticket, "defend" yourself with an unloaded firearm, or tell the perp your firearm is not loaded? It looks like the deli owner had a winning lottery ticket.:rolleyes: Extremely lucky IMHO.
 
Back
Top