I'm glad to see a counterattack along this line. It has always cheesed me off that every single time there's been a self-defense shooting like this, HCI and their clones always go into their
"shoulda/woulda/coulda" routine and nobody called them on it.
http://www.sierratimes.com/rwaters.htm
The Self Defense Files
byline Robert A. Waters
I Feel Lucky
Posted: 08.24.00
"The shop owner got lucky, because the chances of misusing a gun in that situation is very great," proclaimed David Bernstein, Spokesman for Handgun Control, Inc., when told about a Cincinnati convenience store owner who shot three armed robbers. Then he added, "Sometimes it's better to give some money away than to give your life away."
Let's examine what happened.
At 1:45 a.m., on September 8, 1999, as Eugene and Clara Clifford were preparing to close Clifford's Carry Out, three men wearing shirts over their faces entered the store. One man yelled that they were robbing the place. Another jumped over the counter and punched Mrs. Clifford, knocking her to the floor. He then placed a gun to her head.
Eugene, a former iron worker who had purchased the store fifteen years earlier, was in the back. He pulled his legally-owned and licensed .38-caliber revolver from a safe, and ran to the front of the store.
The business-owner opened fire, hitting all three robbers. Anthony Santino Harris died a few hours later. Police quickly rounded up his accomplices. All the robbers had long, violent histories. Because of Clifford's quick reactions, neither he nor his wife were seriously injured. Police ruled the shootings self-defense.
Like many shop owners, Clifford had prepared for such an event. Yet HCI would have you believe he survived because of dumb, blind luck.
The gun-banners would also have you believe that clerks routinely slaughter innocent customers when they confront armed robbers. After a clerk shot a robber in Suffolk, Virginia, the local newspaper quoted a spokesperson from HCI as saying, "For every successful robbery thwarted there are dozens of cases of bystanders being shot."
Sorry, but it just ain't so. In a quick internet search of one-hundred cases of armed self-defense by clerks and business-owners, none shot the wrong person.
Contrary to what HCI would tell you, it seems that luck is usually on the side of the armed clerk.
On January 27, 2000, Jacksonville, Florida clerk Charles Egly and store owner Ray Albert got lucky. A masked man carrying a sawed-off rifle entered the Prime Stop Food Store. A second robber was already inside the store, scoping it. Egly and Albert, after being attacked by the gunman, shot him dead. The second robber fled into the store's bathroom where he was held until police arrived.
On February 24, 2000, convenience store owner Khoa Dang Ngyuen also got lucky.
In a period of three days, Houston had seen five convenience store clerks murdered. By all indications, the clerks, mostly Pakistani and Vietnamese immigrants, had cooperated with the robbers.
At 10:30 p.m., Ngyuen and his sister were working the counter when two men entered, pulled guns, and announced a holdup. Ngyuen handed over his money, expecting them to leave. Then one of the men began to pistol-whip his sister. Ngyuen pleaded with them to go away, but they became even more violent. When one of the robbers closed the security doors (automatically locking them), Ngyuen knew they planned to kill him and his sister. At that point, the frightened store owner grabbed his pistol and opened fire.
Both robbers ran to the locked door, frantically clawing at it as they tried to escape. "I threw them the key to the security door," Ngyuen said. "I told them, 'Please leave. I don't want to shoot you anymore.'"
The wounded robbers were quickly apprehended by police.
These cases, and thousands of others, demand answers from the gun-banners.
Why shouldn't clerks be allowed to protect their own lives? Handing over a few dollars, as HCI suggests, sometimes only angers the robber, setting him off on a killing rampage. In other cases, the bandit is a spaced-out addict whose impaired perception drives him to violence. In still other instances, the robber kills the clerk to avoid being identified.
A clerk can't know the intentions of robbers. Many times, those who prey on employees of convenience stores are violent psychopaths trolling for victims. Donald Blom, a notorious sex offender, was recently convicted of the kidnapping and murder of convenience store clerk Katie Poirier in Moose Lake, Minnesota. A video surveillance camera caught the killer leading the victim out of the store. After cooperating with Blom, the victim's fate was to be raped, tortured, and murdered. Had Poirier shot the psychopath, it's likely that some gun-banner would have launched into the standard lecture about such instances being rare.
Do we as a society want to send robbers a message that businesses are gun-free zones? Since England banned almost all guns, violent crime in that country has skyrocketed. It's obvious that criminals no longer have any fear of disarmed British subjects. Is that what we want to happen in our country?
Four days after Ngyuen shot the two armed thugs, a second Houston convenience store clerk shot an armed robber, killing him.
Guess he got lucky, too.
© 2000 SierraTimes.com
-- 30 --
You can send thank the Sierra Times for running Mr. Waters' articles at:
feedback@sierratimes.com
"shoulda/woulda/coulda" routine and nobody called them on it.
http://www.sierratimes.com/rwaters.htm
The Self Defense Files
byline Robert A. Waters
I Feel Lucky
Posted: 08.24.00
"The shop owner got lucky, because the chances of misusing a gun in that situation is very great," proclaimed David Bernstein, Spokesman for Handgun Control, Inc., when told about a Cincinnati convenience store owner who shot three armed robbers. Then he added, "Sometimes it's better to give some money away than to give your life away."
Let's examine what happened.
At 1:45 a.m., on September 8, 1999, as Eugene and Clara Clifford were preparing to close Clifford's Carry Out, three men wearing shirts over their faces entered the store. One man yelled that they were robbing the place. Another jumped over the counter and punched Mrs. Clifford, knocking her to the floor. He then placed a gun to her head.
Eugene, a former iron worker who had purchased the store fifteen years earlier, was in the back. He pulled his legally-owned and licensed .38-caliber revolver from a safe, and ran to the front of the store.
The business-owner opened fire, hitting all three robbers. Anthony Santino Harris died a few hours later. Police quickly rounded up his accomplices. All the robbers had long, violent histories. Because of Clifford's quick reactions, neither he nor his wife were seriously injured. Police ruled the shootings self-defense.
Like many shop owners, Clifford had prepared for such an event. Yet HCI would have you believe he survived because of dumb, blind luck.
The gun-banners would also have you believe that clerks routinely slaughter innocent customers when they confront armed robbers. After a clerk shot a robber in Suffolk, Virginia, the local newspaper quoted a spokesperson from HCI as saying, "For every successful robbery thwarted there are dozens of cases of bystanders being shot."
Sorry, but it just ain't so. In a quick internet search of one-hundred cases of armed self-defense by clerks and business-owners, none shot the wrong person.
Contrary to what HCI would tell you, it seems that luck is usually on the side of the armed clerk.
On January 27, 2000, Jacksonville, Florida clerk Charles Egly and store owner Ray Albert got lucky. A masked man carrying a sawed-off rifle entered the Prime Stop Food Store. A second robber was already inside the store, scoping it. Egly and Albert, after being attacked by the gunman, shot him dead. The second robber fled into the store's bathroom where he was held until police arrived.
On February 24, 2000, convenience store owner Khoa Dang Ngyuen also got lucky.
In a period of three days, Houston had seen five convenience store clerks murdered. By all indications, the clerks, mostly Pakistani and Vietnamese immigrants, had cooperated with the robbers.
At 10:30 p.m., Ngyuen and his sister were working the counter when two men entered, pulled guns, and announced a holdup. Ngyuen handed over his money, expecting them to leave. Then one of the men began to pistol-whip his sister. Ngyuen pleaded with them to go away, but they became even more violent. When one of the robbers closed the security doors (automatically locking them), Ngyuen knew they planned to kill him and his sister. At that point, the frightened store owner grabbed his pistol and opened fire.
Both robbers ran to the locked door, frantically clawing at it as they tried to escape. "I threw them the key to the security door," Ngyuen said. "I told them, 'Please leave. I don't want to shoot you anymore.'"
The wounded robbers were quickly apprehended by police.
These cases, and thousands of others, demand answers from the gun-banners.
Why shouldn't clerks be allowed to protect their own lives? Handing over a few dollars, as HCI suggests, sometimes only angers the robber, setting him off on a killing rampage. In other cases, the bandit is a spaced-out addict whose impaired perception drives him to violence. In still other instances, the robber kills the clerk to avoid being identified.
A clerk can't know the intentions of robbers. Many times, those who prey on employees of convenience stores are violent psychopaths trolling for victims. Donald Blom, a notorious sex offender, was recently convicted of the kidnapping and murder of convenience store clerk Katie Poirier in Moose Lake, Minnesota. A video surveillance camera caught the killer leading the victim out of the store. After cooperating with Blom, the victim's fate was to be raped, tortured, and murdered. Had Poirier shot the psychopath, it's likely that some gun-banner would have launched into the standard lecture about such instances being rare.
Do we as a society want to send robbers a message that businesses are gun-free zones? Since England banned almost all guns, violent crime in that country has skyrocketed. It's obvious that criminals no longer have any fear of disarmed British subjects. Is that what we want to happen in our country?
Four days after Ngyuen shot the two armed thugs, a second Houston convenience store clerk shot an armed robber, killing him.
Guess he got lucky, too.
© 2000 SierraTimes.com
-- 30 --
You can send thank the Sierra Times for running Mr. Waters' articles at:
feedback@sierratimes.com