Are you prepared for an armed invasion? - armed citizens help prevent violent crimes

Shooting Industry, Oct, 1999 by Massad Ayoob

In recent shootings the violence has been stopped or prevented through the intervention of armed citizens. It follows that the armed gunshop employee or manager is the role model for stopping violence in the workplace.

After two young psychopaths murdered 13 people in a Colorado high school, the nation's media launched a feeding frenzy attacking legitimate gun owners.

A few weeks later, a man rented a gun in a California gunshop taking employees hostage and threatening to kill them. One employee drew a concealed .45 semiautomatic and shot the bad guy multiple times. Police who captured the wounded gunman found a letter indicating his intent was mass murder. The tragedy - prevented by the armed gunshop employee - merited barely a blip on the radar screen of the national media.

In Atlanta, Ga., a man - believed to have committed murder before - slaughtered his family, then went on a rampage with a Glock 9mm and a Colt .45 semiauto, killing several people at a day-trade stock exchange before committing suicide. It made the cover of TIME.

Only days later, an Atlanta citizen - who bought a gun in the wake of that tragedy - was present when a man with a shotgun prepared to open fire in a public place. The armed citizen drew his pistol. The would-be mass murderer surrendered at gun point. There were zero casualties. The national media ignored the incident.

Don't Become Prey

The lessons are simple. It's Biology 101. Predators only attack prey. In two of the nine highly publicized school shootings in recent years, the death toll was cut short by armed citizens who held the killers at gun point and made them surrender.

After the school massacre at Maalot, Israel some 25 years ago, Israeli teachers and concerned parents volunteered for a program taught by Mishmar ha' Esrachi, the nation's Citizen Guard. They trained in the defensive use of handguns. Carrying concealed weapons, they discreetly protected the schools. The word got out. The massacres ended. The only subsequent shooting of Israeli students occurred in the ironically-named "Zone of Peace" at the Jordanian border. The Jordanians requested that the Israeli teachers and parents leave their guns at home. They did. The adults and the schoolgirls were helpless when an Arab terrorist opened fire.

In Peru a few years ago, Shining Path guerrillas made a habit of terrorizing village schools with murder and kidnapping. The solution of the Fujimori government was to arm teachers with old Mauser 7mm military rifles and modem Mossberg 12-gauge shotguns. The assaults on the children came to a abrupt end.

In the Philippines, political terrorists attacked schools and school children. The government's solution was the logical one. They issued surplus M-1 Garands and M-14 selective-fire semiautomatic/automatic rifles to the teachers.

Armed Deterrence

This is why gunshops aren't held up as often as the public might expect. Most criminals aren't that stupid. They figure a gunshop is one place where the people behind the counter are likely to shoot back.

But this is not to say that it doesn't happen. You wouldn't expect a bantamweight drunk or a petite female to physically attack a burly male police officer, but any big cop can tell you that this often happens.

Similarly, armed robbery attempts do take place at gunshops. The gunshop owners generally win.

A friend of mine in Texas stopped assorted armed robbers in two different multiple-offender attacks on his store. He killed one member of a robbery gang with a .38 Super he had built himself, and shot down another with a Remington 870.

Another friend runs a gunshop in rural Florida. His gun has come out of his holster on multiple occasions. In one incident, he took on a good-size gang in a firefight. He won. It helped that he had a fully automatic M16 and a Smith & Wesson Model 76 sub-machinegun readily at hand.

I know a guy who was working in a gunshop in Washington state when a thug came in, pulled a .25 auto, and declared a stickup. There was a uniformed police officer in the store. There was a quick exchange of shots between the cop and crook. Both missed. The officer, recently transitioned from a revolver to a Glock 17, reflexively crossed his left thumb over the back of his firing hand and blocked the slide, jamming his pistol. It seemed certain the robber would shoot him while he was clearing the jam. But the gunshop clerk, a competitive shooter, quickly drew his Colt Delta Elite and killed the gunman with three well-placed PMC 10mm hollowpoints.

Be Prepared

In preparing for a possible armed robbery attempt, don't neglect backup guns. In addition to the one on your person, others should be strategically placed around the shop where you and your employees can reach them but customers and intruders can't.

In Indiana, recently, multiple armed robbers got the drop on a gunshop staff, disarming the owner of his HK P7. While being herded toward what looked like an execution murder, the shop owner grabbed a .357 Magnum revolver he had secreted earlier. He turned the tables, killing two armed robbers and escaping unharmed.