NY Gas Station Clerk Fends off Armed Robbers with Shotgun
Submitted by DeepDiveAdmin on Oct 25, 2009
A Long Island gas station clerk says he was just doing his job
Wednesday night when the two masked men stormed in and demanded cash.
He grabbed their shotgun and chased them away. The Associated Press reports:
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
OV Social
Awhile back I suggested there may be situations where having both hands free is an advantage over going for a concealed weapon. As I recall, it was related to a Brady Bunch "study" claiming persons with concealed weapons were 6 times more likely to be shot than those without. While my suggestion wasn't very well received, this video shows what I was trying to say. The bad guys had the drop on him. If he'd gone for a concealed weapon, they would have had all the time in the world to shoot him while he was fooling around, not to mention an incentive to do so if they thought he'd start shooting back.
Anyhow, I thought it was an interesting clip to dispell some of the usual assumptions on both sides. You don't necessarily need a handgun to commit a crime , and you don't necessarily need one to prevent crime.
Not that all bad guys will be cooperative enough to wander the neighborhood handing out free shotguns, but it's also interesting to note that FBI statistics show 1 out of 6 police killed in the line of duty are killed with their own guns .
The clerk was somewhat of a ninja! He took advantage when the stupid criminal brought the long-arm within range. Forward-motion basically handed the shotgun over to the clerk. If only we could always count on criminals to be this stupid.
Having or not having a concealed weapon turned out to be irrelevant in this case. No matter how often this type of scenario happens, having a concealed weapon is not a liability.
Out of 4,100 Self Defense situations occurring in real world, only seven (7) times was a defender's weapon taken away and used against them. In nearly two-hundred (200) of the 4,100 the criminal's weapon was taken away and used against them. Judgment, timing, and determination play into how one should respond.
It's obvious that you would not draw if a weapon is already fixed in your direction. Even if you go for a concealed weapon, you are not likely to outdraw your opponent and both combatants (defender and assailant) are put into a high risk of getting shot. It's critical that you assess the situation in a very limited amount of time or risk being shot, disarmed, and potentially killed with your own weapon.
Less than 5% of defenders with CCW's are shot in a Self Defense scenario and less than 1% are fatally wounded. These are the facts and while each one is a tragedy , it's not the epidemic that gun control experts would have you believe.
More people are unintentionally shot by LEO's than they are by legal concealed carriers and while I don't have those specific numbers handy, the difference is huge.