Lethal Force: Are You Prepared For An Armed Invasion?

By Massad Ayoob
This article originally appeared in the October, 1999 issue of Shooting Industry.

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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 semi-automatic 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.

SimiIarIy, 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.

A few years ago, a criminal grabbed a Colt Gold Cup .45 auto from the holster of another
Indiana gunshop owner and tried to shoot him. Fortunately, he couldn't find the safety of
the cocked and locked pistol in time. Just as fortunately, the shop owner was able to grab
a revolver he had strategically placed under a nearby counter. The good guy survived
unscathed.

Of course, the same principles apply to shopkeepers from other kinds of businesses who
come to your store to buy weapons for security. If they think it's paranoid to carry two
guns, read them this clipping from the "Armed Citizen" column in NRA's American
Rifleman of April 1993:

"Disarmed and pistol whipped after struggling with a pair of shotgun-toting thugs,
Brooklyn, N.Y. pharmacist Soel Melero continued fighting and managed to retrieve a
second - also licensed - hidden pistol. Firing three times, the druggist killed one of his
assailants. The other fled empty-handed. (The Daily News, New York, NY, 1/18/93)."

Guns in the hands of decent people stop the lawless. Yes, it's that simple!

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