Well, yeah. Does anyone not feel that gun owners should be responsible with their weapons? In no way do I think he should serve 7 years (and he won't), but that bullet could have hit someone else.
I could see being required to take a firearm safety class. Because it was an accidental shooting. He should have just shot him when the thief charged at him instead of trying to physically fight him.
This post was edited by my2cents at May 23, 2024 11:15 AM MDT
100%. Anyone firing a gun - or waving a loaded gun - on a city street should be charged. This is one of the dangers of guns, people use them in heated moments without considering the consequences.
The merchandise was recovered and the thieves left the store. There was no longer any threat. The store owner could have stayed inside. This isn't the Wild West.
In the video, you can see the clerk get the gun (1:02 in the video) while the other clerk is still trying to get the guys outside. The gun was pulled while the criminals were still in the store. The mistake he made was trying to fight them physically. He tried to pistol whip the thief. When the guy charged him, the clerk should have shot then. That was restraint on the clerks part and now he will likely pay for it.
This post was edited by my2cents at May 23, 2024 3:56 PM MDT
If anyone comes upon a person's business and steals something, the gun owner has every right to defend the property by killing the thief.
Were the police called/notified? Doesn't matter. No matter how the thieves behaved after the theft, the gun owner has every right to declare their death and shoot to kill.
Any potential bystanders that may have died because of the accidental gunshot - - that's simply the way the ball bounces since it's any potentially-shot victims' bad luck to be at the wrong place at the wrong time - their bad luck since the gun owner's accidental bad shot was in the heat of the moment.
The gun owner did absolutely nothing wrong by adding a gun to a theft, other than not shooting it sooner.
All's well that ends well -- the thieves deserved to be killed anyway, regardless of what happened. Possible other injuries or deaths that may have happened didn't happen.
The thieves brought their potential murders upon themselves. They deserved to die but didn't.
Again, all's well. The gun saved the day. The gun owner should be up for an honorary award.
EDIT: Sarcasm used
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at May 24, 2024 4:19 PM MDT
However, to me, in the video, it looks like the thieves were well on their way of being escorted out the door (without any of their stolen items I assume) with no excessive violence while the gun was retrieved. Video shows no excessive physical beating of any kind that I see.
And then a 'skip' in the video then shows what looks like the thieves being completely outside. Yes, they look like they may be physically threatening from a distance but the owners could have shut and locked their doors right then. And it would all have been over. But the owners come back out of their building. One of them with a gun.
Let the police take care of it at that point. Or just lock the doors and let the thieves be pissed off outside.
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at May 24, 2024 4:47 PM MDT
If you look at little closer, at 1:02 in the video it shows the clerk go get the gun. The other clerk is still trying to get the thieves out of the store. They are still resisting when he comes back around the counter with the gun. This is when they finally go out. But then the thief comes back and charges at the clerk. The clerk does not shoot then he instead tries to fight him physically, he punches with the gun hand and it goes off. An argument could be made that the clerk should have ran back inside and locked the door rather defended himself from the charging thief. I guess the courts will sort that out. It is NY, so he will likely do more time than the thieves.
In my state, we have the right to defend with NO "duty to retreat." So there likely would be no charges against the clerk.
Fine. "Try that in a small town" if that's what you wish.
I'd just like to see it all end (which it could have) without anyone being hurt, shot or killed.
For me, no theft is worth killing someone or being killed.
And I've been threatened in my life - - I'm glad I did not shoot, assault or kill anyone over it. For me, I had enough sense to let it all go.
(And yes, I see some resistance on the way out- - but it looks they still were very much on their way out of the door before he got the gun. And, yes, he had every right to get his gun.)
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at May 24, 2024 6:06 PM MDT
Element 99 