[FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59503 [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]A grocery store customer in Indianapolis is being credited with halting an armed robbery by pulling his own weapon and pointing it at the assailant until police arrived. [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]According to a report in the Indianapolis Star, Charlie Merrell, 51, was in a checkout line at a grocery store called Bucks IGA on the city's south side when a "masked man jumped a nearby counter and held a gun on a store employee." [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]The police report cited by the newspaper said the incident happened at 5:17 in the afternoon Monday as Merrell was doing some year-end shopping. [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]"While the suspect was demanding cash from the workers," according to the police report, "Merrell pulled his own handgun, pointed it at the robber and ordered him to put down his weapon." [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]The newspaper noted that Officer Jason Bockting, in his documentation of the incident, said when the suspect seemed to hesitate, "Merrell racked the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber." [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]At that point, the report said, "the suspect placed his gun and a bag of cash on the counter, dropping some of the money … the suspect removed his mask and lay on the floor." [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]Merrill, meanwhile, held the suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived and took him away in handcuffs. [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]Police reported Merrell had a valid permit to carry the handgun, and they recovered an unloaded .380-caliber handgun and $779 cash from the suspect. [/FONT] [FONT=Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times]Police records show Dwain Smith, 19, was being held in the Marion County Jail on a bond of $30,000 on initial charges of robbery, criminal confinement, pointing a firearm, battery and carrying a handgun without a license. [/FONT]
That shopper who stopped the robbery should be ashamed of himself for carrying such an obviously dangerous weapon. Doesn't he know someone could have been hurt? Such a crazy world we live in.
"Merrell racked the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber." What wouldve happened had the bad guys gun been loaded? An unloaded gun in this situation amounts to nothing more than a weight to hit the guy with. Anyone around here carry a CW unloaded? Doesnt sound like a good idea to me. But hey it turned out alright. Score one for the good guys!
I was wondering about that myself...... you point a gun at an armed robber knowing there isn't a round in the chamber? Not too smart. .
I was being sarcastic though I "read" years ago in sof; asg or "firepower" it was not unusual for israelis (mossad?) to carry their browning hi-powers concealed with an empty chamber ,and racking the slide was part of drawing the weapon.I certainly don't advocate this. We carried condition1, hammer back on a loaded chamber, safety on...
A lot of people that carry concealed carry with an empty chamber. I have talked to several that do. I do my best to talk them out of that, and to be confident in their safe handling skills.
Keep talkin to them EL. I would hate to hear someone I knew drew an unchambered weapon and was killed because of it. When my father first started carrying. He kept his unloaded. I asked him if he planned to pistol whip the bad guy? I buddy of mine (LEO) works in a major city. He says most of the thugs he encounters keep there weapon in condition 3 because they think its cool to rack the slide and scared of shootin their balls off.
Mine are ready to go. That would be the first thing I would forget in a gun fight and then I would be dead.
If you have time to scare someone like that by "racking the slide", why not keep one in the chamber anyway? Sure, a $0.30 bullet will fall on the floor, but you should have 9 more rounds to work with. One in the chamber will give you that extra time if the situation dictates.
Exactly so. However, I see no point in racking the slide at all. Either shoot, or don't shoot, the two seconds it takes to rack and recover might be the difference between corpses.
Keep it loaded and chambered and if you want that final bit for intimidatio just make sure you have an external hammer to cock rather than fireing in single action. As far as Im concerned, if it dont have a round in the chamber it aint loaded and pointint an unloaded gun at someone is just dumb. I carry with a full mag and one in the chamber, hammer at half cock and saftey off and practice to the point its automatic that as i draw the hammer is cocked by the time the gun is leavel. If I have to pull it then a verbal warning is gonna be a gift, may not get that and sure wont get a second one, if theres time for being that sociable then the gun needed to stay holstered IMO.
I have a crimson trace laser on one of my .38. I figure a red dot in the middle of the chest or dancing on the face is a good warning system that "you are about to die -- cease and desist." The dot is bright and will burn your retina. (don't shine into and thing reflective or you may accidentally shine your eye and leave a little dancing dot in your eye for a while...speaking from experience)
I want a laser for mine but they dont make laser grips for my guns and I havent found any other lasers that automaticly go on and stay on when you grab the gun and off when you holster it.
