(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)They say an armed society is a polite society. That may be true, but an armed society is definitely one with less crime. Some criminals found that out in Washington state when they tried to rip off a hardware store recently. However, not everyone is happy about how the police reacted.
As the scumbags exited the store with stolen goods, they were confronted by six legal gun owners. Yes, you read that correctly. There were six armed customers who stopped these thieves, and it’s safe to say they will think twice before ever attempting a crime like this again.
Heraldnet reports that a couple of master criminals, identified only by their ages 22 and 23, came up with the brilliant idea to rip off a Marysville hardware store. The plan was to steal some tools, pawn them, and get paid. Things didn’t quite work out that way.
Last Saturday, these two fools walked into the Coastal Farm & Ranch store and helped themselves to 4 nail guns valued at $400 each. They ran out of the store without paying for the tools and got into their Honda Civic, thinking they pulled off the crime of the century. Before they could make their getaway, however, six armed customers confronted the thieves. One of the armed customers yelled at the thieves, demanding they get out of the car and surrender.
With six guns on them, the criminals probably ruined a couple of perfectly good pairs of underwear. Still, they thought that they could get away because, as was already stated, they are not very smart.
“He won’t shoot, run him over,” said one of the thieves.
The driver gunned the engine and hit one of the armed customers, who ended up on the hood. The thieves then reversed and tried to drive away. Another of the armed customers shot out one of the front tires. A second armed customer shot out one of the rear tires. A third armed customer fired shots into the car.
An employee of the hardware store jumped in his car and gave chase. One of the thieves held something out the window that the employee thought was a gun so he quickly abandoned his pursuit.
The thieves made a brief getaway, but police found the Honda a few blocks away with two flat tires. All four stolen nail guns were still inside the vehicle, making the heist a complete bust. After a brief search, both of the hapless robbers were located and arrested.
The bungling thieves said they never flashed a gun at the employee who chased them and police found no firearms on the suspects or in their vehicle. They also denied hitting one of the armed customers with their car, but a surveillance video from the store shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that they did. Both were booked into the Snohomish County Jail on first-degree theft charges.
These six armed citizens definitely thwarted a fairly major theft, but police are more concerned that these good guys with guns fired their weapons at the scumbags.
Marysville police Cmdr. Mark Thomas on Monday said it’s unclear if the other people involved fired their guns lawfully, as they left before law enforcement got there. Security footage showed one of them getting in a vehicle just as the first officer arrived, Thomas said.
“Anytime you’re firing a weapon in a public place, especially a few days before Christmas in a crowded parking lot, it is a grave concern,” said Thomas.
Is that a law in Washington state? You can’t shoot at violent criminals if it’s a few days before Christmas?
These dirtbags used their vehicle as a weapon in hitting one of the armed customers, and that more than justifies the use of deadly force. Cops kill suspects for doing the same thing all the time. Instead of going after these good guys, the police should add a charge of assault with a deadly weapon to the two thieves.
Obviously, these two losers thought they were going to get an easy score and never in a million years thought six armed customers were going to stop them. If more criminals knew there was a distinct possibility of facing armed resistance, less of them would attempt crimes.
It’s not a coincidence that mass shooters pick soft-target gun-free zones for their massacres. Criminals of all types are cowards, and the last thing they want to see is a good guy with a gun. Six good guys with guns? Even less so.
