Criminals fear armed citizens more than they fear cops

John Stossel had a report on guns and included the fact that inmates are more afraid of citizens who are armed than they are of cops, simply because they know instantly more often than not who the cops are. The portion on guns starts at 5:05, he interviews inmates at 6:30 and talks about what they are afraind of at 7:15.

This reminds me of a story I recently read at the following link:

I ran into a kid at the carwash this past Saturday, I remember him and his brother from church when they were ankle-biters. Sadly both this guy and his brother ended up doing time in the state pokey (His brother is actually back in) while he has turned his life around. He recognized me and came up to start chatting- saw my sidearm and asked what I was carrying these days. Spent a few minutes talking about my firearm and he says, "you know, guys like my brother fear people like you."

I said, "armed people?"

He said, "no, armed people who don't bother covering it up."

I asked, "Why not just regular armed people?"

He said, "can't tell who is strapped and who isn't. Someone carrying concealed looks just like everyone else. See, when guys like him case a joint, they make sure that everything is in place. As soon as they see someone with a piece hangin' off their belt it messes with their rhythm. That throws them off and makes them shaky."

Then he said something that has stuck with me since, "my brother said it took him almost a week to get the picture of a guy with a gun out of his mind before he got the nerve up to go rob another store. It really freaked him out because it reminded him that there were people out there with guns that could shoot back."

I said (in my most sarcastic voice), "you can't tell me a hardened criminal is actually scared of a private citizen with a handgun."

His answer? "Thugs ain't no heroes... too lazy and it takes a lot of energy to get nerve up to go somewhere and do it. If you mess with that flow they gotta wait until they get jacked up enough to do it again. Could take a few minutes or a few days, but they won't go back to where they know somebody's packin'"

Thought provoking conversation. I just hope this kid has learned his lesson and stays out of trouble.