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.

Some statistics, and why you should Openly Carry a firearm

According to Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms, James Wright and Peter Rossi, Aldine, 1986 about 60% of convicted felons said they purposely avoided targets they knew to be armed. The same study showed that 40% admitted to avoiding someone they thought might be armed. It seems to me the criminals are more afraid of open carry than concealed carry.

According to, The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons, U.S. Bureau of Justice StatisticsFederal Firearms Offenders study, 1997: National Institute of Justice, Research Report, July 1985,Department of Justice 57% of felons said they are more worried about running in to armed citizens than cops.

In other words the studies show that criminals avoid those that can fight back with a weapon. They avoid the hard targets. They don't hide in bushes and wait to attack them in hopes of stealing their weapon. This "target me" myth is not based in the evidence of real world studies. It just doesn't pan out based on what is known of criminal behavior.

According to a study done in Missouri 2% of civillian shootings kill an innocent person. The tally for police officers came out to 11%. According to, Geller & Karales, "Shootings of and By Chicago Police: Uncommon Crises, Part I: Shootings by Chicago Police," Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 1813 (1981) 14% of lethal force incidents by Chicago police officers were "prima facie cases of manslaughter or murder."

Even the FBI admits that criminals don't OC & practically never use holsters.
The study was called "Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation's Law Enforcement Officers".
Published in 2006; PDFs available here.
Chapter 4 is where they talk about criminals, OC, & holsters.


So if you see a citizen with a pistol in a holster, you can be pretty sure they're not planning to cause trouble.

Officers are the same, but different, than regular people (or why shouldn't you carry a non-lethal self-defence item)

In an article in The Brownfield Herald titled "In police shootings, officers held to same laws as public" the author notes that

Each department's policy on use of force against a suspect varies slightly, said McAllen police Chief Victor Rodriguez. But officers are held liable under the same laws as the public.

"We're subject to the law that applies to everybody," Rodriguez said. "It doesn't matter if you're a police officer or a citizen. A person can use force."

while also showing that officers are not the same as a normal citizen with

Harlingen police have not released the name of the officer who fired on Rivas or said why he chose his shotgun instead of his Taser during the deadly Monday night incident.

The man is currently on leave from his duties, while the Texas Rangers and Cameron County District Attorney's office continue to investigate. The evidence is expected to be turned over to a grand jury for consideration.

First MWAG

My first MWAG (Man with a gun) since I started open carrying (from here on out in this blog, I will reference open carry with OC) just a few months ago. It was not, however, a police officer that came up to me.

I was in Wal-Mart with my wife, just running errands and picking up ammo and some biodegradable clay pigeons. I was OC as usual. I tried to get my wife to OC with me on the bases that if something should happen, it is better have someone there who can back you up, but she declined on the basis that her paddle holster has not shown up yet and she hates to wear a belt in order to carry.

Why "Gunner"?

This one is easy, but it requires a bit of backstory as well.