You work in a pawn shop. You step out of the shop to run an errand at four in the afternoon. That is when three people approach you in the parking lot. They are armed. They tell you to give them everything you have. That is interesting because one of the things you have is a concealed firearm on your hip. You present your gun and shoot your attackers. They shoot back as they run away. The news report doesn’t mention if you stayed in the parking lot or if you went back inside the building to call 911. You are not injured.

Your robbers crashed their car a short distance away. They left their wounded accomplice in the car. EMS takes your wounded attacker to the hospital. He is 14 years old. Police are looking for his two accomplices.

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Our defender did a number of things that saved his life that afternoon. Long ago he recognized that the world was not a safe place. He found a firearm that fit him and that he could conceal. He carried his gun at work and he wore it as he crossed the parking lot that afternoon. He recognized a threat as three young men approached him. He kept his distance so they couldn’t grab him. He defended himself when they presented their gun. He stopped shooting as they ran away. He stayed at the scene and called 911 for help. He also gave the police a brief statement when they arrived.

For some of us this situation and the defender’s response sounds obvious. For others, it sounds like a lucky miracle this man was armed so he wasn’t hurt or killed. Millions of new gun owners say they would only carry their gun in a dangerous situation. Having a gun pointed at you in an armed robbery is about as dangerous as it gets for most civilians. This robbery happened in the middle of the afternoon in a public parking lot. By that measure we should have been safe.