Montgomery County police responded to an armed robbery at a downtown Bethesda gas station yesterday morning, February 13, 2022. The robbery was reported at a gas station in the 7900 block of Old Georgetown Road at 9:06 AM, according to crime data. There is an Exxon station on that block of Old Georgetown.
13 comments:
https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/01/homicides-carjackings-up-in-montgomery-county/
Meanwhile, Brandon & Co. are fiddling while Rome burns.
Store owners need to start shooting people. Not many Maryland citizens can get carry permits but store owners can. Stand up, arm up. If dumb-ass crooks get the idea that they may get killed by the owner of the place they're robbing, they may think twice. They know that that won't happen because few if any are ever armed in their stores. Just walk out with whatever you want and nothing will happen to you.
This is fine. Stop worrying about it. We're not going to do anything about it so stop asking us. Don't you know that having more police readily visible across the County and patrolling wouldn't have prevented it or stopped it? Besides, the police wouldn't have caught them anyway. We have more moral virtue than you do.
- Montgomery County Council
@10:24 How often is the actual business owner present on the premises, especially at a gas station? Do you advocate leaving a firearm available for whoever the minimum-wage clerk is tending the shop? that sounds like a liability nightmare. Does the employee have the training to use the weapon confidently in the crisis moment --I know many of Robert's readers are thoroughly trained and expert marksmen, etc, etc-- but what of the booth flunky who has never handled a gun before? Who is liable if he reaches for the weapon and gets himself blown away in the process, or if he accidentally shoots himself or an innocent customer? Or if he steals the weapon to go out and try thieving himself? Will the shop owner bear any responsibility for any of this?
12:52 - That's a mouth full. Store owners and employees are permitted to have a gun on premises and are also entitled under law to use deadly force if faced with bodily harm. Obviously not an attorney. It's called 2A. Many in MD don't appreciate or respect that and that's part of the problem. Police can't help you in every situation. Time to arm up.
Depending on how the Supreme Court rules on "New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen" which was recently heard by the Court, Maryland could be forced to become a "Shall Issue" State for Conceal Carry. Maryland is currently a "May Issue" State where you have to show a "Good and Substantial Reason", but effectively it's a "No Issue" State because they've made it so difficult to get a Carry Permit. There should be a ruling by June, and it would also affect other "May Issue" States: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.
@4:45 It is a mouthful, and your reply answer none of those questions. The post asks who bears responsibility if the business owner leaves available for employees use in defending the shop/store a firearm that is registered in the business owner's name. What happens if the [unregistered user] employee discharges the firearm while looking at it while he's bored, or accidentally wounds or kills someone other than the robber who is holding up the place and presenting a clear & present danger to life? What happens if the firearm is stolen by the employee or left unsecured, to be taken in a robbery or an after-hours break-in? Should the police and D.A. just shrug off any of these because 2A? "Sorry your husband took one to the chest, lady. The kid behind the register never handled a gun until this evening. What're ya gonna do, though? Second Amendment." I absolutely get the almost palpable urge to find the criminals who are trashing our community and "get medieval on [his] ass. How sweet would it be to see a few articles in the newspaper about "Little thug got the --last-- surprise of his life when he attempted a robbery in Montgomery County last night." But, as with so many things, the reality is sadly more complicated than simply "arming up."
A bit of light reading surrounding Maryland criminal law as it applies to use of deadly force outside the home and the duty to retreat may chasten some of the more vocal proponents of going Dirty Harry on the little thugs, however great the fantasy.
12:15 -
As another poster said, MD may in fact be forced to become a Shall Issue state as the vast majority of our states already are and have been. Employees and owners of retail establishments are entitled under current law to defend themselves against bodily harm with deadly force. This is the common refrain on the Left that people will become vigilante and Dirty Harry as you mentioned. That's just not the case and this state is behind the times, soft of crime and have routinely stood in the way of Marylanders 2A rights. In this case, we aren't even talking about a carry permit. I'll say again, that if robbers took a few shotgun shells to the chest, future would be thugs would think twice. MD does not have a stand your ground law which again, crazy. But in a retail store, an employee or store owner is entitled to protect their property and use force if their fear they are in mortal danger.
@7:18 fails to answer the questions raised by @12:15. "Shall issue" doesn't mean you don't need a permit for your weapon; you do. Your robbers-eating-hot-death scenario is all well and good, and resoundingly cathartic, but it --yet again-- fails to mention what happens if any of the above scenarios interferes with the fantasy of blasting the bas guys. You are correct: employees and store owners and the rest of us, too, all have the right to protect ourselves up to and including use of deadly force. But not without other conditions being met first, among them the duty to retreat if such an opportunity exists. That's not liberal tree-hugging, that's the actual *law.*
It's ridiculous that MD does not have a Stand Your Ground law. That's right, if you're faces with imminent danger, the law says, run for your life.
When Maryland is forced to change its CCW Permit scheme to "Shall Issue", and when people decide to carry legally and safely, that's when you'll actually see a reduction in crime. Because criminals won't know who's conceal carrying and who isn't (which is the whole point), and some of the potential criminals (but maybe not all of them) will make a calculation that going through with the crime just isn't worth it.
I carry in multiple states, and I will carry in MD assuming a favorable Supreme Court Ruling.
Anti-Gun Leftists tell me that I value my property more than the criminals' lives.
No. The criminals value my property more than their lives. I just agree with their valuation, and that's why I conceal carry.
10:13 - What a fabulous post. Welcome to the revolution! Spot on.
@4:41 PM: Thank you very much.
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