Concealed Carry 101: Do Not Shoot Unless Your Life Is In Immediate Danger

This is not positive news for the recent win in Illinois, but it’s important to talk about nonetheless. The Chicago Tribune wrote an article that details a recent robbery inside an AT&T store in Chicago.

The twist to the story is that a concealed carry holder, armed with his firearm, noticed the store being robbed as he was walking in. He waits outside the store so that he can direct people away from the entrance and out of danger. Shortly after this is where his mistake is made. As he is out front of the store, he notices the robber getting away out the back door. It is at this point that the concealed carrier goes after the robber.

A police officer had been flagged down by several people who told them the store was being robbed, police said.  The officer at that point spotted someone running from the rear of the building with a large duffel bag, police said. The officer noticed that the suspect had a gun in his hand.

While police were pursuing the suspect, the concealed carry permit holder noticed that the suspect was running away and he fired two shots from his gun, police said.

“Since the officer did not know where the shots were fired from, he was forced to terminate his foot pursuit and take cover for his own safety,” police said.

There are two things here that are critically important. First, the man with the concealed carry permit was not in immediate danger. In fact, he decided to stay outside of the store during the robbery to make sure no one entered. Second, it is never a good idea to fire shots at someone who is running in the opposite direction. Defending yourself in court for shooting someone in the back is a difficult thing to do.

It is important to learn from real life events such as this one above, and also play out different scenarios in our minds and see what course of action we would take. These could one day turn into real life events and the more we think about them now, the better we’ll be prepared if we ever encounter them.

Oh and in case you’re wondering, the robber was caught shortly after.