New Hampshire Gas Station Clerk with concealed handgun permit stops robbery, believes he saved his life
While I don't believe that the results will be any different than for citizens generally using guns defensively, it might be necessary for someone to do a serious study of defensive gun uses just at businesses. OSHA regulations undoubtedly have a lot to do with this. From Nashua Telegraph:
When Shannon “Bear” Cothran was threatened by a knife-wielding robber on Monday morning, he didn’t think twice about what to do.
Cothran, who was working after midnight at the Shell gas station at 301 Main St. in Nashua, pulled out his Ruger LCP .380 handgun.
The robber turned and walked out the door, and Cothran called the police, bringing a swift end to the robbery attempt.
Cothran believes his decision to carry a firearm might have saved his life Monday morning. But the owners of the gas station took a different view.
Cothran says he was fired only a few hours later for violating a company policy that forbids store clerks from carrying guns. . . .
After the incident, Cothran was asked to file a report with his employer, Nouria Energy, which owns and operates the gas station. He said the store manager and a district manager lobbied to save his job, but Cothran was terminated only a few hours later. . . .
Police confirmed that the man approached the clerk and brandished a knife, but fled moments later when the clerk produced a firearm.
Cothran, 29, said he had just finished helping another customer when the would-be robber entered the store, walked behind the counter and threatened his life.
“He had the knife cocked back. It looked like he was going to stab me,” Cothran said. “I took several steps back, produced my sidearm, and informed him it was a bad idea and he didn’t want to do it, and he left.” . . .
Labels: DefensiveGunUse
posted by John Lott at 11:38 AM
2 Comments:
Company has a right to set its rules. The public has a right to not purchase from companies that abridge civil rights and endanger their loyal employees.
Boycott.
Too bad that the Clerk lost his job. Difficult position for the management of the service station; one hand, its their responsibility to ensure that company rules are adhered to. On the other hand, however, it appears as though they are being too harsh on an employee who did just what they could to defend themselves. Question is: what made this specific employee to break the rules, is safety at work so poor that he felt not secure enough? Clearly there must be a reason why he brought the gun to work, in the first place. A thorough investigation is required. If he felt his life was in danger at work, then it points to something that the management needs to address to improving their employees sense of security. Otherwise, the decisions of management are justified. We don't know how the matter was handled before the decision to fire Cothran was reached.
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