Topeka employee fends off robbers with his handgun

July 31, 3:22 PMSelf-Defense ExaminerEric Puryear

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An employee with a concealed carry license used his handgun to defend himself and stop a pair of criminals who tried to rob his shop.

Police say that the employee, whose name has not been released, was closing shop at a business located at 21st and Clay in Topeka, KS last Saturday night. Two robbers entered and attacked the employee, and a struggle ensued.  The employee was able to grab his handgun, for which he had a concealed carry permit, and fired at the suspect.  The suspects then fled empty-handed, leaving the employee unharmed.

Once again, we have a defensive gun use that resulted in no deaths or injuries.  Those opposed to self defense would call this a self defense failure because the employee didn’t manage to shoot the robber, however shooting the robber is not really the goal.  Instead, when using a gun for self defense, the goal is to put an end to the threat posed by the criminal.  Shooting the criminal is certainly a very effective way of ending the threat, as a dead or sufficiently injured criminal is incapable of continuing to attack innocent people.  However firing at criminal, even if one misses, will often accomplish the same goal, since a criminal who is being shot at will often duck or flee, preventing them from harming their victims.  Here, the criminals fled empty-handed, leaving behind valuable evidence that may allow the police to find them, and no innocent people were harmed. That is what I call a successful self defense gun use.