Jeweller who shot robber wants more gun rights

[Jackson1999]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/12/07/bc-jewellershooter.html

Galloway has been a target shooter for a decade. He said he keeps several legally registered guns in the vault in Dievert's Jewellers, the store he owns with his wife, Sharon. They were alone in the store when the alleged robbers arrived in the late afternoon of Oct. 22, 2008.

Surveillance video shows that while Galloway quickly slipped into his open vault to get his weapon, one of the masked men pointed a large handgun at Sharon's head. The man was moving toward the vault area when the jeweler came out and began firing his 9-mm Beretta handgun.

.....

RCMP recommended Galloway be charged as well — with unsafe storage and careless use of a firearm. The Crown disagreed.

Excuse me? They wanted to charge him? Why??

"In this case, we had several shots fired," he (RCMP Sgt. Lee Oumilousik) said. "They went through a window. Who's to say a child might not have been walking through that window? You are going to get a lot of innocent people shot if you have everybody armed."

Ah yes, what about the children. Except in this case, "a lot of innocent people" were not shot. One bad guy was.

So Sgt. Oumilouski, what should people do when robbed at gunpoint?

"If you give them what they are after, nine times out of 10 they will take what they are after and they will leave."

Nine times out of ten? What if I happened to be his tenth victim?

And last but not least..

"I feel for other jewelers, other businesses, that there's organized drug gangs, sending people out — these drug-addicted people — with guns into stores, businesses, houses. And they are being ordered to commit this crime."

Oumilouski said the force is working on the problem.

Gee thanks sergeant!!

[Katya Mullethov]

1. Who is to say

A child could have been thrown through the window at just that instant ?

[X_Digger]

2. Poor junkies!!

And they are being ordered to commit this crime.

Those poor junkies! Being forced to rob people! :sarcasm:

Wait, doesn't Canada have free drug treatment programs?

[Euromutt]

16. "Ordered to commit this crime"?

Last time I looked, "I was obeying orders" ceased to be a valid defense in 1945.

[Jackson1999]

3. I reread and noticed this gem

"Who's to say a child might not have been walking through that window?"

In this case I agree with the RCMP. If a child is walking through a window, he already has enough problems to deal with without getting shot as well.

[eqfan592]

4. Then again....

...if the child can walk THROUGH the window, especially without damaging it, maybe there's good reason for the store owner to arm themselves and take defensive action? Just food for thought. :P

[eqfan592]

5. Why allow people to drive more than 5 miles an hour down the street?

After all, a child COULD walk right into the street at any time! Best we play it safe it just now allow people to drive at all.


For the children....

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

6. But our friends here from up north have said that gun laws like theirs won't affect our security.

:eyes:

[oneshooter]

7. They are right.

You are VERY secure while in prison.:sarcasm:

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

[aikoaiko]

8. 9 times out of 10?!??!?!!! WTF

I wonder how the good Sgt Oumilouski would feel if I told him that I randomly loaded 9 dummy rounds and 1 live round into a magazine, loaded one in the chamber and pointed it at his head.

Nine out of ten times does not mean anything when your life is in jeopardy.

[safeinOhio]

9. So the Mounted Royal Police can't fire their gun either?

[aikoaiko]

12. If they do fire, then they should be charged with crime because some children may be nearby..

...

More to the point, there are people like the SGT who say things that suggest one should depend on the criminal who is threatening your life to not shoot you rather than trying to deny them the chance by shooting first.

[Euromutt]

15. I recall an exchange from the otherwise forgettable movie "Blue Thunder"

The scene is where the prototype helicopter is undergoing live-fire trials, trying to take out "terrorists" (red silhouettes) on a mockup of a city street while hurting as few "civilians" (white silhouettes) as possible.
After the first two passes, in which all the red targets and a few white ones have been struck, we get the following dialogue from Fletcher (one of the project guys) and Murphy (the prospective LAPD pilot for field testing):

FLETCHER: One civilian dead for every ten terrorists. That's an acceptable ratio.

MURPHY: Unless you're one of the civilians!

Which approximates my reaction to SSgt Omilusik's statement; 9 to 1 in favor are decent odds, but nowhere near good enough for me to gamble my life on.

It's also very nice that SSgt Omilusik is of the opinion that "time is on our side," but that's of cold comfort to someone who is being robbed at gunpoint in the interim.

[beevul]

10. Beyond the pale...

"Galloway quickly slipped into his open vault to get his weapon"

"RCMP recommended Galloway be charged as well — with unsafe storage and careless use of a firearm"



The implication here is crystal clear. RCMPs position, is that an he should be charged with unsafe storage because he had opened his vault. Nevermind that he likely had business reasons to have opened it...


And remember folks - the state of things desscibed in the article is far far less restrictive than the paul helmkes and the dennis hennigans and the kristin rands and the josh sugarmans and peter hamms and the rebecca peterss of the world would like to take them. D.C. and fenty labored with all thier might to keep things in D.C. more restrictive...and the afforementioned slugs, with the exception of peters, publicly supported it.

[spin]

11. "Oumilouski said the force is working on the problem" ...

If I lived in Canada, that would really make me feel safe. Especially when Oumilouski said, "If you give them what they are after, nine times out of 10 they will take what they are after and they will leave."

Oh, goody, goody.

Asked to respond to the suggestion police aren't doing enough to protect people, Oumilouski responded: "We have to do things properly — and that takes time. It's not like a CSI movie, where you see five minutes later the guy is arrested and he's doing time.

"We have to work under the system that is in existence and the laws that are in existence. If you are not happy with the court system, protest to your politicians. Don't take the law into your own hands." emphasis added
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/12/07/bc-jewellershooter.html

Obviously in Canada, self defense is defined as "taking the laws into your own hands." You should trust the professionals to protect you from harm. If you feel they are a bunch of Keystone Cops, who can always complain to your trusty politicians. (The same people who passed the laws which to a great prohibit and restrict firearm ownership.)


This lady argues that it is unsafe that the store owner still has a firearm and should be disarmed.

Schoolteacher Ellen Chambers was across the street when the shooting happened and believes Galloway should be facing charges. (CBC)



Of course, there is absolutely NO possibility that the surviving robber or some other fool might attempt another robbery if they realize that the owner defenseless.

If the authorities do disarm the store owner, at least the lady will be able to walk right by the store without fear, even if the robbers are busy slaughtering the store owners. She would probably feel the victims caused the crime as they chose to resist the initial robbery.

[safeinOhio]

13. Where is Dudly Dewright when you need him?

[Euromutt]

14. I had to look up where this occurred

Port Alberni, BC is close to the center of Vancouver Island (it's at the end of a very long inlet, which is how it still manages to be a port), and the local RCMP detachment has five patrol units, of which two are assigned to "Rural General Duty" meaning they're not going to be in town.

If you want to wait for the Mounties, you could be in for quite a long wait.

[oneshooter]

17. One small bright spot

RCMP recommended Galloway be charged as well — with unsafe storage and careless use of a firearm. The Crown disagreed.

He aparently will not face charges. I don't know if the Goblin can sue him or not.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

[Jackson1999]

18. I think his reaction is indicative of the way many police/local pols react

Blame the victim and blame lax gun laws to divert attention away from the fact that you could not/did not do anything.

The worst example of this is Mayor and Police Chief in Miami. Last year there was a shooting in Liberty City. About 50 people gathered in front of a building known for drug activity for a night of drinking in public and illegal gambling. The cops either did not notice or did not bother to send a car to break it up. Not surprisingly, there was a shooting. One bystander said the shooter used "something big, like an AK47".

Of course, a few days later the Mayor and the Chief held a press conference blaming the shooting on the lack of an assault weapons ban.

Also, no surprise, the cops never revealed what kind of gun was actually used.

Fast forward a few months. There was another shooting that involved 5 handguns and one semi-auto rifle. This of course, was followed by calls for, you guessed it, renewal of the AWB.