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“’It’s actually scary. It was just an ordinary day. And that happens?’ said…movie-goer, Mary Jane Gonzalez. ” Yes, well assaults, robberies, rapes and murders happen every day in this country and in others around the world. The difference is, citizens here have the right to keep and bear arms.

Ms. Gozalez was reacting to news of a shooting that stopped an attempted armed robbery on Monday night near a theater in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown district. A couple was walking when Travis Prince decided he wanted their belongings and requested them at gunpoint.

What Prince didn’t know was that one of his two intended victims, Christopher Cooper, was armed.

From KFOR.com . . .

“It appears that the deceased simply walked up to them, decided that is who he was going to rob, pointed a gun at them and that is when he was shot and killed,” said Msgt. [Gary] Knight. “Every citizen has the right to defend their life.”

Yes. Yes they do. It’s always nice to hear law enforcement officers acknowledge that.

“They were interviewed by homicide detectives shortly after the case because even though this appears on the surface to be a case of self-defense it’s still a homicide,” said Knight. “In a case like this, when somebody approaches you with a gun and a person perceives that their life is in imminent peril the law gives you that right”, he said. 

Note that the media reports don’t say if the victim who shot Prince has a concealed carry permit. That’s because it doesn’t matter. Not in Oklahoma anyway.

As of November, 2019, Oklahoma is a made member of the constitutional carry club. That’s an august group that any state can join if the people elect the right representatives. Fortunately Oklahomans did just that and Mr. Cooper didn’t need a permission slip to carry the gun he used to defend himself.

 

 

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32 COMMENTS

  2. Would have been interesting to learn more about the deadly force application. Did citizen draw and shoot with robber’s gun pointed at him….a low success probability?? Was the robber distracted before deadly force applied….higher success probability? Was robber in retreat post robbery?

    • Sounds like the guy yanked out his shooter and shot the guy with a gunm pointed at him.
      That’s pretty nifty.

      • Probably right. About the last thing most thugs like this expect is for someone to actually resist. That’s why once in a while we see some little old lady whacking all over a would-be armed robber with a cane or umbrella and the cretin runs off.

        Law and order would be restored to a balance of sorts if the crooks not whacked out on dope or booze would have it in their mind that there’s even a 25% chance of anyone they want to victimize being well-armed as well. Also good to remember that the marksmanship and handling capabilities of the average crook and average CC person are probably about equal when the adrenaline kicks into gear. Once the “victim” is drawing, the crook is suddenly on the defense rather than offense. Much more to decide and think through when on the defense…

        Always good to see street justice, though, and a cop that admits the obvious.

        • Craig in IA,

          A few years back I found a reliable source which stated that criminals’ firearms are inoperable 43% of the time. That is incredibly significant. In almost half of all armed robberies, the criminal’s firearm does not work.

          And even when criminals actually having working firearms:
          1) Criminals will often fail to land rounds on a moving target.
          2) Only 19% of gunshot wounds are fatal.

          Combine all of those statistics/probabilities and it turns out that you have an outstanding chance of surviving an armed robbery if you are armed and fight back–even if your attacker has the drop on you (assuming that you are moving in your counter-attack).

          (If my math and facts are correct, you have something like a 93% chance of surviving an armed robbery when you are armed and fight back.)

        • To add to uncommon_sense’s line of reasoning it has been my experience that a significant fraction of criminals have exceedingly low proficiency and familiarity with the guns they have. Being ignorant people all their peers are ignorant and they don’t know that training and malfunction drills are a thing because no-one they know does either. They fail to appreciate that guns are not enchanted talismans that confer power but tools that require skill.

          At a public range years ago I was introducing a 17 year old young lady to guns for the first time. She was doing great with a 22 rifle resting on a bag. I had clay pigeons setting on edge for dynamic targets and she was slowly, steadily, tearing them apart one at a time.

          The next two lane were occupied by some jovial punks who were using several semi-auto rifles and large frame handguns to turn money into noise. Despite having at least $2,500 worth of guns they had brought no targets. One slightly more aware punk told his peer : Huh, huh, huh. “That little girl is shooting better than you.” And the quiet man behind her completely escaped their notice entirely.

          Understand too that merely by introducing a gun you have changed the risk reward calculation and the prudent predator will withdraw and look for an easier mark later. (Not all are prudent or rational but we are talking averages here.)

    • What caliber? How many rounds did the citizen fire? Center of mass or between the eyes? Scumbag assume alley temp immediately? Did the popo sieze the citizen’s firearm?

  4. When I was an OKC resident and went to bricktown I would almost always carry because of things like this.

    On a side note, most things I’ve heard about the OKC police are positive from a carry perspective including that (at the time, less than 10 years ago) the whole department would rather resign than try to confiscate guns from people.

  6. Jeff Cooper stated that, since criminals fear neither the police nor the courts, they must be taught to fear their victims.

  7. Serves as a reminder that bad things can happen anytime anywhere…be the best first responder you can be.

    Used to visit Moore, OK a couple times a year when friends lived there. We would visit Bricktown doing the tourist thing…three of the four of us were armed.

  9. After an attempted break-in, OKCPD asked my friend, “you have a gun, right? We might not get here so quick next time.”

  10. “…a person perceives that their life is in imminent peril the law gives you that right”.

    Actually I’d say that’s a fundamental human right, no law can or should “allow” someone to keep living. But I suppose law enforcement is kinda hamstrung based on their name, eh?

  11. In Oklahoma, we had the right representatives but not the right governor the first time we tried to institute Constitutional Carry. Mary Fallon screwed us over. She was term limited out, and we got Kevin Stitt. Constitutional Carry was the first bill he signed into law after his inauguration.

    • Mary Fallon should be subjected to being an educator in grades K/12 for all the neglect she paid to that profession.

  13. Boy I love a happy ending to a story as this. More culprits including looters should be shot down as soon as they attempt any of this foolishness. Thank God I live in a Castle Doctrine State that allows me to end an act of attempted armed robbery

  15. Great STORY . . . The HITS just KEEP on COMING. One Enlightened Patriot. Team Trump And His Allies 2020 – MAGA (WE’RE NOT going away!).

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