The proprietor of a Bargain Booze store in Manchester, U.K. had the intestinal fortitude to throw a barrage of beer cans at the robbers who looted his till at gunpoint. Clearly, it should have been a DGU . . .

From Sky News:

Police say two men stormed a Bargain Booze store in Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester, and threatened staff.

Footage shows the shopkeeper being struck on the head by a man apparently armed with a handgun, as another raids the cash register.

The victim is seen defending himself by throwing items from the counter at one of the attackers. Both robbers flee the scene in the direction of Ramsbottom town centre.

Police said one of the men is believed to be aged in his 20s, around 6ft tall, with a slim build.

He was wearing a white “V for Vendetta” mask, a black tracksuit and light blue jeans.

The other man has been described as slim, and dressed in a dark grey Adidas hooded top and black trainers.

“But wait,” you must be asking. “How can a British robber be armed with a handgun, when handguns aren’t allowed in Britain?” That’s a very good question, and it’s a pity that the British government has been unable to provide an answer it for the last 30 years.

Until the God-given right of self-defense is restored to the British people, they’ll have to resort to desperate and dangerous self-defense measures like can-tossing. And then hope they don’t get prosecuted for it.

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54 COMMENTS

  2. That old fool was “asking” to get ventilated (over a few bucks)…glad the perp wasn’t crazy enough to pull the trigger. Yeah, should have been a DGU.

    • I’m thinking the perp, given the Brits’ culture of pure disdain for firearms, had no idea how to operate it. It looks to me like he’s trying to rack the slide at some point. I wouldn’t even be surprised to find out that the safety was on and that the perp had no idea how to operate it, or that the gun was empty.

    • Me thinks you are on to something there. Hard to see through the blurring, but it looked like the hammer , initially cocked, became uncocked without any shot being fired. So even if it was real, it was empty–which is probably why the perp treated it as if it were a cudgel, not a gun.

      • I was thinking, why would a couple of the lads from the neighberhood buy a very expensive illegal handgun to boost a carry out? What are they looking to take down, a third of what they paid for the pistol or less? Real handguns are expensive in a black market island economy. In Japan a real .38 revolver goes for more than 15oo bucks. What would a beretta 92 go for? These guys look like bungling street hoods, not connected or experienced gangsters.

        Non gun.

        • Entirely possible. The UK requirement for “non-gun” status are very different than our own – with boatloads of “deactivated” firearms available for (relatively) little cash. $500 USD will get you all manner of “real” guns that have been rendered legally unusable in the UK.

          Go and weep for the original Thompson M1 you could get for $1900 US…

          http://www.gunstar.co.uk/Deactivated-Guns/L/All-Guns-for-sale

        • Karina, As a “cost of doing business” that isn’t much of an impediment. Or maybe that was your point.

      • “Hard to see through the blurring, but it looked like the hammer , initially cocked, became uncocked without any shot being fired.”

        Good eyes. It does look like he reaches down to rack the slide as he’s exiting. Mayhap he didn’t have presence of mind to chamber before starting?

        @JWM -You’re assuming that it was just acquired and that it was *bought*. It could have been around for a long time, and the mancunian goblin may have picked it up from another thug through five-finger discount.

        • Or maybe, as seems to be a common practice in “the hoods” in the US, the thugs just rented the gun for the heist. I seem to recall reading that the gun owners charge by the number of bullets included in the rental, more if the gun is fired.

      • Hmmm. A .50 Desert Eagle shot one handed (4:24) and it barely kicked at all. Man that bothers me. Hollywood for ya.

    • Robbing someone with a non gun gets you the same penalty here. Either via the courts or your would be victim. I know I wouldn’t let any suspicion of the realness of the offending weapon lessen my defensive action.

    • Could be fake. Also could be real with a mechanical failure or user-induced one (like not being properly chambered).

      I’m wouldn’t assume it’s fake when it’s pointed at me!

  4. wow the british wont even call it a guy faux mask amazing. never ever forget the 5th of november gunpowder, treason and plot

  5. Those guns are flooding the country from those damned yankee colonies. Once they ban guns in America the problem will cease. Sarcasm off.

    • Actually, from papers I’ve read, they’re “flooding” in from the drug import routes (just as you’d expect) from Eastern Europe, Russia and the Caribbean.

      The point I like to keep bringing home to our domestic gun-banners is this: If they can’t ban them in the UK, an island nation with some of the most absurd police-state CCTV systems in the world, where else would the idea of banning guns work?

      Certainly not in the US, where it is a pet agenda of politicians to keep our borders insecure and wide open to criminal traffic.

  6. I find it funny that BRITISH journalism just referred to a Guy Fawkes mask as a V for Vendetta mask. Sure, thats what V wears but seriously? They have a national holiday named after him! I suppose the US holds no monopoly on idiot journalists.

  9. So, according to the story, one is wearing a track suit and jeans and the other is pantless. Never could English fashion.

  10. Was that a Beretta 92? From the video quality I can’t tell what model it is or if it isn’t just a gun-shaped piece of shiny metal.

    Good trigger discipline on the perp =P… And did he go to rack the slide as he was exiting (thus explaining why the beer-lobber didn’t get shot)?

  12. Are you all crazy? This crime is super easy to solve. First of all, I am sure the criminal registered his handgun. So all the police have to do is look up in the database who owns guns and conduct a few no-knock warrants. If he would have fired his gun, he probably would have only had 7 bullets in the magazine and the casings would be micro-stamped when ejected leading back to the registered owner. I am sure the store owner though was relieved when he saw it was a handgun pointed in his face and not an evil, black semi-auto “assault weapon”. See all the gun laws work!

    #sarcasm

  13. One of the things I was taught in martial arts is that when an attacker is focused on the weapon in his hand (as this robber is), you have an opening to gain control of the weapon.

    Notice how the robber gets very far forward of his center of balance when he’s trying to pistol-whip the store owner? That’s the time to grab onto his hand/forearm and pull. Pull him off his feet, and then work at breaking the arm. Over-pronate the forearm, smash the elbow backwards. Now he’s yours, he’ll follow his arm into the fires of hell to try to reduce the pain.

    • All that tugging and twisting is just fine and dandy, but as a retired ninja I’d rather just shoot the b@stard.

      • So would I.

        But you have to work with what you’ve got, when you’re presented with the situation. Laying back and taking the crap off criminals because you don’t have a gun isn’t an option, IMO. That’s why I learned how to use a knife and fight. They didn’t issue CCW’s in Los Angeles county when I lived there. Knives you could pick up anywhere and dispose of just as easily. Got me out of more than one scrape.

        In the UK, not even knives are allowed, so folks better learn how to adapt – which gets us back to martial arts, many styles of which arose because (drum roll please) of complete weapons control by thuggish overlords and rulers. Sound familiar?

        Those who have studied the history of gun/weapons control see that this crap goes in waves and cycles. And the UK is on the downwards wave of the cycle that ends up in their country’s political class being replaced wholesale, most likely by a violent end.

        Until it is, there’s going to be a lot of suffering for the little guy at the hands of thugs and thieves, and they’re going to have to learn to adapt – just as the Japanese & Chinese did hundreds of years ago.

        BTW, the most important thing that martial arts study teaches you isn’t some particular magic move; the most important thing it teaches you is to move, period. Most people, confronted by an attacker, freeze, even if they are holding a gun.

    • Yeah okay bruce lee. That might work about half the time if you train REGULARLY in that precise way to build muscle memory or get lucky. The fact that you’re alive to post makes me think you probably don’t go around ninjaing people for reals, because sooner or later it fails.

      Old teacher of mine had a son who had studied various martial arts all his life. Got mugged by three guys. Took two of them out, hand to hand, before the third got a lucky shot off. Dying martial artist got to keep his wallet though since the mugger ran off. Worth it?

      • Let’s not forget about the story in Colonel Grossman’s book re: muscle memory.

        A cop trains diligently at disarming and assailant with a pistol. His wife is the assistant.
        A perp holding up a convenience store trains his gun on our hero. Who snatches it out of his hands… and hands it back to him. Just like he’d trained himself to do practicing with his wife.

      • Hindsight is always 20/20.

        Would they have not shot him if he did nothing? We don’t know. Yours is the trope we’ve been hearing from cops and Chiefs of Police for decades. Funny thing is, people don’t believe it any more. They want to carry guns. Now we have people talking about “knife rights.” So that standard cop propaganda appears to be wearing thin.

        What I do know is that the FBI UCR stats clearly show that your chances of being wounded or killed go up when you do nothing, and go down the more force you use in response. Using a gun is maximal force in reply, but when you’re not afforded that option, passive compliance isn’t statistically a smart move.

  14. I’m glad the storekeeper started hucking stuff because until that point, it looked a lot like a slap fight.

  17. Guy wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. . .

    All I got from that is that Anonymous must be broke as hell. They’s been runnin’ outs of paper ever since their UK leaders got arrested.

    Anonymous is all abouts their paper yo. Them proxies don’t pay for themselves.

    Alot of good it did them.

    Hehehe.

  18. Serious question for guys who have thought about it more, or better, had SD training: Do you draw against the drop?

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