Friday
(0)Great story posted at the Volokh Conspiracy:
Ron Simpson knows guns -- and instantly knew the one in front of him Wednesday night was a phony.Sure, the gun in the hands of the would-be robber at Action Video at 1058 Alamance Church Road had the look of a 9 mm, but Simpson, the manager, said he was "95 percent sure" the muzzle was too small to project a bullet.
"That is not a real gun," Simpson told the robber. "This is a real gun," he said, pulling a .25-caliber derringer from his front-right jeans pocket. . . .
Simpson picked up a cordless phone, dialed 911 and followed the robber outside. The fearful criminal stayed about a minute and ran before police arrived. . . .
Reminds me of that scene in Crocodile Dundee when the eponymous hero is confronted by a street punk with a switchblade.
Nice. The .25 cal "derringer" makes me think of that Huck Finn episode of the Simpsons, where everyone on the riverboat pulls out derringers and starts shooting at one another. They're so underpowered that the bullets bounce off bottles, etc., causing Bart (as Huck) to say "them derringers is powerful weak." Classic.
Posted by Alfred E. Neuman at October 17, 2003 11:09 PM
.25 derringer? if he wants something tiny and underpowered why not a browning vestpocket or something else with more than 2 rounds?
******
this has nothing to do with anything here but is an amazing read Denmark clears too many mines, BS's too little
Posted by fnyser at October 18, 2003 12:01 AM
Don't know why he bothered with .25 derringer, other than for some sentimental value. The guy lives in Greensboro North Carolina where getting quality self defense firearm should be relatively simple (unlike NYC). Hell, for defensive purpose, I'd get a .40 semi-auto like Glock 23.
Posted by BigFire at October 18, 2003 02:46 AM
Puny weapon or not, the derringer seems to have done the trick. Now if that had been in the UK, the police and magistrates would have disapproved very strongly, first because the store owner "took the law into his own hands," secondly because he embarked on a hazardous course of action that might have resulted in injury or death, third because although there is legal precedent for getting away with defending oneself with an unlicensed (i.e. illegal) firearm it is still very, very naughty, and he'd be asked all sorts of questions and then watched like a hawk for years...
Posted by Tony H at October 18, 2003 10:22 AM
Anything that does the job. And I wouldn't want to be shot with one.
Posted by Adam at October 18, 2003 03:22 PM
