A recent incident when an armed robber shot a man for not having money highlights the danger in thinking that cooperating with a violent criminal is en effective way to ensure one’s safety:
Police say that a man was walking on the 26000 block of South Dixie Highway in South Miami-Dade, FL when an armed robber walked up to him and demanded that the man “buy” a watch. When the man informed the armed robber that he had no money, the robber reportedly shot him in the leg and told him “cough up” money. After being shot the first time, the man informed the robber that he still did not have any money, at which point the robber shot him again before fleeing, according to news reports. The man is was reportedly taken to a local hospital in stable condition, and police are seeking the robber.
Sometimes robbers inflict harm when the victim has no property to hand over
An example is this street Chicago armed robbery, in which the victim was shot after the robber learned that the man had no money to steal. This seems to be the same situation as the above case from Florida, and is a common trend in armed robberies.
Sometimes robbers inflict harm when the victim has insufficiently valuable property
An example is this Hartford, CT home invasion that I have previously discussed, in which the home owner was shot by a robber after the robbers determined the man’s property wasn’t valuable enough to have been worth their time. Another example is this St. Petersburg, FL deli robbery, in which a robber shot the deli owner multiple times after being dissatisfied with the amount of money in the cash register.
Sometimes, the goal isn’t even to obtain property but rather just to inflict suffering
The sad reality is that people enjoy causing other people to suffer and see the infliction of suffering as a goal in and of itself. As an example, this British woman was brutally beaten and left to die by a home invader who seems to have done so just for the “fun” of it. Had her daughter not stopped by just in time, she likely would have died as the home invader moved her telephone out of her reach before leaving.
The solution is armed self defense
Robbery is primarily a crime against a person’s body, rather than a crime against their property. The kind of person who is willing to commit such a crime of violence against another person is not the kind of person to whom any of us should want to trust our safety. The solution is armed self defense, as citizens who are armed are in the best position possible to defend themselves against a violent criminal. Armed self defense works.