Armed Pizza Delivery

Pizza delivery people have a very dangerous job.  I do not know that anyone has quantified how often they get in vehicle accidents, or how often they are held up, beat up, or killed by robbers, but it seems to be a regular occurrence.  A little known fact is that the modern bullet resistant vest was invented because of a pizza delivery holdup that turned into a shootout.   Richard Davis, who invented the Second Chance vest, and made a company and a fortune out of it, used to deliver pizzas.   He carried a gun in a spare pizza box under the one that he was delivering.   After the gun fight, he realized how vulnerable he was, and the modern bullet resistant vest was the result.

 I track as many defensive gun uses (DGU) as I can find on the blog Gun Watch.  It is not a comprehensive list, just those that come to my attention.  In 2013, I recorded pizza  DGUs in February, March,  August, September, and  October.  These mostly involve serious wounding or worse, so it seems likely that the most common kind of scenario, where the robber sees the gun and runs off, does not make the papers or the Internet.   I suspect that most of the time, it is not even reported.

Some pizza companies have "no gun" policies, but some are seeing the utility of defensive firearms and are supportive of their employees being able to defend their lives.   From wishtv.com:

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Bill Bruton spent Super Bowl Sunday delivering pizzas all over Indianapolis for Aunt Polly’s Pizza. But when Bruton hits the road to make a delivery, he’s carrying more than a pizza. He’s also carrying a gun.

“I’ve got a lifetime permit and I carry,” he said.

The manager at Aunt Polly’s said their drivers have carried for years.
“As long as they have gun permits,” said manager Jeff White.

Not everyone allows their employees to carry weapons. But restaurants are reviewing their safety policies after two pizza delivery drivers were shot and killed in Indianapolis in two weeks.

The trend is to allow employees, as much as any other human being, the right to defend their lives against the human and animal predators that would prey on them.

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch 


Update:  wdaz.com:

Two delivery drivers were shot and killed in Indianapolis over the last two weeks, now restaurant owners aren't taking any chances and are allowing drivers to carry a gun as long as they have a permit to do so.

Two delivery drivers were shot and killed in Indianapolis over the last two weeks, now restaurant owners aren't taking any chances and are allowing drivers to carry a gun as long as they have a permit to do so. - See more at: http://www.wdaz.com/event/article/id/22385/#sthash.vbyolLRS.dpuf

Two delivery drivers were shot and killed in Indianapolis over the last two weeks, now restaurant owners aren't taking any chances and are allowing drivers to carry a gun as long as they have a permit to do so. - See more at: http://www.wdaz.com/event/article/id/22385/#sthash.vbyolLRS.dpuf