PA: Successful Open Carry Defense in Wilkes Barre

A man was walking at 1:20 am, Sunday morning, when he was confronted by two black males, one of which pointed a gun at him.   From timesleader.com:

“What do you got for me?” one man said to the victim.

He told police he grabbed his attacker’s gun with one hand and drew his own firearm. The man does not have a concealed firearms permit, but carries his gun under Pennsylvania’s open carry laws, police said. The robbers fled.

On a dark street, the tactical deterrence offered by open carry may not be as effective, essentially making open carry the equivalent of concealed carry.  The open carrier showed good tactical sense in the encounter, and the two criminals were lucky that they did not get shot.  

This also illustrates the wisdom of those who teach the importance of maintaining your distance when you are holding a person at gun point.   Get too close, and you invite a disarm technique.   In this case the possibility of the "gun" being a replica, BB gun, or toy might have figured into the victim's decision to use the deflect and draw technique.   Wilkes Barre is listed as having a somewhat higher than average crime rate, with 80% of American cities having lower crime rates.

 ©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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