Target Rich Environment

As the G.I.N.’s Deacon pointed out, there are two statements (in bold) that really are impossible to reconcile (link):

WILMINGTON — Before the night clerk at Favors Liquor Store could react Tuesday night, one armed robber jumped through the take-out window and another ran behind the counter.

“One had a gun at his head and the other had a gun at his chest,” said Ed Pensky, the store’s owner.

Shortly after money was taken from the cash register, the clerk pulled his own gun and shots were fired, Pensky said. The clerk shot one of the men, who ran on North Walnut Street and collapsed about 30 feet away. He was pronounced dead at Christiana Hospital.

Pensky, 67, has owned Favors Liquor Store for more than two years.

Before that, he owned another liquor store for 10 years in northeast Wilmington.

Because both neighborhoods are among the poorest and most violent in the city, Pensky and his employees are well armed.

In addition to the .40-caliber Glock pistol the clerk used in the shooting, police confiscated two guns and a can of Mace in the tiny store that weren’t involved in the robbery. One is a .380-caliber pistol kept under the counter in a cigar box and the other is a 12-gauge shotgun kept in a corner.

The man who died was identified Wednesday as 20-year-old Kendel Miller of the 500 block of W. 39th St. in Wilmington. The other man escaped.

Pensky was at his Pike Creek home when the robbery took place around 9:30 p.m. He went to the store and then to the police station.

Pensky said his employee fired because Miller was turning toward him with a gun.

“He knew he was about to get shot,” Pensky said. “There was no choice.”

Though the investigation isn’t complete, it appears the clerk was defending himself, said Wilmington police Master Sgt. Steven Barnes. He also said it’s legal to carry nonconcealed weapons in a business and no permits are required.

The weapons are all tools of the trade when it comes to running a liquor store in Wilmington’s toughest neighborhoods, Pensky said. When he opened the store Wednesday morning, it still had blood in the doorway. And Pensky had his .38 Sig Sauer pistol hanging from his belt.

Got that?  No crime is being alleged, and though the other guns that were not used, they were confiscated by police.  In case you criminals are reading this (I’m not cynical enough to assume they cannot read) or the dead robber’s friends want to strike back… I guess the “cigar box backup” won’t be noted by anyone.  Not to mention the bureaucratic nightmare that recovering those guns from custody must be. But that’s ok, because further on in the article you get this gem:

Delaware State Police Senior Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh said the department doesn’t take a stand on whether it’s a good idea for merchants to arm themselves.

“But we do advise that it’s always better to comply with someone’s demands than to put themselves into harm’s way,” he said.

In other words, we don’t take a stance on this but (forget everything before but) we advise you not to defend yourself against an armed robber.  Just let them do as they will, we (the only people who should be armed) will be along to file the report and possibly call the meatcart out afterward.

Terrific.