She’s a Pistol
Most of the guns stores I’ve been to were daunting, foreboding places…
Walls with semi automatic weapons of war mounted upon them and stacked along shelves; arrays of handguns in glass display cases; ammo everywhere; legions of gritty looking dudes and tough types circulating the stores and an all encompassing sense of testosterone trumping the scent of cheap cologne.
Macho, militaristic man caves of the highest order – havens for both the strong and the weak in search of strength.
My hunch is, most of you have spent very little if any time in such places – other than maybe the munitions departments at Cabella’s or Dick’s.
Why would you?
Gun ownership’s on a four decade decline.
Jason Statham
The household gun ownership rate has fallen from 50 percent in the 1970s to 34 percent today. Charlton Heston is long dead and most folks get blowing people away with an assault rifle out of their systems by watching a Jason Statham movie.
Still this is the good old USA, and a generation or three of red blooded American boys grew up watching John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Al Pacino blow away bad guys.
It’s part of our heritage – it’s what we’re famous for the world over.
But back to the gun stores…
A number of readers have asked why anyone in their right mind would pick a store like She’s a Pistol to rob in the first place.
You know, given that the people who work there would be somewhat obviously well-armed and that it’s probably populated with like-minded gun owner customers who are also well-armed.
It doesn’t make sense, right?
Matter of fact, a sign in She’s a Pistol’s window reads:
“Lawful Carry Welcome Here. Please Keep Firearms Holstered.”
So yeah, even though chances are a gun store might have a lot more cash on hand than a nail salon, and the guns there can be converted into ready cash, the prospect of taking one down in an armed robbery would appear to be extremely risky.
She’s a Pistol’s front window
However we’re not talking about just any gun store.
I went by She’s a Pistol yesterday and from the outside looking in, it looks more like some sort of cutesy women’s boutique. Lots of pink, fashionable-looking clothes and gear, coffee mugs with She’s a Pistol’s sexy, cowgirl silhouette on them – nothing even close to the gun store’s I’ve seen in real life or in movies.
It’s also a very small, shoebox-shaped store – deeper than wide and not very deep.
I could barely make out that they even had any guns there, other than some glass enclosed display cases towards the back counter that the owners and employees presumably stood behind. A photo of the store’s co-owner shows an extremely modest array of wall mounted rifles behind the counter.
In other words, unlike every other gun store I’ve ever been to or seen.
The gun stores I’ve been in – and while I’m no gun nut I’ve stopped at plenty of them – were foreboding, intimidating places. Not the sort of businesses one would want to wage an assault against.
But if someone were to case She’s a Pistol place out – and I’m no robber – it well might appear to be an easy mark – a very small business absent most of the scary guys and stuff you tend to find at conventional firearms dealers.
To borrow an expression from my dear friend Rich Steele, just sayin’
Still trying to justify 4 criminals robbing and killing a man. Classy Hearne! It’s the stores fault for “fostering” an environment of legal gun ownership. Whatever keep pulling at the strings.
We got it already. Your anti-gun (although you claim to own them). Think anyone with a gun is a vigilante crazed lunatic out for blood hopped up on testosterone. Figure it is better to comply with criminals than fight back. Leaving one’s fate up to the whimsy of a criminal. Who’s mindset is at the very least “dead men tell no tales”.
Your perfectly entitled to all those opinions since people with guns fought to assure you that opportunity and the right to have them. Your perfectly entitled to take a beat down when your life, wife, property or person is being attacked. You even have a right to second guess his actions.
What you do not have a right to do is use his memory to push your agenda and fuel your vendetta against your former employer. Which you are… Congrats on being the coward and for poisoning a dead man’s memory. I’m certain the tone would be much different if 4 criminals lay dead and Mr. Bieker was still standing. Since in death you have more than enough courage to disparage an individual.
The only thing I have a problem with is that four Madden Kings are not dead.
First “Chimpout” now “Madden Kings” my vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds!
From the Urban Dictionary:
Madden King
1. Adj. Person disposition which is constantly angry.
2. N. A person usually adult who acts like a gangster and usually living in their mothers house, usually has children and no job and plays video games frequently.
1. Adj. explaining the character of a friends “attitude” whom constantly overacts. “Madden king slaps girlfriend over making him get killed in call of duty”
2. N. A person living at home with parents freeloading. “Madden king still hasn’t left home.”
Sounds like these four guys if you ask me.
Such in depth analysis, Coop…
This was just an attempt to answer the question of why someone would be reckless enough to try and rob a gun store.
I do think you’d be better served though by sharpening your actual arguments rather than speculating on my motives. But that’s just me.
You failed
Sorry, Teach
maybe you’re just trying too hard find an answer that’s not there.. Maybe just maybe these were four idiots who decided to try to graduate from knocking off seven Elevens something a whole lot bigger..I know one thinga dead horse is going to be as tender as a t-bone steak by the time you get done beating it
C’mon mark, he had to squeeze at least 3 turds of stories out of this incident or else it would be very unhearne-like.
Fess up, Dude…
You like the fact that I go more in depth on some of these stories than many do. or are you one of those dudes who like the 30 second TV news presentations?
Be honest now.
I like my stories spoon fed to me via Totally Naked News. Anything else is… unsatisfying.
That’s pretty funny, Mark, Touché
However this game is clearly still afoot because Shawnee Police and the DA are withholding some of the key evidence, really for no good reason other than they can.
MY freedom of information request was denied earlier today.
Check out Jim Fitzpatrick’s piece in the morning. he and I were hashing things out and we came up with a better strategy for Jon Bieker than I had originally suggested.
again…somethings not adding up.
a store with clothes and few of the guns these guys could sell on the streets.
and very little money at the start of the day.
theres info not making it hearne.
just like you never told the real story about the so called jewel theif and
ties to other prominent citizens in joco.
doesn’t make sense…but more crime never does.
we’ll wait for the real facts to come out someday…and not depend
on your and charleyhorse to get it wrong again.
this was not your typical gun store….maybe a hobby for a woman…lets
see what happens
This is very much like the argument that, “She was raped because of the provocative way she dressed.” Hmmmm.
I really wasn’t trying to say that, Lydia…
Just looking for an answer to an oft asked question; that why would anyone dare try and rob a gun store in the first place.
Well, go check it out, this ain’t yer grandpa’s gun store.
I’ll tell you what, with like six people in that tiny shoebox blazing away, it must have been incredibly loud and wildly intense.
I think anti-gun rants are a prime example of how people in this country are like short attention span cats that are susceptible to any little distraction and very little actual thinking. I always marvel how people decrie guns as a huge issue while turning their head to smoking and alcohol…both of which kill more people individually than guns. Guns on one level have an actual purpose i.e. hunting and home protection while alcohol and smoking serve no purpose other than human self gratification. Why don’t we make alcohol illegal? Ban all smoking? People point to prohibition as to what would happen. Well what the hell do you think would happen if you were to ban guns.
“Just looking for an answer to an oft asked question; that why would anyone dare try and rob a gun store in the first place.”
Hearne, I think you’re just forgetting that those 4 “Madden Kings” were just plain stupid. Never overlook the obvious when trying to find a reason.
The world is daunting and foreboding to the author of this B.S.