OK, no more kvetching about how the media never report the good news about guns and self-defense. Here's a story about how a West Seattle jewelry shop owner saved his bacon by shooting an armed robber.

Experts disagree, but by some estimates, personal firearms are used as many as 2.5 million times a year in the U.S. for self-defense. We'll never know for sure, because many who repel threats of violence with firearms don't want to file a report with police.

Can't say as I blame them. You're threatened, you respond, what's left to do, until the next time around? Case in point: this incident occured in the main neighborhood shopping district (known as The Junction) in West Seattle; itself a friendly outpost of about 90,000 people within Seattle city limits.

Despite an increased Seattle Police foot presence in The Junction (which I heartily applaud) this kind of stuff just keeps happening. Seems every month - sometimes every week or two - there's a bank robbery in The Junction. Sometimes the robbers get away, sometimes the dye packet explodes and they're caught. Another jewelry store in The Junction has been hit several times; this winter someone was robbed in a passage-way leading from an arterial street to a parking lot.

On the upside, The Junction is more vibrant than ever. You can barely get into a restaurant on a Friday or Saturday night. More foot traffic will help deter crime. So do legal firearms. Target practice anyone?

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at February 23, 2004 03:07 PM

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