Drizzt
January 16, 2003, 03:57 PM
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
January 16, 2003 Thursday Home Edition
SECTION: DeKalb; Pg. 2JA
LENGTH: 491 words
HEADLINE: Experts disagree about use of guns by store workers
BYLINE: DAVID SIMPSON
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
National convenience store chains have studies and consultants to back up their policies against resisting armed robbers.
J.C. Adams has a shotgun.
Last week, Adams, owner of the Pac A Sac store at 2615 Lawrenceville Highway, shot and killed a would-be robber and wounded an accomplice. The 74-year-old, who uses a walker, also killed a man who tried to rob the store in May 2000. Adams' fighting reaction to crime drew immediate community support. Whether other crime victims could benefit from his example is a question debated by those who've studied crime statistics.
Rosemary Erickson, a San Diego State University sociology professor, has conducted years of research on convenience store robberies and does consulting work for the industry. She says Adams was "very lucky" to have escaped harm.
Erickson said small operators like Adams should follow the example of national chains like 7-Eleven Inc., which prohibit employees from carrying weapons and advise cooperation with robbers. She said there is clear-cut evidence that a no-resistance policy is safest.
But she conceded that store operators, like the public, are influenced by people like Adams who successfully resist. "People who shoot and kill a robber are treated as heroes, so you're fighting an uphill battle," she said.
Rob Wilcox, spokesman for the Washington-based Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said his organization supports the safe use of guns for self-defense. But he pointed to statistics that guns often are not used for their intended purpose.
He noted studies by Dr. Arthur Kellerman, head of Emory University's Injury Control Center, concluding that guns kept in homes are far more likely to be used against a family member than an intruder.
But Gary Kleck, a Florida State University professor of criminology and criminal justice, has produced studies concluding that guns are effective in self-defense. Kleck studied the federal government's surveys of crime victims and concluded that people who reported using guns for self-defense in a robbery were less likely to be injured.
Using surveys from 1992 to 1998, Kleck concluded that 8.5 percent of "confrontational robbery" victims who attacked the robber with a gun were injured. And all of those injuries occurred before the victim used the gun. The injury rate was 23.6 percent for victims who offered no resistance.
"Once it's a robbery, it's a dangerous situation and significant numbers of victims will be injured," Kleck said. "It turns out using a gun is as safe as it gets."
Kleck said police in the South and West are more sympathetic to victims in cases such as Adams'. In some other jurisdictions, police routinely would charge a storekeeper after a shooting, though the charge might be dropped later after investigation, he said.
DeKalb County police have said Adams will not be charged. Georgia law permits the use of force to protect property and people.
January 16, 2003 Thursday Home Edition
SECTION: DeKalb; Pg. 2JA
LENGTH: 491 words
HEADLINE: Experts disagree about use of guns by store workers
BYLINE: DAVID SIMPSON
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
National convenience store chains have studies and consultants to back up their policies against resisting armed robbers.
J.C. Adams has a shotgun.
Last week, Adams, owner of the Pac A Sac store at 2615 Lawrenceville Highway, shot and killed a would-be robber and wounded an accomplice. The 74-year-old, who uses a walker, also killed a man who tried to rob the store in May 2000. Adams' fighting reaction to crime drew immediate community support. Whether other crime victims could benefit from his example is a question debated by those who've studied crime statistics.
Rosemary Erickson, a San Diego State University sociology professor, has conducted years of research on convenience store robberies and does consulting work for the industry. She says Adams was "very lucky" to have escaped harm.
Erickson said small operators like Adams should follow the example of national chains like 7-Eleven Inc., which prohibit employees from carrying weapons and advise cooperation with robbers. She said there is clear-cut evidence that a no-resistance policy is safest.
But she conceded that store operators, like the public, are influenced by people like Adams who successfully resist. "People who shoot and kill a robber are treated as heroes, so you're fighting an uphill battle," she said.
Rob Wilcox, spokesman for the Washington-based Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said his organization supports the safe use of guns for self-defense. But he pointed to statistics that guns often are not used for their intended purpose.
He noted studies by Dr. Arthur Kellerman, head of Emory University's Injury Control Center, concluding that guns kept in homes are far more likely to be used against a family member than an intruder.
But Gary Kleck, a Florida State University professor of criminology and criminal justice, has produced studies concluding that guns are effective in self-defense. Kleck studied the federal government's surveys of crime victims and concluded that people who reported using guns for self-defense in a robbery were less likely to be injured.
Using surveys from 1992 to 1998, Kleck concluded that 8.5 percent of "confrontational robbery" victims who attacked the robber with a gun were injured. And all of those injuries occurred before the victim used the gun. The injury rate was 23.6 percent for victims who offered no resistance.
"Once it's a robbery, it's a dangerous situation and significant numbers of victims will be injured," Kleck said. "It turns out using a gun is as safe as it gets."
Kleck said police in the South and West are more sympathetic to victims in cases such as Adams'. In some other jurisdictions, police routinely would charge a storekeeper after a shooting, though the charge might be dropped later after investigation, he said.
DeKalb County police have said Adams will not be charged. Georgia law permits the use of force to protect property and people.