JOE SLOMO - " I recall another jewelry store encounter where the owner wanted revolvers for defense, revolverS being the key word here. He opted to stick with revolvers for their simplicity in operation and relative reliability, and he bought a few for the store and placed them in positions with easy access. His store was indeed hit, and he prevailed largely due to having access to multiple firearms, and a will to survive."
Sounds like a friend of mine, a jeweler, who owned a nice shop in Studio City, Calif. Bad guys tried to rob his store three different times, and he shot at them each time. Hit three, too.
He kept six S&W 4" .38 Spec. revolvers all over his store, behind counters, from one end of the counters to the other. He also kept a Rem. 870 12 ga. leaning against a doorjamb into his office, out of sight of customers but readily at hand.
Oddly enough, on one robbery attempt, he shot at a professional jewel thief (on parole from Folsom Prison), using his 870 and Magnum 00 buckshot. The thief, armed with a sawed off shotgun, had actually got some jewels, but ran out the back to where a van with his partner was waiting in a large parking lot. But before he could get in the van, my friend grabbed his shotgun and gave chase.
The thief started to raise his shotgun and fire but my friend fired first. He hit the thief, a really large man, in the left groin and lower left stomach, with two pellets coursing through his lower left arm. The thief dropped his shotgun, then ran more than two blocks before collapsing. The partner in the van took off! (Honor among thieves and all that.) The cops arrested the wounded thief and took him to the hospital, where he survived.
His partner was killed the next day in San Diego County, by S.D.S.D. deputies, and two Cal. Highway Patrol officers.
My friend showed me the pictures of the man, after he was being released at the jail ward of the hospital, to be placed in regular custody to await trial. The man was standing, nude, showing where the 12 ga. pellets struck him. The scars were very visible in the area I described. Pictures were taken by LAPD's No. Hollywood Div. detectives. The distance of the shooting was measured by the detectives as 63 feet, from good guy to bad guy. He was sent back to Folsom for a long, long time.
In two other robberies, the revolvers placed all over the store worked for my friend. These were in-store shootings. In the case of the shotgun, it definitely stopped the bad guy from shooting my friend, but it did not kill the thief. Sometimes, even a 12 bore ain't enough!
L.W.