Armed Citizen

A pair of criminals, at least one of whom was armed with a gun, entered a Waffle House in Spartanburg, S.C.  and attempted to rob the restaurant. A customer with a Right-to-Carry permit saw the pair, drew a gun and ordered them to stay put until police could arrive. When one of the robbers disobeyed the order and pointed his gun at the permit holder, the armed citizen shot and killed the criminal. The other robber fled the scene, but was captured by police a short time later. Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright was supportive of the permit holder’s actions, stating, “This guy defended his life and the other lives that were in the Waffle House by law and by the Constitution and we will not be charging this gentleman.” In 2011 Sheriff Wright made national headlines for urging citizens, particularly women, to arm themselves. (WYFF, Spartanburg, S.C. 01/21/12, WACH, Columbia, S.C. 01/21/12)

During the decades the American Rifleman has published “The Armed Citizen” column, thousands of incidents of law-abiding Americans using firearms to halt or prevent crime have appeared in the magazine. Editorial space allowing, the total could have been far greater of course, as award-winning survey research shows that each year in the U.S. gun owners use firearms for protection as frequently as 2.5 million times.

This archive contains “Armed Citizen” entries from the present back to 1958. The database is searchable by key word and state and results are displayed in chronological order according to the month of publication in the American Rifleman.