U.S.A. -(Ammoland.com)- On the afternoon of 22 December, 2018, two young men decided to steal from a Coastal Farm & Ranch store in Marysville, Washington. Marysville is a town of about 60,000 population 35 miles north of Seattle. The two young men took nail guns worth about $3200 from the store, without paying. They did not expect opposition. Most stores teach their staff not to confront thieves. While it may prevent some lawsuits, it is an invitation to steal.
In this case, concerned citizens worked to stop the blatant theft. An impromptu militia of six formed up and surrounded the suspects’ car with drawn pistols. From heralnet.com:
They didn’t expect to be surrounded by about six customers with guns raised.
One customer was standing in front of the car, yelling at the alleged thieves to get out.
“He won’t shoot, run him over,” one of the suspects reportedly said.
The driver pulled forward, causing the man confronting him to land on the hood, court papers say.
Another customer shot at the driver’s side front tire, according to documents. A third fired twice at the rear tire.
Another responsible citizen followed the car until he thought they showed a gun. Then he backed off.
The car was found three blocks away with two flat tires. All the merchandise was inside. The police deployed a dog to track the suspects. The two suspects, 22 and 23 years old, were taken into custody.
The armed citizens did not fire until the driver of the getaway car committed assault on the armed citizen attempting to detain them. The armed citizen who was struck with the car is in good condition. He did not need to be hospitalized. The two suspects have been charged with felonies.
Washington State has 578,299 active ccw permits. The population of Washington State is 7.406 million total. Of those, 5.777 million are residents over the age of 18. About 10% of the adult population has a concealed carry permit.
About 75% of concealed carry permit holders are men. A store such as Coastal Farm and Ranch, on a Saturday afternoon, a few days before Christmas, is bound to have a significant percentage of customers who are armed.
The common wisdom put forward in the Media for 50 years is:
Do not get involved. Let the Police handle it.
That may be good advice for an individual. It is terrible advice for society. It is only when individuals are willing to take risks to defend society, to prevent and deter evil acts, that civil society is maintained and improves. An active partnership between the police and the citizenry results in low crime rates.
The founder of modern police, Sir Robert Peel, emphasized the importance of the police being accepted as members of the community, and the importance of cooperation between the community and police.
The Police in Marysville are looking to find the armed citizens who fired the shots that flattened the suspects’ tires.
The armed citizens are, with considerable justification, refusing to get involved further. These citizens should be found. They should be applauded. They should be celebrated.
There has been an active denigration of the importance of private property in the United States, for 50 years and more. It is part of the leftist assault on the rule of law. People cannot live without property. Society cannot function without property. Disrespect for property rights destroys civil society.
Criminals read and hear about crimes, successful, and unsuccessful. Thieves are likely to avoid the Coastal Farm & Ranch store in Marysville, at least for a while.
It is necessary and proper for citizens to defend society from thieves. It takes courage, conviction, and a strong sense of responsibility to stand up to thieves. The armed citizens in Marysville took risks to uphold the rule of law. Through skill and luck, no one was hurt.
The police should be looking for Maryville’s impromptu militia, to give them accolades and awards.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
You know all of us are right in our own opinion. Old 1811 said “draw a line” we are all getting frustrated with the tyranny of political BS. I Seen where postmortem sworn in her cabinet and they all raised their hand to protect and defend the constitution of the UNITED STATES. They just committed treason to the people. And this house leader is 1 pint short of a barrel of wild Turkey! Sorry to offend the wild Turkey drinkers, my grandparents loved the stuff.
Tim I;
I’m sincerely sorry for your loss. The loss of a child is something no parent should have to experience. They’re supposed to bury us, not the other way around.
Peace be with you also.
Washington was a beautiful place to live-until the Californian’s, who had dirtied-up their nest in the “Golden State”, couldn’t tolerate the mess they’d created and started moving to Washington, Oregon, Colorado, etc.
Some pertinent, signs should be erecdted at your borders. Like, We hang horse thieves and Liberals”.
All the people here who want to take lives to protect property, where do you draw the line? Is it a monetary value, say, a thousand (or a hundred) dollars? Is it the nature of the property? Is a car or a laptop worth a human life? How about a case of beer? The armed citizens brandished weapons while the car was still stationary; in other words, there was no immediate threat. So they committed an aggravated assault. The guy who got hit voluntarily put himself in an obvious position of great danger while,according to the article, pointed a weapon… Read more »
Hey oldfart,
A criminal that decides to steal at a store, will end up stealing from you. And just maybe with any luck, do harm to you and or family members. You must be a gun hater trolling this site. By what you are saying, you must be a wuss. You dont believe in the constitution or the veterans that gave their lives defending this country. You sir, are a king Richard cranium.
I’ll take your comments in series: 1. Since I started carrying a concealed weapon in 1976, you’d probably consider me an old fart. 2. You’re kinda right that ” a criminal who . . . steals[s] at a store, will end up stealing from you.” That’s why they should be apprehended and prosecuted. There’s a lot of room between taking someone’s life and letting them go unpunished, and I’m certainly not advocating that they not be apprehended and prosecuted. 3. No, I’m none of those things. I could just as easily call you a liberal troll who projects his own… Read more »
But enough about silly things like the law, let’s talk tactics: The armed citizens approached the vehicle with the offenders inside. Where were they when they fired at the tires? Do you believe that five excited people (Hood Boy was already hors de combat) only fired two shots at the tires? I don’t. I’ve never heard of a tire being recommended as cover, so it’s safe to say the shooters’ bullets went through and through. Where did they go then? The person who shot the front tire was almost certainly beside, not in front of or behind, the car, and… Read more »
Your right, where do we draw the line. At the state level? At the drug level? Alcohol? Mental health? Or making law abiding gun owners criminals? Dont forget the magazine ban due to hit very soon. Not to mention the red flag law. We are all becoming criminals without doing any crime. Just because we own firearms that our constitution grants us. So pick a line, and just a fyi, we just lost our oldest son to a drunk driver on the 4th of December. But we still allow sale of alcohol and cars for people to drive them. Dont… Read more »
I despise a thief, much more than many Murderers. I personally have no problem with a thief being shot for a Snickers Bar, Case of Beer or anything else the thief would care to steal. The two nail guns aren’t theirs. Store owners want to make a living as well as you or any other. Insurance goes up, losses go up to these business owners, who then pass these costs to us. Nope, no tears from me everytime a thief gets shot. Most of these thieves end up doing far worse things as they grow into the little darlings they… Read more »
Dear Mr Weingarten, I have looked at some reports in the media made by the Marysville Police Department, the chief in particular, and I must point out that no one in their right Minds would come forward, after reading those comments by the chief of police. The Chief of police is anti-gun, and anti-second Amendment, as can be clearly seen from his statement. He sad fact, is that Washington State law enforcement authorities have turned vehemently anti-second Amendment, and that starts right at the top, from the governor of the state to the Attorney General of the state Mr Ferguson.… Read more »
Maybe Coastal will pull the sign down on the front door that says they dont allow firearms inside.
I hate criminals, they should all be shot dead!
But then we would have no politicians, no msm reporters, no celebrities.
Warms the old heart when I read about this sort of action being taken.
Great work fellas!
That’s the fact brothers and sisters. Dont come forward or you will be picked apart by the media and those that are anti gun.
You got results against the criminals, now go and blend into your every day lives. I live in the same area and I carry every day, and I would not hesitate to do the same. I would like to see us Patriots form a group and fight against the tyranny of this free state. It’s time to band together before they make us all criminals.
there are some patriots in wa, but the d-suckers are working overtime to disarm and dispose of them
Had I had a gun on that driver when he lurched forward to take out the other citizen in front of his car, I’d have made sure there was nothing more than a stump left of his head. And I’d have made sure it splattered all over his little cohort in the passenger seat.
NOBODY should say anything about the real AMERICAN men who shot at the losers. Shame you all missed.
DON”T come forward and don’t tell the cops, who are against you.
These crooks will get a State supplied sleaze attorney to sue the Real Men who shot at them.
You are absolutely correct! The cops are not looking for the armed citizens to get “statements”, the odds are they want to get names so they can prosecute.