On Tuesday the clerk at a convenience store in Bedford was shot and killed during a robbery.  In the linked article, there’s an interesting statement from a woman who lived nearby.

“I asked him on Friday if they would hire me,” Zuber said. “He said no because it was too dangerous.”

I wonder if he knew that this would eventually happen?

Anyhow, the other thing about this story that caught my attention was that the shooting was completely unprovoked.  They didn’t even give him a chance to comply.  The mutant thugs just shot him in the head as soon as he opened the register.  But they didn’t get away with any money because he somehow managed to close the register when he was shot.  All told, it was a senseless and needless murder and the suspects were arrested this morning and are now stewing in the Bedford jail on capital murder charges with a $1M bond on each one.

Someone on one of the local TV news shows said that he would have given them anything they wanted, and couldn’t believe that they shot him.  This brings up a phrase that drives me nuts:  “Just give them what they want.”  This is usually followed by, “Don’t be a hero.” 

The people who usually say these things think it somehow makes them morally superior.  And they usually get all bent out of shape when someone gets killed who complied with the thug’s demands.  The problem here is that thugs have no social compact, so this “deal with the devil” isn’t so much of a deal after all.  It must be understood that you can comply with every demand, give up everything you have, and still be killed.  This is why I think fighting back is a better overall policy. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean that every single situation would allow it.  If you let someone get the drop on you, it’s generally too late to fight back when the gun’s against your head.  But where possible, I think society would be better off if these scumbags would end up dead most of the time.

Like in this case:

A suspect was killed during an armed robbery attempt in Balch Springs around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

…

Authorities said the suspect entered the store with a shotgun, the clerk fought with the suspect and the suspect was killed.

Police said they have no plans to file charges against the clerk.

Call me a bloodthirsty unrefined uncivilized Neanderthal if you like, but we need more like this and fewer like the former.