I meant to comment on this on Wednesday, but things have been a bit crazy lately.  The “tattoo bandit” decided to have a press conference to talk about her escapades.  First, though, she seemed to be surprised by all the attention:

Surrounded by photographers, videographers and reporters from six TV stations and two newspapers, Harvey said she was surprised by all the media attention.

“I couldn’t believe that I was getting that much coverage,” she said. “I was freaking out. … I couldn’t even go into Wal-Mart without people staring at me. That was not the reaction I wanted. I was trying to hide.”

I don’t know… maybe that whole armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping thing might just be something that catches the public’s attention.  But maybe I’m just strange that way.

But this isn’t the main topic I wanted to discuss.  This is what was bugging me:

Phyllis Dawn Harvey, who became known as the “tattoo bandit” during a 12-day crime spree, said she never had any bullets in her gun.

I always hate it when people say “it wasn’t loaded.”  Either as an excuse for poor gun handling or as a mitigating factor in a criminal case, it sets my teeth on edge.  In real life, there’s no way to tell a gun is loaded without close inspection.  If someone is pointing one at you or waving it around your best bet is to proceed as if it’s loaded.  She’s just lucky that she didn’t encounter a police officer or an armed citizen. 

In general, Texas law doesn’t seem to distinguish between loaded and unloaded (there is an exception for making a firearm accessible to a child).  Either with regards to aggravated robbery or simple carrying, the law appears to regard a firearm as a deadly weapon.  I think this makes sense, because as I mentioned above, there is generally no readily distinguishable feature that can help someone (at a distance and under the influence of adrenalin) tell if a gun is loaded.