OK, we’re not so sure about that first part, but Papa John’s definitely hires them some tenacious pizza delivery dudes. Their unidentified driver (not pictured above) pulled up to a Daytona Beach apartment complex Monday evening and struck up a conversation with a guy who then hit him with about 600,00o volts. “Despite being shocked in the belly by a stun gun, a pizza delivery man refused to give up two pies to a robbery suspect trying to grab them from his hands.” Not sure if it was smart strategically, but he showed an admirable sense of duty. The pizza pilferer was picked up a little later on. Should it have been a DGU? You tell us.
I think Richard Davis might be a good person to direct this question to.
Should it have been a DGU? Absolutely. Shots fired? No – but we all know here that many defensive uses of a firearm are successful without a single shot being fired. If someone tazed me, I would have no problem drawing on them until the police arrived.
If someone tazed you, you could just as easily drop to the ground convulsing and such.
You might be able to draw, eventually, assuming that
– he doesn’t continue to taze you until the battery (or your heart) runs out
– you don’t knock yourself unconscious
– he doesn’t have swift fingers and delests you of your firearm before you are back in control of your body
If you’re going to wargame this, wargame the worst possible scenario. Taser pistols with 50ft leads can be purchased by all now (whether or not legally), so don’t assume this was (or can only be) an old-school taser.
What a coinky dink that an ad for “Mission First Tactical” is displayed on the right hand side of this story. Tagline for ad (and this story) – “I Will Always Place the Mission First.”
Somebody is willing to commit at least one felony and use violence to steal 2 pizzas. What’s the street value of a “hot” pizza? And with predators of this caliber on our streets fvcktards wonder why I want to keep my guns.
kumbaya my ass.
Whas a hard@ss. This guy needs a raise for sure!
I wouldnt pay for that crap either.
Stun guns are jokes. A vendor got mad at me for zapping myself with his demos at the local gun show and laughing.
This is the truth, they are useless. I’ve been zapped a bunch of times. Just hurts a little.
The problem is that most pizza places have it written in the policy that the drivers are not allowed to carry a weapon in their personal car. They are supposed to be fired on the spot if it is found out that they do cary.
I worked for Papa Johns a few years ago and yes, they do ban guns which is why I only ever get pizza from John’s Pizza in Saint Paul because they don’t prevent their drivers from carrying.
Precisely. I don’t think any of the big three allow drivers to carry.
I don’t think any of the big three make a decent pizza, either.
What they don’t know won’t hurt them. Better off fired than dead over a couple of pizzas and a small amount of cash.
I suddenly feel the urge to go read the first 20 or so pages of Snowcrash again.
#1
Great book!
+1. Excellent dystopian view of an alternate future.
Cryptonomicon and Anathem are Stephenson’s grand-master works, though.
Neal Stephenson reference FTW!
Jeez… Criminals are so stupid… He told the delivery place where his house was. Did he really expect to get away with this? How is assault with a deadly weapon charge worth 2 pizzas?
No, this should not have been a DGU if it happened as described. A hungry dude trying to steal pizzas with a stun gun (and not even a Taser, at that) does not meet my requirements for use of deadly force.
Now, if he attacked without first demanding pizza (heh) and I were on the defensive after being surprise-assaulted with a stun gun… Yeah, I would relinquish the pizzas and draw on him.
By the laws of my state, yes. Stealing is stealing. This was robbery, and the laws of Arizona permit use of deadly force to stop a robbery.
Would I shoot someone for using a stun gun on me?
Absolutely. Winchester PDK at the center of mass until the threat is over.
Should it have been a DGU?
I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Armchair quarterbacking these things always puts me off, and this is coming from a gun culture 2.0 guy. It’s the reason why I don’t like this “should’ve been a DGU” series. That, and you can also be accused of waving the bloody red shirt around, just as you accuse the anti-gunners of doing whenever they comment on victims of gun violence.
Agreed.
Yep. I can see the value in pointing out where guns could actually have helped save a life, but to me the “should have been” exercise feels too much like dancing in the blood of the fallen.
I wonder when the Violence Preventers will start clamoring to ban stun guns and TASERs? Maybe they’ve already started and I missed it.
Stun guns and tasers are already banned in a lot of states, such as MA. It’s funny — in a stupid “only a leftist politician could come up with this” kind of way — that I can legally Mozambique some BG to defend my life, but I can’t zap him. Does that make sense?
I’ve been saying that for years Ralph. I can’t zap some moron, but it’s ok to bust a few 45’s in his dumb ass.
Papa’s concoctions taste like plastic dough and tomato soup with pasturized, processed imitation cheese food. None of the BGs around here would steal one. Hell, they wouldn’t take them if they were free.
Damn, Papa Johns is my favorite pizza place to order from. Love the garlic sauce and the chicken fingers.
Well Ralph, we here in Papa Gino’s land are inordinately blessed to have a regional pizza chain, that delivers, that sells pie that none of the “big three” can hold a candle to.
Plus, of course, living in Rhode Island, I’m never too far local pizza so good your face will melt like the Nazis in Raiders Of The Lost Ark when you open the box.
Pepper spray can be both a tool and a condiment, just sayin’…
This is required reading for the misguided souls who think that a stun gun is an adequate self defense tool.
Is there a distinction between a stun gun and a taser?
Stun guns are contact weapons. Tasers are ranged.
Taser is also a brand name
If I was delivering Pizzas, and prohibited by my boss from concealed carry, I’d at the very least be carrying a 6 cell Mag-Lite. And if I was asked why, I’d answer, “Because I’m kinda scared of the dark sometimes.” (tribute to Michael Clarke Duncan)
I’ve taught my wife, daughter, mother, and some others on how to use a 6 cell Mag-Lite as a defensive weapon. And I ALWAYS tell them if using it to hit an attacker, please, PLEASE try to hit the “bad guy” hard enough to break the light, don’t hold back, because Mag-Lite will replace it for free.
Hell with that. Carry anyway. There are thousands of crappy jobs but you only have one life.
Amen to that.
“NO GUNS” signs have the force of law in some states like MA, but I’m not aware of a MA case holding that a violation of a corporate “no guns” policy printed in a corporate handbook is grounds for a criminal charge.
I deliver food three nights a week for a local bar/restaurant. I carry a Benchmade/Spyderco/ESEE(not all at once, I alternate) and a Surefire p2x fury. No gun. No food is worth drawing on somebody. If it comes down to it, blind their ass and run. 500 lumens can have quite an effect on someone’s eyes.
Armed robbers have never shot people who cooperated or tried to run. Nope. Never.
Tasers are a bit of a different thing, at least when the probes enter far enough apart. The old fashion stun guns are somewhat painful and can cause some difficulty with localized muscle weakness/involuntary contraction in the affected area but are by no means debilitating. Further, the ‘belly’ is perhaps the worst target as the device needs to contact muscle to work properly.
As for a DGU, this isn’t about food, or the relative lethality or lack their of regarding the weapon used. The question here is would a reasonable person fear death or great bodily harm given the circumstances know at the time?
A stranger attacks me with a weapon designed to incapacitate me, my concern is that he will attempt kidnap or murder once I’m incapacitated, thus it meets the standard for self defense use of lethal force. Personally, a stranger comes at me with a stun gun I’m going to attempt to flee, but with gun out and prepared to shoot to end the threat.