Other than obeying gun control laws (so as not to lose all your gun rights) and the intractable issues surrounding beach and shower carry, I can’t think of a single reason not to schlep a self-defense firearm. And yet there may be times when you don’t have a gat or can’t get immediate access to your gun. Times when you find yourself on the wrong end of a gun/knife/fist/pool cue/hammer/brass knuckles/etc. What then? Well, anything . . .
What you use when you don’t have a gun handy (or to buy yourself some time to get to your gun) isn’t as important as how you use it. As Krav Maga instructors like to point out, a potential victim of an attack is best advised to unleash as much violence as possible as early as possible. In other words, if you’re going there gunless, go all-in. Find something, anything hard and unleash the dogs of war.
That said, as much as I love septuagenarian shopkeepers in general and Virginia Heart in specific, I don’t think a stack of magazines is gonna discourage your average armed robber. Ipso facto. That stool, however, was a damn fine idea.
Another question raised by the incident: should you threaten someone with a weapon or just bloody well bash them with it? I say bash while the bashing’s good. As always, speed, surprise and violence of action. Note: it’s a mix, not a list.
I reckon that anyone who carries a gun should practice at least one or two strike moves in combination with unholstering their weapon and moving. Not all the time and not necessarily in that order. Sometimes, strike and move. Sometimes move and strike and unholster. Sometimes unholster and strike and move. Change it up.
The basic principle is this: there’s no such thing as a a fair fight. There’s only survival. When it’s go time go hell-for-leather with whatever you’ve got. If you have a gun when you, your loved ones or other innocent life are facing a credible, imminent threat of death or grievous bodily harm, so much the better.