The consequences of defending yourself

[internet troll]

Most of us here understand that we have a right to defend ourselves if someone else chooses to threaten and harm us. I will defend myself and family if need be. But pulling the trigger is not often as easy as defending yourself and moving on with your life. One of the things I've that's been brought home to me from reading articles for the self defense thread it that most people who pull the trigger while in the right, still suffer effects from doing so. It can be expensive, affect your family and your relationships, your standing in the community, your job, your future, your mental health, your freedom, etc..... But in the end they are still here to suffer the effects, the alternate is worse.

Below is the story of a woman who defended herself at work and shot someone. She has lost her job, her ability to support her kid, and is an emotional wreck from the shooting.


http://nypost.com/2017/09/27/thousan...-armed-robber/

Thousands raised for clerk who lost job shooting an Armed Robber

Nearly $10,000 has been raised as of Tuesday night for a mother of three who lost her job at an Albuquerque, N.M., gas station after shooting an armed robbery suspect.

Jennifer Wertz said the suspect pointed a gun at her at a Circle K gas station last week, forcing her to defend herself.

“I grabbed my gun from my pocket, I cocked it, and I shot,” Wertz said, according to FOX6. “I’m sick and tired of being a sitting duck.”

Wertz said she had the gun with her at work out of fear of being robbed while on duty. She said her employer hadn’t been doing enough to ensure her safety.

“Robberies have been going on like this for the past few weeks. They have done nothing to protect me. And I felt the need to protect myself,” Wertz told the television station.

Wertz’s gunshot hit suspect Ferron Mendez, 23, in the chest. He is expected to survive, authorities said.

Despite thwarting the robbery, Circle K initially suspended Wertz for two weeks and then ultimately fired her because the chain’s policy prohibits employees from carrying guns while working.

“We are not to chase,” Wertz said, describing the policy toward robbery suspects. “We are not to provoke. We are not to do anything. We just stand there and give them what they want and they leave.”


But, she asked: “What if he would have come in and just shot me just because I wasn’t behind the counter?”

After Wertz was fired, her mother launched a GoFundMe page, with a goal of raising $20,000.

“She won’t ask for help herself, so I’m doing this for her,” Wertz’s mother, unidentified by name, wrote on the page. “She is torn apart emotionally and is in need of time to recover from this ordeal.

“She has always been a good person, mom and daughter. She is in need of dire help to support her family. She was already living pay check to pay check and now has no savings or nothing to fall back on. Please help as much as you can to support her and her family until she can find a new job.”

Wertz told Albuquerque’s KRQE-TV that the donations will give her “a chance to be able to focus on my mental state … make sure that I am OK and then, of course, legal funds which are going to come up of course.”

So far, however, no charges have been filed against Wertz.

[Walleye Hunter]

I'm pissed that the perp is expected to survive. We need federal legislation mandating DNR for those assholes.

[hog45]

I am not a big friend of labor unions, and labor unions are not friends of mine, but if every employee at this Circle K chain (or just a decent sized group of them) organized and went on strike over this, demanding the right to defend themselves, I would support them and management would have to start paying attention.

[PhillySoldier]

I think what is need is for the victim to sue the business. An employer may indeed have the right to decide if employees can have weapons on premises or not but in limiting there employees safety I think they take on the responsibility of protecting them. Win or lose, if these businesses have to repeatedly go through trials they will change there tune just to avoid further occurrences

[Walleye Hunter]

I think what is need is for the victim to sue the business. An employer may indeed have the right to decide if employees can have weapons on premises or not but in limiting there employees safety I think they take on the responsibility of protecting them. Win or lose, if these businesses have to repeatedly go through trials they will change there tune just to avoid further occurrences

Morgan & Morgan would agree..."For The People".

[bogey1]

I'd love to have a employee like her.

[Walleye Hunter]

I'd love to have a employee like her.

Me too, I'd say that she has a desirable attribute to include on her resume.

[bigandy1966]

looks to me like she's playing the victim here. Seriously? Clerk at a gas station? Go up the street and get another job. If I owned a gas station I would hire her, and part of her orientation would be some range time. The sign on the door would be " Lawful gun owners welcome! All Clerks are armed and trained to defend themselves. Rob this establishment at your own peril"

[rkrcpa]

I spent 10 years in the convenience store business, most of that time as an owner/operator and can say without reservation that in that time I had exactly one employee who I was comfortable with allowing them to carry a handgun. It was my ass on the line if something went wrong, not theirs.

Before I was an owner I worked for a chain that did not allow weapons. Did I carry one anyway? Yes. Did I know that I would get fired if I ever used it? Yes. Did I care? No.

Like it or not, that is life in the mini market business.

[streaker69]

Their property, their rules. She shouldn't have been carrying.