I was coming home with my Da from a few pints in town and we dropped into a local shop. just as we walked in the door a guy with a hoodie pulled over his face jumped over from the back of the counter and put a gun to my head and told me to stop moving. For the 2nd time* in my life I said to myself “Fuck, this is how I die”. My Da had a “don’t point that gun at my son” look on his face but luckily he kept calm enough not to do anything stupid. I had a kinda numb feeling wash over me and it was almost like I was viewing the incident from afar while still being there. I suppose it was early shock or some other thing the brain does under stress.
I told the guy to calm down and just rob the place. The gun was lowered and it was then I had a good look at it. Looked like a fake plastic one from my POV. I’m not very familiar with guns but have held and fired two types of automatics and this didn’t have the same look or substance and looked plastic from close up.
Once I saw that I just walked out of the shop telling my Da to come with me. We hung around outside and called the cops. The robber emptied the till and did a runner. Only then did we see the 10 or so people who had retreated to the back of the shop. One girl had a little child and was a nervous wreck. The kid however was totally unphased and was just interested in all the sweets that the robber had knocked over on the ground.
It sobered my up no end I can tell you that.
*1st was when I walked in on burglars and they pulled a knife.
What a horrific story. I’m glad to hear you’re alright. It may well have been a plastic gun, since I take it real guns are damn hard to come by in Ireland (I mean, unless you’re part of a militant group) but on the other hand, a lot of newer pistols like Glocks are made of polymers and so they do have a plastic look to them. Whatever it was, mad props to you for being able to talk to the guy and calm him down.
The cops arrived within a minute or two of the guy leaving. They took off after him. I couldn’t ID the guy apart from the clothes. I went home before straight away. It’s my local shop so I’ll drop in tonight on the way home and se if the cops want to speak to me or not.
I’ve had a gun pointed at my chest once; a recreational gun enthusiast was showing me how to use one safely when I pointed out that “even though it’s not loaded, you shouldn’t be pointing it at me.” She then opened it to find out it HAD been loaded while pointed at my chest – AND she’d been unaware of its loaded status – during a demonstration of safe gun handling.
Meet us at Grogan’s and I’ll buy you a “Thanks be you’re still alive” pint.
My sister’s front window was smashed on Saturday night. This town is going to hell in a hand basin.
Argent Towers, guns are fairly common here. Lots of gun clubs and most farmers own arms of some sort. I’m from North Dublin, which is the rural hinterland of the city and most of the farmers I know have guns. Several of my friends are members of gun clubs too. There are more rules and regulations but acquiring a firearm isn’t all that hard. The crims get them easily enough. I get the impression that since the paramilitaries wound down their activities guns have been easier for crims to get a hold of. Shootings of underworld types are a pretty much weekly occurence in Dublin. I was at a party once where a gun was pulled.
Never let the muzzle of a gun point at anything you do not want to destroy or kill.
Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
Be absolutely sure of your target, and what is behind it.
Your gun enthusiast was breaking both 1 and 2 during her supposed “safety” demonstration. She probably shouldn’t be handling weapons at all, let alone giving safety demonstrations on them.
To the OP, glad you’re ok. There are all kinds of ways that situation can go down and a lot of them aren’t so good. Congrats on having the presence of mind (however alcoholically influenced) to tell the guy to just calm down and rob the place.
Yeah, I’m not nervous but I’m kinda finding it hard to concentrate on work today, just keep on zoning out and thinking about it for a few minutes at a time.
