“’It’s actually scary. It was just an ordinary day. And that happens?’ said…movie-goer, Mary Jane Gonzalez. ” Yes, well assaults, robberies, rapes and murders happen every day in this country and in others around the world. The difference is, citizens here have the right to keep and bear arms.
Ms. Gozalez was reacting to news of a shooting that stopped an attempted armed robbery on Monday night near a theater in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown district. A couple was walking when Travis Prince decided he wanted their belongings and requested them at gunpoint.
What Prince didn’t know was that one of his two intended victims, Christopher Cooper, was armed.
From KFOR.com . . .
“It appears that the deceased simply walked up to them, decided that is who he was going to rob, pointed a gun at them and that is when he was shot and killed,” said Msgt. [Gary] Knight. “Every citizen has the right to defend their life.”
Yes. Yes they do. It’s always nice to hear law enforcement officers acknowledge that.
“They were interviewed by homicide detectives shortly after the case because even though this appears on the surface to be a case of self-defense it’s still a homicide,” said Knight. “In a case like this, when somebody approaches you with a gun and a person perceives that their life is in imminent peril the law gives you that right”, he said.
Note that the media reports don’t say if the victim who shot Prince has a concealed carry permit. That’s because it doesn’t matter. Not in Oklahoma anyway.
As of November, 2019, Oklahoma is a made member of the constitutional carry club. That’s an august group that any state can join if the people elect the right representatives. Fortunately Oklahomans did just that and Mr. Cooper didn’t need a permission slip to carry the gun he used to defend himself.