The following happened a couple of days ago in Springfield, MO.
From Springfield News Leader
The Springfield man who allegedly fired several shots at a fleeing purse thief last week has had his concealed carry endorsement revoked, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office said today.
Charles R. Webb, 61, is charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon in the Friday night incident.
Police say Webb was waiting in his car outside of a Price Cutter store at 3260 E. Battlefield Rd. when he saw the purse snatching occur.
The thief hopped into a waiting sport utility vehicle, and Webb pursued the man.
He allegedly cornered the SUV in a nearby motel parking lot, and fired three shots with a 9mm handgun at the vehicle, an apparent attempt to disable its tires.
The purse thief’s vehicle escaped, and Webb allegedly engaged in a chase that reached speeds of 80 mph.
One would think that part of the requirements for a conceal and carry permit would be some sort of class or test on the state's use of force laws, apparently this isn't the case in Missouri. Deadly force in Missouri, as in most states, is only allowed when the subject feels that their, or someone else's, life is in imminent danger.
One would also think that the wise decision in the above case would have been to call the police and provide them with the licence plate number and a description of the subject, apparently not for this hot head with a gun. Mr Webb, rather than leaving crime fighting to the proper authorities, decided to engage in a little vigilante justice by firing off a few shots at the suspect car after following them to a nearby hotel parking lot. After which the purse snatcher and his accomplice sped away, with Mr. Webb in hot pursuit, putting who knows how many innocent bystanders in danger by chasing them at speeds near 80 mph.
This comes right on the heels of another story, from Raw Story, of another case of vigilante justice in Missouri.
According to court documents, 41-year-old Loucinda Carroll allegedly walked out of a Sun Fresh supermarket in Independence, Missouri, with a bag of meat that she hadn't paid for. When the store manager followed her into the parking lot, Carroll allegedly struck her with her car, and the store manager ended up hanging on to the hood as she tried to make her getaway.
That's when 37-year-old Bill Miller, who had witnessed the altercation, pulled his car into the path of Carroll's vehicle. When she didn't stop, he pulled out a 9-mm pistol -- for which he had a Utah concealed-carry permit -- and shot Carroll in the shoulder and neck.
Now, Carroll is charged with second-degree robbery, but no charges are pending against Miller. And it may be that Missouri law requires it to be that way.
According to the Kansas City Star, "under Missouri law, people can use deadly force if they feel their life or the lives of others are in danger or they are in danger of suffering serious physical injuries."
This case isn't as clear cut, as evidenced by the lack of charges against the shooter, due to it being arguable that the store manager's life was in danger. However, once again, if the manager had simply taken down the licence plate of the shoplifter and called the proper authorities then the whole incident could have been avoided. The story isn't very clear on some of the details leading up to the shooting as it doesn't mention how the manager came to be in the path of the shoplifter's vehicle. I don't want to jump to conclusions but it seems to me the only way this would have occured is if the manager stepped out in front of the vehicle while trying to stop the shoplifter. Is a bag of meat worth possibly losing your life? I don't know what kind of training this manager received, however, I've had plenty of friends that worked in gas stations or markets and know what kind of training they received. In the case of gas stations, my friends were trained to pretty much turn a blind eye to shoplifters. My wife works at a retail store. She was trained that shoplifting is the loss prevention personnel's job and their last loss prevention guy was fired for physically trying to stop a shoplifter.
In fact, these apparently aren't the only cases of conceal and carry stupidity in Missouri. One of the local news stations, while doing a report on the first case, mentioned that there's been a string of incidents by concealed and carry permit holders recently.