Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

One of the perks is learning of perps. That is to say, one of the interesting things about the missus is that I get to, sometimes, hear about interesting crimes that have happened here in town that I might otherwise not be aware of. She regaled me with one today that was just so WTF that I had to share it.

Fella is at a convenience store and has a pistol that is in plain view on his hip. So far so good…open carry and all. Fella behind him in line, believing it wasnt legal for the guy in front of him to be armed in the convenience store then tries to snatch the gun from the gentleman’s holster. Gunowner and clerk subdue the fella and the cops are called in.

I. Am. Amazed.

First of all, this sounds like an amazing way to wind up with either an extra navel right above your first one, or at least a major structural re-arrangement of the bones in your face. Secondly, this is Montana..gun racks are standard equipment at most car dealerships…we’re rather gun-friendly. And thirdly..well, no thirdly…its just a major WTF all around.

I’m hoping this makes it into the paper in the next few days so I can get some more details. Apparently the holster was of a retention type, so there was a bit of a struggle. I am very much looking forward to more details.

If this is pretty much how it played out, there was some remarkable restraint shown on the part of the folks who subdued this guy. Someone tries to snatch a gun from me I can only assume it’s because he want’s to kill me with it and…well…as Captain Reynolds says about that, “someone tries to kill you..you try to kill ‘em back!”.