By Sam Hoober, Alien Gear Holsters

Part of adopting concealed carry and consequent assumption of responsibility for your defense into one’s life is weighing certain dilemmas, questions and so on. It’s actually really good to think about. Whether to get involved with an active shooter is one dilemma. Another is armed robbery.

Specifically, what do you think you should do if you’re out somewhere – say a convenience store or a bank or something – and an armed robber comes in?

These are good things to ponder. Your mindset is just as much a component of armed self-defense as is anything else. In fact, the software – so to speak – and the operator are far more important than the hardware.

It’s fun to talk about guns and gear and stuff, but in the real world, they’re actually not as important as you’d think. The mind behind the weapon has far more to do with it. Your competence with a pistol is more important than whether you carry the exact right Glock or Sig Sauer or whatever it is.

We all, at some point, have the will to act. What we’re talking about here are the boundaries each of us decides we are and aren’t willing to see crossed before acting. We must all decide them for ourselves.

Here’s something to bear in mind: stores are usually insured against theft. So are banks. Therefore, there’s no reason to intercede on the basis of preventing loss of property, but that doesn’t mean there’s no reason to intercede at all.

Here’s where the wicket gets sticky.

On the one hand, the material damage from an armed robbery that doesn’t end in gunfire or violence is minimal. There’s emotional trauma, to be sure, but insurance covers the losses and everyone goes on with their lives. This isn’t to say armed robbery is a crime that should be tolerated or indeed that there are crimes that should be overlooked or anything. This instead is to acknowledge that insurance exists and – if security cameras get the bastard on video – the police can pick up the perpetrator later.

If you intervene in an armed robbery, you’re raising the risk of violence and gun fire when it might have otherwise been minimal. Why open Pandora’s box if you don’t have to and there’s nothing really to be gained for anyone?

But, and here’s the rub, what if it doesn’t happen that way?

Here is a quick selection of armed robberies that involved the robber shooting the victim in recent weeks. I turned these up with a quick Google search; this is just to give you an idea of how common it is for the victim to be shot or murdered by an armed robber.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 14 in Neenah, Wisc., according to WBAY, a man entered a bar with a gun and demanded money. He fired four or five shots into the bar, hitting 59-year-old Kevin Hein. Hein died at the scene.

On Oct. 9 in Charlotte, N.C., according to WBTV, three young men held up a man at gunpoint, demanding whatever was in his pockets, and shot him in the arm. The three men in question were quickly apprehended, as all three were wearing electronic monitoring ankle bracelets.

Two suspects were arrested in Kissimmee, Fla., according to ClickOrlando, after shooting a pawn shop clerk who attempted to lock the door as they approached the business with their guns drawn.

In Aiken, S.C., an armed robber entered a convenience store on Oct. 8, according to WRDW, and shot the clerk in the leg. All that was taken were some envelopes and a pack of cigarettes.

The point here is that while an armed robbery might not result in gunfire usually results in little material or otherwise harm, that’s not the case when it doesn’t. If you witness an armed robbery unfolding, you have no guarantee that it will or won’t turn violent whether or not you try to intercede.

There’s no right answer here. These are the things we all have to weigh for ourselves.

What do you think, though? Let us know in the comments.

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Sam Hoober is Contributing Editor for AlienGearHolsters.com, a subsidiary of Hayden, ID, based Tedder Industries, where he writes about gun accessories, gun safety, open and concealed carry tips. Click here to visit aliengearholsters.com.