Clerk Who Shot Back at Robbers Loses Job Over Gun Policy

A Circle K clerk in Stow, Ohio, who fired on masked robbers ramming a stolen minivan through the store's entrance was cleared by police of any wrongdoing, but his employer's no-weapons policy left him without a job he wanted to return to.

Snapshot

Bearing Arms reports that clerk Kendrick Watson, who fired seven shots as multiple suspects crashed into the store and fled, had his hours cut to zero days after the incident. Watson says he was eventually told he could return, but concluded that doing so would mean working unarmed under Circle K's weapons ban, so after six years at the store he chose not to go back.

Key points

• No charges: Police determined Watson acted lawfully and he faces no criminal charges over the shooting.
• Hours vanished: Watson says a text from his boss the following Monday pulled him from the schedule, and after two more days without work he believed he'd been fired.
• Policy over service: Even after being told he could return, Watson questioned how that would work given Circle K's ban on weapons at work, according to Bearing Arms.
• Pattern cited: Bearing Arms' Cam Edwards says he previously found other Circle K employees disciplined for self-defense, including a Colorado woman allegedly fired for fighting off a knife-wielding attacker barehanded.
• Author's argument: Edwards argues Circle K is effectively demanding employees give up armed self-defense as a condition of employment, even when working alone overnight with seconds to react.

Quick take

Edwards frames this as a company punishing the very employee who may have kept himself and a coworker alive, and he says if he were in Watson's position he'd carry quietly regardless of the policy. For gun owners weighing concealed carry at work, the case underscores that lawful self-defense and keeping your job aren't guaranteed to go together.

Read the full story: bearingarms.com