A 17-year-old thug in Detroit pulled a weapon on a 24-year-old father Wednesday afternoon and demanded the man’s sunglasses at gunpoint.

The robber’s target was the son of a concealed carry instructor with a concealed carry permit of his own.

This is what we call “poor target selection.”

Oops.

Police say a 17-year-old remains in the hospital in critical condition after the young father he tried robbing shot him several times.

It happened late Wednesday afternoon near the corner of Warren and Grayton on the city’s east side.

Angela Lanier tells 7 Action News her 24-year-old son Joe fired his gun when the teenager tried robbing him while he was sitting in his car. She says he was on the job as an exterminator when the teenager pulled a gun on him for his sunglasses.

Joe Lanier says, “The boy tried to rob me, and I shot him. That’s what happened.”

He also went on to say, “That’s why he’s in the hospital and not me.”

Lanier has a concealed carry license and his mother is an instructor herself, who says she’s taught all of her sons how to responsibly operate a gun.

Here at Bearing Arms, we’ve documented story after story of Detroit residents using their lawfully-owned concealed  weapons to defend themselves against the city’s criminals. These armed citizens have fought back with the blessing of Detroit police chief James Craig, who has credited armed citizens with the decline in crime.

Violent criminals and gangs will always find a way to arm themselves. Barbarians have always existed, and the history of the world suggests that they always will.

The way society keeps such violent thugs in check is by opposing them with the only thing they understand: violent force.

In the end, silly signs and dim-witted philosophies simply don’t work.

They never have.