Here’s the flip side to that story from yesterday about gun control activists working to ban guns from retail establishments; a manager of a Dollar General store in Dayton, Ohio won’t be facing any charges for shooting and killing an armed robber back in October after a grand jury declined to issue an indictment after weighing the evidence. Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long for the grand jury to clear the store manager in the shooting, though the coronavirus likely delayed any grand jury action for several months. Still, this was a pretty easy call.

On Oct. 9, Roosevelt Rappley, 23, reportedly showed a gun and demanded money from a cashier at the North Gettysburg Avenue Dollar General.

When the store manger tried to intervene, the suspect pointed the gun at the manager, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The manager then pulled out his own gun and shot Rappley multiple times, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Rappley was able to leave the store, before collapsing outside.

The manager followed him outside and reportedly kicked away the suspect’s gun before calling 911.

“I just had somebody try to attempt and rob me over here at Dollar General on Gettysburg,” he said in a 911 call. “Came in with a firearm, threatened to take money out the drawer, pointed a gun at me and my staff members. He pointed a gun at me, I had a firearm on me, I pulled my firearm and I shot him in self-defense.”

Dollar General is all over my neck of the woods in central Virginia, so I tend to think of them as a rural outfit, but the’ve got plenty of stores in urban areas, and they’re often located in high crime neighborhoods which makes them easy and attractive targets for robbers. If I were managing one of the stores, I’d be carrying as well, and it sounds like the store manager’s actions saved lives.

During the investigation, Dayton police Lt. Jason Hall said there were witnesses at the store who saw the suspect enter the store, pull out a gun and demand money from the cash register.

“An armed employee was then engaged with the individual attempting to rob the store,” Hall said. “The shooting occurred inside the structure, and the individual fled outside.”

The store manager was in legal possession of the firearm, Hall said. He also noted that the store is private property, so the manager would not need a concealed carry permit to legally carry a firearm.

If anti-gun activists like Shannon Watts had her way, this store manager would have been fired for having a gun on him and using it to defend himself and the employees and customers. Actually, if Shannon Watts really had her way, this manager would have been unarmed and unable to defend himself and those inside the store. Do you have any doubt that gun control groups would be fine with exploiting the murder of a Dollar General manager to push for gun control laws? In fact, despite claiming to be okay with the Second Amendment, Watts, Igor Volsky, and other prominent gun control advocates clearly have a much harder time with praising the lifesaving actions of an armed employee.