Violent crime is soaring in Seattle these days, reaching a 15-year high in 2022 and no sign that 2023 will be any better. Washington State lawmakers have responded to the increased violence in recent years not by getting tough on criminals but by passing a series of gun control measures aimed at legal gun owners, and are poised to enact even more anti-2A bills this year, including a ban on so-called assault weapons.

While these measures have proven to be complete failures in terms of improving public safety, so far they haven’t prevented more Washingtonians from embracing their right to armed self-defense. And on Monday afternoon, one Seattle man was forced to draw his gun to protect his life when an armed robber walked into a smoke shop in the city’s Ballard neighborhood and opened fire.

Just after 4 p.m., officers responded to a reported shooting at a smoke shop in the 7700 block of 15th Avenue Northwest.

Upon arriving at the scene, police found two men with gunshot wounds — an employee inside the business and a man outside the store.

Police say their preliminary investigation indicates that a 29-year-old man attempted to rob the store, then shot a 38-year-old employee. That employee then fired back, striking and injuring the suspect, who left the store after the shots were fired.

Authorities say nearby neighbors rushed to the scene to provide first aid to the store employee, using their belts as a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding. He was taken to a local hospital to be treated for what’s described as non-life threatening injuries. The armed robber, on the other hand, succumbed to his injuries at the scene.

Another armed robber in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina had a little more luck in his encounter with an armed citizen. Police say the suspect walked into a jewelry store in the city’s Market Common neighborhood, apparently intent on holding up the small business. Instead, he discovered that Jacob the Jeweler was armed as well.

Ahmed Abudas, the owner of IScreen Fix, which is just a few doors down from Jacob the Jeweler, caught the suspected robber on his security camera, entering the jewelry store and then running out. The incident happened in less than 30 seconds.

Seconds after the suspect enters the store there are gunshots heard on the video.

“Basically I was just in my office upstairs, I got a phone call about it and I just ran down and was there for the aftermath,” said Abudas, who said he is close friends with Jacob, owner of Jacob the Jeweler.

Abudas said Jacob shot the suspect, and he and his wife were the only ones inside the store at the time. However, Abudas also has a video of the suspect in the area before the shooting actually happened, in which he appears to turn around when he sees customers inside Jacob the Jeweler.

“It definitely crosses my mind, you know, what would have happened if anyone else had been in there,” said Abudas.

My guess is that Jacob the Jeweler would have been able to defend any customers as capably as he protected himself and his wife, but thankfully that’s only a hypothetical.

Having a gun doesn’t guarantee that you’ll walk away unharmed from an encounter with a violent criminal, but it does increase the odds that you can fight back and survive the attack. South Carolina lawmakers are looking to expand the right of self-defense by passing a Constitutional Carry measure this session, and that’s a far better approach than the anti-gun bills advancing in Washington State, which would only give criminals the upper hand by making it even harder for responsible citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights.