People who deliver food have a problem.

On one hand, the companies they deliver for often have policies that prevent them from lawfully carrying a firearm.

On the other, because robbers and carjackers know where they’ll be and that they’ll have at least some money and/or a vehicle, they’re very vulnerable to criminals.

In Philadelphia, some carjackers thought this sounded like a good strategy–probably because, in many cases, it is–only they found out that the pizza guy was ready to deliver something else.

The altercation started when a man delivering pizza in Philadelphia was accosted by carjackers in a parking lot. Here’s how it went down:

The incident took place just off Stenton Avenue just a minute before midnight, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said early Wednesday.

Two masked men with guns approached the 21-year-old deliveryman as he was dropping off food, Small said.

“He was being carjacked and robbed,” Small said.

“One of them forced the 21-year-old deliveryman into the back seat and one of the perpetrators got into the backseat with him,” Small said. “The other perpetrator got into the front seat. And they started asking him for money.”

The robbers then wanted to know where the man worked and if he had any apps on his phone that he could use to get money to them, Small said.

The deliveryman was able to get out of the vehicle and confront one of the robbers, firing two shots, Small said. The would-be robber was struck once in the backside.

Police found one of the would-be robbers about 300 feet away and got him to the hospital where he was in stable condition while in surgery, police said. The man was being held as a prisoner and charges were expected.

The other guy ran off across Stenton Avenue into neighboring Springfield Township, Small said.

It appeared that there was possibly a shootout as police found evidence that the bleeding would-be robber had evidence on him that he had fired at least one shot, Small said.

It might surprise you to find out that delivering pizzas can be even more perilous than many other professions, including law enforcement. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, a significant number of folks working as delivery drivers fall victim to violent criminals:

Of course, this doesn’t surprise me because, well, I’ve seen this far too often.

One of the big issues is that employers prevent delivery drivers from carrying guns in part because of fear they’ll face litigation should the driver use the firearm for whatever reason. I’m not even sure if they’re worried about being sued if the driver uses it wrongfully, either, because we’ve seen bad guys try to sue their shooters before.

Fear of lawsuits makes companies do stupid things.

Yet, as we see, delivery drivers are vulnerable. Very vulnerable. If they’re armed, though, they have the means to fight back, to put up some resistance.

The fact that one of the carjackers was shot in the ass just makes this all the more hilarious to me.

Luckily, the driver is fine and the only one injured was one of the carjackers. My hope is that this particular driver’s company doesn’t have any stupid rules about carrying firearms. If they do, let’s hope they have the good sense to recognize that this is someone who might have been hurt or killed without his and opt to look the other way.