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I wasn't carrying, and neither was the manager or the cashier, the only guns in the store were being held by the 2 robbers.
I wasn't going to hit the guy with an 8-track tape or grab the cylinder of his revolver to keep it from firing after I saw his buddy up front.

The guy who was aiming at my head from a couple inches away was sweating, breaking out in hives looking bumps and anxiously looking towards his buddy at the register, I assumed for instructions on what he should do next. I felt my suggestion might be better than his buddies.

These guys were nervous and clueless as to any plan. Probably the first place they ever robbed. I wasn't going to suggest "kill the witnesses" and we had 2 store rooms with locks, one was actually only a door and had a fabric curtain separating that "room" from where we were, and had a phone in it, and potential weapons, like hammers etc. The other had a grill in the bottom of the door and glass windows facing the street.

That very morning, before we got robbed, the manager who was at the register with a cashier had said " I fought in Viet Nam, I'm not afraid of guns, I'll hit any robber with the cash drawer" and he said we had about $200. in change (we had JUST opened the store that day) .... This crossed my mind as the one in my part of the store was looking at the other by the register, the one by me called to his buddy, "lets lock them in the back room" which let my manager see I was covered too, and he wasn't just a lone gunman up front. The idiotic cashier argued with that gunman over whether any money was under the drawer instead of just following his instructions to lift the drawwrtr, then she argued with him whether he wanted all the change or not because it would tear the paper bag as he ran down the street later ..... I was trying to shorten our discussions with them and get them out of there quicker ..... they had the 3 of us lay face down on the floor in the store room ... we were blessed not to get shot.

After we heard them leave, cashier called police, manager called home office, I grabbed a meter reader motorcycle cop who ignored me, ran to Sears cafeteria where police were eating, and they said they'd call it in, then we ran around the block looking for the 2 guys, but they were gone .... we were blessed not to get shot. This was in about 1971 or 1972

The other time at a Lumber store was about 72 or 73 ... the same 5 guys had robbed a Kroger down the street a week earlier and left a produce worker in critical condition from beating him .... they had at least 2 shotguns and 3 pistols. Police helicopters and cars caught them all that time. All employees were locked up in the break room, but manager nearly got shot for not knowing the safe's combination, all were ok.... we were blessed not to get shot.

No one thinks straight when angry, nervous etc, Robbers tend to be very nervous, I'm in favor of keeping things calm so as not to escalate a situation of more fear or anger in them, but rather to make the "transaction/interaction" go as smoothly and quickly as possible and get them out of there while I CALM them (possibly give them a FALSE sense of security) and provide suggestions of how we can all safely conclude the transaction, which they usually wouldn't have thought out tht far ahead..

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a bad guy if he makes me, but I'm going to use my brain to survive first. Money is just money, and it's not my money anyway, but I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a bad guy if he makes me, but I hopefully won't escalate a situation with more than one bad guy, while thinking there is only one bad guy .... I'll use my head FIRST, but I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a bad guy if he makes me.

I wasn't carrying either time before, but now I got my plastic, but my brain (instead of adrenaline) is still what I'll use first, and it should tell me not only what to do, but at exactly what instant to take what option/opportunity.. I watched the robbers very very closely for body language and eye movement and what THEY were paying attention to etc.

I can't tell you what I'll do NOW (now that I have plastic) when we are all laying on the floor and they get to looking at that girl's buttocks in her tight jeans, before they close the door and leave .... I'd have to be there..... one day at a time, every situation is different, but if clues/body language/tone of voice etc. indicate, I'll do whatever needs doing, which may be letting them close the door, or may be something else.. if one of their guns went towards one of our heads while we were on the floor, instead of them moving towards the door, it would be something else.

That's why I carry ..... "Rattlesnakes" ... if they appear to be getting ready to "strike" I pull the trigger. I don't intend to shoot anyone for holding a pencil, but if he is about to be trying to gouge it into my or someone else's neck .... that's another story. A venomous rattlesnake asleep on a rock 20 feet away is ok, one coiled and with an S-shaped neck prepared to strike close by, is not. ........... clues/body language/tone of voice etc. I did what I did thhose two times because it was the best option available at those 2 times.

I live in the country/very small town since I retired and go to lakes nearby a lot, so I say one word ... "Rattlesnakes"

Though I mean reptile or human snakes, because I've only been involved so far in 2 holdups back when I lived in Houston, between 1971 and 1975, one at an electonics store where I worked on Main street downtown close to Sears, with a .38 pointed at my head while another fellow held another .38 on the cashiers, and years later one where 5 fellows with sawed off shotguns and pistols decided to rob the lumberyard where I worked near Main and Post Oak in SouthWest Houston.

My brain was my best weapon, both times asking the nervous fellows "You going to lock us up?" and they hesitated, having no pre-planning at all, and both times, we were blessed when we were laying on the floor in the store room that none of us were shot...... The first time I could have probably taken the guy's gun who was holding it on me, but didn't because I saw the other gunman by the register, I'll always make myself aware of the ENTIRE situation before acting, but I do like to have insurance, in case something went wrong in the store room.