California convenience store owner Craig Cope knows that the robbers he stopped with the help of a gun are not the only enemies of small business owners facing rising crime.
In a new interview after he returned to work at his Norco store, Cope pointed the finger at the politicians on whose watch criminals are arrested and released back on the streets.
Cope went from being an 80-year-old store owner to a national legend on Sunday when he pulled out a shotgun and fended off four men who came to rob his store. Surveillance video caught one wounded man whining, “He shot my arm off.”
#WATCH: “He shot my arm off,” cries would-be robber after 80 year old #Norco store owner shoots him with a shotgun. Four arrested, one remains in hospital. Store owner expected back at work. pic.twitter.com/i3LAVdv5WL
— Jeff Vaughn (@JeffVaughn) August 2, 2022
Three of the suspects were later arrested, with the fourth recovering in the hospital.
Cope said the solution to prowling criminals is politicians willing to take strong action.
“We need more people to stand up, but more than that — I’ll probably get on the wrong side of some people here, but the politicians,” Cope said, according to KTTV-TV.
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“There’s people out there that are not the best of people. … These people that continually get let out now — it’s been really bad the last year — those people, the majority of them, are gonna go right back to what they used to do,” he said, explaining how the real world works.
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“So the crime rate is escalating, and it’s gonna continue to escalate until they start putting the people away that are doing the bad things.”
Cope suggested that being prepared to defend yourself is one step to take, but the bigger one is to change laws to end situations such as the attempted robbery he cut short.
“You can do what I did, but what you really need to do is put some pressure on the politicians because they got no clue what’s really going on out here in the real world,” he said.
“I could start naming names, but there’s a whole lot of them that are creating major problems for business owners.
“But for local law enforcement, they’re creating problems for them. I’m sure they go out and risk their lives taking people into custody to see them get let out with no bail. A lot of these people are career criminals. … They need to be locked up.”
In another interview, Cope made clear that he has no regrets about defending his store.
#BREAKING: “More people need to vote and vote the right way,” says the 80 year old #Norco store owner that blasted a would-be robber with a shotgun. Owner Craig Cope is back to work today, and has this message for politicians… pic.twitter.com/F72iaUsogm
— Jeff Vaughn (@JeffVaughn) August 2, 2022
“There’s a whole lot of people out there — they got no clue what it’s like to try to run a small business,” he said. “We got bad people. Let’s face it — there’s bad people, bad people we don’t need. We need to get them locked up.”
“Everybody works hard. They got bills to pay. These guys gonna come in and take it away from you. Not here,” he said.
Cope suffered a heart attack during the incident and later had three stents inserted, according to KCBS-TV.
But he had a message for any criminals thinking about targeting a small business: “This isn’t a good place to pick.”
