Oh ACT Pol. Attempted agg rob, attempted….

So umm, Wilbow St. Right next to the Woden cop shop. What sort of rocket scientist attempts an armed robbery within spitting distance of the police station?

Never mind…..

Categorising an assailant’s firearm as a replica on a dark street at 11:30 at night is a pretty big call. For it to be that obvious he must’ve just had a stick, or pointed his finger at her or something.

And I guess that at only 165cm he didn’t look all that threatening, either. Sort of like being mugged by a poorly equipped cowardly dwarf.

Whatever the case, it must have been frightening. Hats off to the lady involved for her courage and determination. I hope she is able to get over it quickly.

A lot of replica firearms and air soft guns have special markings to show what they are. If the guy was dim witted enough to commit a robbery near a Police Station, it’s just as possible they didn’t think to remove such a marking.

Note the orange ring: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KN31JS/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=1278548962&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001B4QLTS&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=04FGDQCNMMAT6HRY90HQ

If it was a replica revolver then the cylinder may have been blocked off at the front making it pretty obvious, but it is a gutsy call because you never can be too sure.

LSWCHP said :

And I guess that at only 165cm he didn’t look all that threatening, either. Sort of like being mugged by a poorly equipped cowardly dwarf.

Ivan Milat at 160cm or so managed to look very menacing.

LSWCHP said :

Categorising an assailant’s firearm as a replica on a dark street at 11:30 at night is a pretty big call. For it to be that obvious he must’ve just had a stick, or pointed his finger at her or something.

And I guess that at only 165cm he didn’t look all that threatening, either. Sort of like being mugged by a poorly equipped cowardly dwarf.

Whatever the case, it must have been frightening. Hats off to the lady involved for her courage and determination. I hope she is able to get over it quickly.

Remember that that height is still above the female average. She must have been very sure that it was a fake, as you say. I don’t know if in general this ‘making a stab in the dark’ about whether a gun is real or not is a good idea. But perhaps this woman knew a lot about weapons. Of course it’s great she wasn’t hurt.

Woden is definitely scary at night; outside the clubs it’s like a ghost town.

poetix said :

Remember that that height is still above the female average. She must have been very sure that it was a fake, as you say. I don’t know if in general this ‘making a stab in the dark’ about whether a gun is real or not is a good idea. But perhaps this woman knew a lot about weapons. Of course it’s great she wasn’t hurt.

Although on this occasion it seems the logic followed was the weapon is fake, there’s also something to the calculation an offender may choose not to use it.
Gun fire draws attention and shooting someone is a far more serious offence. Real or not, the weapon serves above all else as something to illicit sudden fear to obtain compliance. Many offenders, even those better armed and in numbers have chosen to give up when their initial demand isn’t complied with. I would say real or not, it was things not going to plan that scared him. Fundamentally these people are cowards after all.