The gun control enthusiasts and generic left wing gun grabbers always claim, against all contrary evidence, that there is no proof that concealed carry actually saves lives. Check out this video from a hold-up in Columbia, South Carolina.

The setup. It is about 7 pm at a popular barber shop and beauty salon in Columbia, South Carolina. Two armed men enter the business and take it over. This is a particularly dangerous type of robbery as the robbers have everyone in the business under their control and there is minimal danger of being seen. These are the types of robberies that often result in patrons being shepherded into a backroom and executed.

The fear was real:

Several people, including children, were inside the business when two armed men wearing masks demanded and stole money from them.

Chauncy Harris (ed note: I think he is in the seat at the left edge of the screen.) witnessed it all unfold. It was a scene he will never forget.

“He smacked me in the back of my head, and I said, ‘Okay, this is probably when he’s going to shoot me now and just sent an example and walk on out the door with the money,'” Harris said.

Two of the patrons were carrying concealed weapons. Keep your eyes on the guy in the second chair from the left. TRIGGER WARNING: a bad guy gets hurt and innocent people are saved, if that offends you, please don’t watch.

wistv.com – Columbia, South Carolina

One of the robbers died at the scene. The other fled, police tracked him by the trail of liquid feces he left (okay, I’m making that up). None of the customers were injured.

Our colleagues at Bearing Arms also makes some other very good points:

Opponents of concealed carry constantly claim that once the bad guy has the drop on you, then there is nothing you can do. As this incident shows clearly, this is not remotely true. A concealed carrier has the advantage of being able to bide his or her time and wait for a moment of opportunity to draw his or her weapon when he or she has a momentary advantage.

This robbery would also seem to show what most defensive firearms instructors already agree upon; concealed carry is tactically superior to open carry, as it gives the concealed carrier the advantage of deciding when to make the presence of a firearm known, to their advantage.

If someone had been open carrying in this incident (side note: open carry is not legal in South Carolina), it is very likely they would have been disarmed or shot by the two armed robbers as they came through the door with the element of surprise on their side.

You’ll note also that this incident gutted another common gun control lie, that if more than one concealed carrier is at the scene of a crime and draws a weapon, that they won’t know the good guys from the bad guys and will shoot one another.

Instead, we saw two concealed carriers spontaneously acting in concert to take on two bad guys, dropping one immediately and driving the other from the establishment without either robber being able to shoot any of the customers.