Pizza Hut delivery man defends self with gun, Pizza Hut Corp. shoots self in foot
The news wires are hot with the story of a delivery man for Pizza Hut in Des Moines who successfully defended himself with a handgun during a robbery attempt while making a delivery. As it turns out the delivery man had a concealed carry permit and was carrying the weapon legally.
Well, legal in the law sense. But apparently not legal in the Pizza Hut Corporate sense. He has been suspended from his job at Pizza Hut and it is doubtful if he will get his job back.
Vonnie Walbert, vice president of human resources at Pizza Hut's corporate offices in Dallas, made a statement that "as per company policy Pizza Hut delivery personnel are to remain stripped of any effective means of defense and that from this point forward it needs to be widely known that they are all to be considered extremely soft targets. Especially the women drivers."
Okay.....what she actually said was "employees are not allowed to carry guns 'because we believe that that is the safest for everybody.'" Which is the same thing.
Certainly it is Pizza Hut's right as an employer to make helpless their drivers before sending them into really crappy neighborhoods...at night...with cash...over and over and over again, but it needs to be said here that just because Pizza Hut believes that it is safest for everybody when their drivers are disarmed, that doesn't make it so. The driver had a valid CHL which means that statistically he was far less likely to commit any sort of crime than is the general population.
And then there is this guy over at Pajamas Media, who wrote:
But as a Des Moines resident - who like many people across the country frequently exercises my God-given right to order pizza and have it delivered to my door at any hour by a stranger - this is where I start to get almost as wary of the delivery guy as I am of the alleged assailant. They've both got guns, and neither is afraid to use them.[snip]
.....wondering whether the pizza delivery guy trotting up my walk is packing heat along with my pepperoni isn't likely to do my appetite any favors.
It is a weird world out there. The vast majority of the times you go to answer your door it involves no danger. But sometimes.....well...you've read the papers. Attacks, assaults, rape, home invasions, etc. It does happen.
Now with that in mind, what if Pizza Hut announced a new company policy stating that, henceforth, all of their drivers before showing up on your doorstep and getting you to open your door to them, had to pass a background check that confirmed the following:
- The driver had never been convicted of a felony.
- The driver must not be currently charged with the commission of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor or an offense under Texas Penal Code, ยง42.01, or of a felony under an information or indictment.
- The driver must not be a fugitive from justice for a felony or a Class A or Class B misdemeanor.
- The driver must not be chemically dependent.
- The driver must not, in the five years preceding the date of application, have been convicted of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor or an offense under Texas Penal Code.
- The driver must not be currently restricted by or subject to a court order that restrains the applicant from injuring, harassing, stalking, or threatening the applicant's spouse or intimate partner, or the child of the applicant, the applicant's spouse, or intimate partner.
- The driver must not, in the 10 years preceding the date of application, have been adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct violating a penal law of the grade of felony.
- The driver has submitted a full set of fingerprints to both the state and the FBI in order that a full background check be done.
Now who wouldn't feel better about their spouse or teen-aged daughter opening the front door to a guy who has met all of those requirements? I know I would.
And if she is opening that front door to someone who has a valid concealed carry permit that is exactly what she is doing.
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23 Comments
You are hired!!
I can't believe this. I don't know how Pizza Hut or any other delivery person goes where they go, every day. I wouldn't want to be in the danger they put themselves in on a daily basis.
I totally believe in Concealed Handgun Licensing. I'll be taking the class myself, soon.
I am not big on official boycotts or anything but you can bet that I will not be eating at or ordering from pizza hut ever again.
I like their background check but they policy is not acceptable.
Knock, knock. Who's there? Man with a deadly weapon, waiting for you to make one wrong move.
Having a concealed handgun license does not mean the person is looking for someone to shoot. It simply means, the person wants to protect themselves legally. Taking the course, gives them knowledge. Knowledge is powerful. I'm sure Pizza Hut believes they are protecting their drivers, but corporate is setting the driver up as a target. They are saying our driver has money (usually cash) but no form of protection
Knock, knock. Who's there? Man with a deadly weapon, waiting for you to make one wrong move.
I can only assume that you are referring to the Pizza Hut delivery guy.
Why assume? You see who posted it.
Yes, of course, the Pizza Man. I'd hate to open the door thinking the guy with the pizza had a gun, wouldn't you?
And Bob, does little Pandora warrant a comment like that? I was just trying to be funny.
The point is.. If you are going to open your door, the guy you open the door to may or may not have a gun... it doesn't matter... But you better have one.. Because it may not be the pizza guy...
I'd hate to open the door thinking the guy with the pizza had a gun, wouldn't you?
That depends completely on the circumstances under which he is carrying the gun.
It is a certainty that with no knowledge at all of whether or not the pizza guy at your door has passed all of the requirements necessary to get a CHL and is armed or couldn't qualify for a CHL for myriad reasons (like past felonies, etc.) YOU ARE GOING TO OPEN YOUR DOOR TO HIM. After all, he has your pizza, no?
Given the choice, I would rather open the door to a known gun-carrying CHL license holder than to a run-of-the-mill pizza delivery guy of whom I possessed no knowledge.
I suspect that what you want is a guy that meets the requirements to receive a CHL because then you could feel safer (and would have good reason to)....but that he should go ahead a remain defenseless so that you may feel even safer still.
Sucks to be him.
Can we forsee a day then when the homeowner, with gun drawn, meets the pizza man, also with gun in hand, at the door? After they stare each other down for a minute, money and pizza are exchanged.
Before we veer of into that question I would be curious to know your answer to the question at hand.
Would you rather have you Pizza delivered by
1) an armed possessor of a CHL, or
2) Anyone taken from the general pool of citizens that are qualified to deliver Pizza?
If you have ordered a pizza, and are waiting for a delivery guy, when the bell rings why would anyone meet the pizza guy with guns drawn?
You must have some other intention, so I hope for the Pizza guy he is able to defend himself.
But the pizza guy isn't carrying a gun for protection from homeowners who have already had there address and name recorded in the company's system, he's carrying it for protection from others who see him as an easy target.
and Pandora, try harder, you aren't funny, you come across as a conceited liberal fool.
Why, thank you, "bob." I see you are quite a gentleman and understand how to address a lady.
It might have sufficed to say you didn't think my jokes were funny.
Here I thought we were having fun with this little give-and-take, but I can see you're dead serious and very angry.
I wonder why pizza upsets you so.
I have no problem with pizza. I just have a problem tolerating idiocy. It has nothing to do with gender. Perhaps your humor is above me.
You see a man with a deadly weapon. I see a pizza guy.
I am still interested in the give and take....and I am still curious about the question I asked in the comment timestamped 4/6/08 at 8:29PM.
Nothing like a request for specifics to make 'em scatter.
Walsingham, if I answered you question, "bob" would call me "a conceited liberal fool" or something worse. Nothing kills a good conversation like name-calling and bitterness. I think I'm done talking about pizza now, it's too silly a topic to insult each other over. let's move on.
Actually, we weren't talking about Pizza. We were talking about your irrational fear of guns and how it would drive you to willingly reduce another's personal safety while on the job for the sake of providing yourself with a false sense of security and an artificially elevated sense of moral superiority.
I think you are wrong on your first point Walsingham, I do not think Pandora has any fear of guns, but of law abiding people who have the gall to carry them. On the false sense of security and elevated sense of moral superiority though, you nailed it.
Dear Pizza Delivery Man:
I understand that between the safety of your shop and my doorstep that you may have to run a gauntlet of potential threats but, I'm sorry, if you continue to insist on taking any precautions other than having 911 on your speed dial I just won't be able to enjoy the pizza you brought me.
Maybe it is time to ask yourself why the muggers hate you.
Love,
Pandora
An armed population is a safe one. I am all for Concealed carry to get one they have to go through a rigorous background check. Criminals will not bother to get one because they can't, they will just carry it anyway. So if a pizza man wants to exercise his 2 amendment right than more power to him
Love IT! Kudos to the reporter of this article.