THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412080440
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
To arm or not to arm?
Gary Baker thinks he knows the answer to the gun-control question.
The 45-year-old Henrico County jewelry-store owner met two would-be robbers last week with a barrage of gunfire that would do credit to the shootout at the OK Corral.
Seconds after Thomas Jefferson Salter, 56, of Nashville, and William Lawrence Head, 71, of New Orleans - wearing ski masks - walked through the door of Beverly Hills Jewelers Ltd., all six employees - including Baker - had guns in their hands.
And seconds after that, Baker said, three employees were returning the pair's gunfire.
Before the shooting ended a minute or so later, Baker had unloaded a that third gun I had in my hand,'' he added. So rapid was the sequence that no one is quite sure whether Baker's younger brother, Charles, used three guns or five, Baker said.
``There were probably a minimum of 30 shots. . . . The police said they'd never seen anything like it,'' said Baker.
The gunfight left Salter and Head dead and - miraculously, police say - no one else seriously wounded. It has riveted attention at a time when much of the nation's law enforcement hierarchy discourages businesses and homeowners from relying on guns to ward off crime.
Weeks before the shooting, Henrico police distributed a business newsletter that warned: ``Keeping weapons on the premises should be avoided. Statistics prove that having weapons on your property adds to the danger during a robbery.''
But Bill McIntyre, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said the Henrico case is proof that such pronouncements can be wrong. ``It's a dramatic demonstration of how firearms ownership can serve as a very good self-defense, self-protection method,'' he said.
Both sides in the national debate, which has escalated as the number of U.S. gun deaths has reached 38,000 annually, come armed with statistics and anecdotes.
In recent weeks, for instance, a 3-year-old in Jackson, Miss., and a teenager in West Monroe, La., were shot and killed by parents who mistook them for intruders.
``That's the kind of thing we hear about every day,'' said Susan Whitmore, spokeswoman for Handgun Control Inc., a national organization that lobbies for restrictions on handgun ownership. Whitmore cited a 1986 study showing that guns kept in the home for self-protection are 43 times more likely to kill family members, friends or acquaintances than intruders.
Similarly, said Pat Harris, consultant to the Virginia Crime Prevention Association, a 1986 study in the Journal of Legal Studies found that workers who resisted during commercial robberies were 49 times more likely to be killed than those who cooperated.
The Henrico County jewelers ``were extremely lucky that this was not met with great tragedy, as it could have been,'' said Whitmore.
But the NRA's McIntyre said the studies are faulty because they focus on deaths. ``Ninety-nine-plus percent of the time,'' he said, a firearm used to ward off an intruder or a robber ``is not fired, much less (is) someone killed or injured.''
McIntyre cited a study by Gary Kleck, a Florida State University law professor, showing that people use firearms to protect themselves from potential criminal attacks 2.4 million times a year. Research by Dr. Edgar Suter, a California physician, suggests that for every life lost to a gun each year, as many as 65 are saved by a gun, he said.
In Henrico County, McIntyre said, ``a potential huge disaster was averted'' because Baker and his employees ``knew what to do and when to do it.''
The drama began a little after 10 a.m. Friday in a small strip shopping center several miles from downtown Richmond.
Baker, his five employees and one customer were in the store, an upscale establishment where the wares include 5- and 6-karat diamonds selling for $125,000 or so.
A gun buff who got his first BB gun when he was 8, Baker designed his store with security in mind. Ten guns were hidden behind a horseshoe-shaped outer counter. Two more were behind a center showcase and several more were in an elevated office area.
Silent ``panic buttons'' designed to alert a security company were strewn throughout the store, and there were other security features, which Baker refuses to discuss.
``No matter where I am (in the store), I can get a gun within a step or two,'' Baker said.
For instance, when he looked up from his desk and saw Salter - wearing a black ski mask - behind the counter a few feet away, Baker simply reached into his open desk drawer and drew out a .38-caliber revolver. ``I had it in my hand in a flash,'' he said.
A beefy, 6-foot, 200-pound father of four, Baker said he found himself eye to eye with an even larger man. ``I was looking in his eyes. They were icy blue, the exact same color as mine,'' Baker said.
Just then, Salter - who police say was a suspect in at least two Nashville-area robberies earlier this year - sprang to the top of the counter. Each man saw that the other was holding a gun. ``He screamed to his partner, `They have guns, too,' '' Baker recalled.
At that, Head - who also had an extensive background in crime, according to police - began firing, Baker said. Baker, his brother and another employee let loose, too. For a minute or so, there was mayhem.
When the smoke cleared, five jewelry cases had been shattered or damaged, the front window had been punctured by more than a dozen bullets, and Salter and Head were dead.
``I feel absolutely no remorse for them. They came in here to try to kill us. Their whole lives had been as predators,'' Baker said.
By Wednesday, life was returning to normal at Beverly Hills Jewelers. The glass had been replaced. Counters were dotted with poinsettias and flowers from well-wishers. Employees had undergone counseling from the county mental health department.
Police are investigating the deaths, and will turn over the results to the local prosecutor to decide if charges against Baker and his employees are warranted. Legal sources said prosecution is unlikely because Baker and his employees appear to have been acting in self-defense.
Meanwhile, local police are sticking by their recommendation that firearms not be kept at businesses. Employees or customers will be injured, said Lt. Lewis Shaw, a spokesman for the Henrico police.
Baker's advice to other store owners considering arming themselves is to make sure their employees get extensive firearms training, as his had. ``If you don't do it on a regular basis,'' he said, ``for God's sake, don't do it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Gary Baker, owner of the Richmond-area shop, had more than 12 guns
in his store.
KEYWORDS: ROBBERY GUN by CNB