Well that didn't end the way that you planned now, did it?

The infamous Dougherty Gang from Florida was arrested in Colorado today after a chase and shoot-out with police there. Busted were 29 year old stripper Lee Grace Dougherty and her two brothers, Dylan and Ryan, all of whom have criminal records. (Ryan has 14 felony convictions despite only being 21 years old. His sister has 5 and was also wanted for a hit-and-run, per news reports.) After shooting at a police officer in Florida and robbing a bank in Georgia, they fled in a stolen car to Colorado, where there were spotted buying camping gear at REI, a store that apparently doesn't include "stop snitching" as part of it's employee code of conduct. The police soon picked up their trail and when spotted, they tried to outrun the police in, of all things, a Subaru Impreza. Well that didn't go well. According to the state patrol, a trooper working overtime and overseeing a construction project near Walsenburg heard what was happening over police scanners and put stop sticks on the road. The vehicle crashed about 9:30 am. when it attempted to avoid the stop sticks.

After the crash Lee Grace Dougherty and one of her brothers tried to get away from the vehicle. Lee Grace had a handgun and was loading the chamber when she was shot in the leg by a Walsenburg police officer. Her brother was arrested. The other brother, authorities have not identified which one, then ran into Walsenburg. He did not go into any businesses and was soon arrested.

To be fair, they were warned. Pasco County (Fla.)Sheriff Chris Nocco called for them to surrender but also put them on notice that if it was a fight they wanted, they'd likely get one. "We want to reiterate to the Dougherty family, we want you to turn yourselves in, we want a peaceful resolution, but at the same time we understand if they want to battle with us, we have the resources and we will win," Nocco said. And as predicted, they tried, but they were no match for the trained, professional police officers that they went up against. Training and teamwork will always trump incestual hillbilly bravado and a couple of guns.

Kudos to the police officers who took these three down, and this should stand as a warning not just to potential hillbilly copycats but to all of those brave Walter Mitty types who seem to infest most gun-related internet forums to greater or lesser degrees--the ones who say that "when the time comes", they'll take on the police or military and win.

Frankly, when I start reading that crap and see that no other posters or administrators are objecting to it, I take that forum off of my "favorites" list because I don't associate with criminals or idiots. And anyone who thinks that they're going to fight a whole team of police officers or soldiers all by themselves is clearly idiotic, as this and almost every other police shoot-out shows. While police officers are regrettably killed by scumbags occasionally, in the end, by virtue of training, numbers and dedication, the police always win. And that's as it should be, whether they are taking buck-toothed banjo-pickers like the Doughertys off the streets or stepping on some armed drug dealer's or wanna-be militia warrior's head. You can talk smack on the internet all day long, but if you try to play the serious bad guy in real life, the good guys in blue are likely going to open up a can of whoop-ass on you and justifiably beat you like a rented mule.
And that works for me.

Now we'll see how long that it takes for the anti-gun whack jobs to use this case to call for the total disarmament of the rest of us. Anyone wanna start a pool?

In other news, it's nice to see that at least some British police are starting to take the right approach to the rampaging bands of looters and thieves. Good job, mates!