On a Carnival Cruise Line (known for its party-goers) stop in Costa Rico, a guy thought he could rob a group of tourists. He thought wrong. See this Yahoo article.

In this post-9/11 period, people just don’t take violence against their person in the same way. At one time we were told to “just cooperate”. Now I’m seeing reports of convenience store clerks telling robbers “no, you can’t have the cash!” to others who chase down the thief and take the money back. In this example the group of about 20 US tourists realized that there was 1 gunman and 2 accomplises (1 who had a knife). This made it a 20 versus 3 fight. Neither the gun or a pair of knives made it fair. Add to this that one of the tourists was an ex-Marine.

The end result? The gunman is dead with his neck snapped, the two accomplises run away, and the police say “good job.”

My view? I prefer to being on this side of bad-ass-ness.

Update: According to this version of the article, the ex-Marine was 70, and the rest of the tourists were all senior citizens. That should make it even more scary for prospective muggers.