Morgan Jr. says he was able to stab McGowan once.
He says McGowan was lucky to deflect the spear which only injured his hand and shoulder.
Oh man, Morgan is going to catch so much shit from the other guys in his guild for failing to land a clean hit. “Seriously, guys… he must have had a shield spell!”
Man [enthusiastically] stabbed stabbed with a spear while robbing medieval weapons enthusiast?
Militarized assault stick?
"He started retreating and I started advancing and I was stalking him here, you never cross your legs, and I cornered him right here."Nice! Some free stalking lessons.
Edit:
Police say they later found out the stolen car McGowan was driving actually belonged to McGowan who had failed to report to police that he had recovered his car after reporting stolen.
Well, Morgan’s a SCAdian, not a LARPer. No guilds to speak of, and spells are illegal on the battlefield (totally not kidding, sorry). So his buddies are going to say “light!” or “No acknowledgement!” or some in-joke like that. Oh, hands aren’t a legal target in the SCA, that’ll probably provoke some jokes too.
But seriously, parrying a spear (especially a short spear) with your hand cleanly is harder than you’d think. I can do it some of the time (most of the time, if it’s a long spear) because I practice. This McGowan fella had to be pretty quick or he’d have been gigged like a frog. He’s really lucky to have survived.
Sounds like he is a cleric: how do they rate on attack points?
He says, "I am a Christian man and I don't want to take life, however I want to make sure that he understands that his life was mine to take. I let him have it."
Man, the very first post of the thread is derisive, insulting stereotyping.
I get it - you think it’s weird that someone, somewhere keeps a spear next to their bed instead of something like a loaded gun under their pillow. I’ll grant you, the use of a spear is certainly kind of odd, as it isn’t the most practical personal defense tool. But if you’re a member if the Society for Creative Anachronism, you’re a historical weapon enthusiast - if you have a spear on hand, it’s probably because it’s part of your collection, not because you actually plan to use it to defend yourself. And if you do use it to defend yourself, it’s probably because it was the first thing to hand.
What I don’t understand is why you think any of that deserves to be mocked, or why you associate weapons enthusiasts with the sorts of absurd negative stereotypes heaped (largely undeservedly) on LARPers, tabletop gamers, and other various sub-cultures that I can only assume you personally are mystified by.
I just don’t see how any of that would seem relevant. A good friend of mine is a spear-fisher, and he happens to keep a homemade sling-spear underneath his bed (because where else do you put a five foot long piece of bamboo with spikes on one end?). If someone broke into his home while he was in bed, I imagine he’d be quite ready to defend himself with it if necessary. Would you crack stupid jokes about him if things came to that?
By all means, marvel at the oddity of this strange turn of events (I certainly am!), but please, please, please - stop making stupid jokes and perpetuating absurd negative stereotypes.
(Full disclosure: I am not a member of the SCA or a LARPer, although I am something of a historical weapons enthusiast and I’ve been known to play the table-top game “Shadowrun” from time to time.) 
Can I take a spear into Chipotle?
I’m not sure - I haven’t brushed up on the laws for the carry of polearms in public places, and I’m almost certain they will vary wildly by state and jurisdiction.
That said, how is your question relevant to anything? Keeping a spear under your bed is in no way comparable to carrying any kind of weapon into a public eatery.
Always carry a shield when burgling.
I bet the members of the Greater Tuscon Spear Fishing Club would give him a hard time for failing to land a clean hit.
Chainmail and warhound optional.
You must admit it’s certainly unusual, that’s what makes the story noteworthy in the first place. But in all seriousness I’d probably have more fun hanging out with someone who was into spears than someone who was into handguns.
Full disclosure: I’ve recently started taking archery classes for fun. If through some unlikely series of events I wounded a trespasser with an arrow I would fully expect the internet to gleefully commence with the Robin Hood/Green Arrow/Hawkeye nerd jokes.
You know what they say…when spears are outlawed, only outlaws will have spears.
From what I’m gathering through initial researching sparked by jlw’s question, it seems in many places spears are quite legal to take most public places.
It seems a number of jurisdictions would treat them as “decorative objects”, or as non-concealed fixed blades (which are seemingly typically not restricted).
You probably could not enter a Chipotle, however - or rather, you could be asked to leave, being that it is private property.
Also, in a house with kids, its probably safer to have a spear or bladed weapon than a gun.
That’s why my kids aren’t allowed to own any weapon deadlier than a one-handed flail.
Melee weapons can inflict much nastier wounds than gunshots when properly wielded due to the way the physics work, but the upshot is you have to actually be trying to kill someone most of the time.
In contrast, all it takes is a trigger squeeze to shoot someone with a bullet that - while technically a lot less physically devastating than a broadsword or pole-axe to the torso with 300+ pounds of muscle and armor driving it home - will still penetrate flesh and bone quite easily and shred vital organs.
If I had to choose between being shot with a single bullet and being hit with a single stroke of a warrior’s blade, I’d choose the gunshot wound for the better odds of survival. But if I had to choose between being surrounded by medieval weaponry, and being surrounded by handguns, I’ll take the option which requires a lot more effort and intent behind it for the weapon to result in a fatal wound.
At one point I was having serious roommate trouble (he was smoking crack) and I kept a hunting knife attached to a long stick with hose clamps. I think he got the message that if I wasn’t left alone shit was going to get real in a hurry.
