>> the statistics were stupendous. violent crime of all kinds were soaring. the spectacles that people were seeing on their tv screen were unlike anything they'd had to absorb before. >> a small grocery store has been robbed. the owner of the grocery store, nathan hurt, has been shot and killed. >> what happened? >> as i understand, a man came into the store, and he had a gun and asked for money. and my grandfather reached for a gun he had and grabbed at the man's gun, and it went off, or he shot it twice, and my grandfather fell to the floor. >> why did he feel he had to have a gun? >> because there are so many robberies in this area, and he just thought he needed it for protection. >> today ordinary citizens who would not otherwise dream of having a gun are buying one because they are scared out of their wits. >> william rubiak is a ukrainian immigrant who owns a store outside washington, d.c. he's been robbed at gunpoint four times in the past two years.