I haven’t exactly tried to hide my love of science fiction. I’m a geek and I know it and I fly that flag rather proudly.

So, I couldn’t help but notice a story earlier today about how a criminal used a Klingon bat’leth–a bladed weapon from Star Trek–to rob a couple of stores in Colorado Springs.

A man wielding a “Star Trek Klingon-type sword” robbed two Colorado Springs convenience stores early this morning, police said. The first robbery happened at about 1:55 a.m. at a 7-Eleven at 145 N. Spruce St., Colorado Springs police said in an incident report. The second robbery happened at about 2:20 a.m. at a 7-Eleven store at 2407 N. Union Blvd.

Witnesses say the suspect wore a black mask and jacket with blue jeans.

Of course calling a bat’leth a “Klingon-type sword” is the science fiction geek equivalent of calling an AK-47 an AR-15. It makes be shudder just thinking about it.

Now, this is a quirky kind of a crime and, thankfully, no one was hurt. The police searched the area, but no signs of the robber or his weapon were found.

However, there’s also a lesson here, something we would all do well to remember. Namely, that criminals will use whatever they can to threaten people’s lives. They don’t need a gun to represent a danger to other people. They can take a prop from a television and movie franchise and commit crimes quite easily with it.

They don’t even really need a bat’leth. They can kill people with a freaking rock, a wrench, a hammer, or their own bare hands.

Evil does what evil does. Evil doesn’t require obedience to the laws of the land, nor is it inhibited by them. Those interested in carrying out unlawful acts will do so and you’re not going to stop them with just a few laws. They’ll find weapons to use and you’re not about to stop them from doing it.

What gun control laws can do, though, is make it harder for law-abiding citizens to meet those threats. I can’t walk around town with my own bat’leth. I can’t carry a 15th-century longsword (something I do sort of know how to use but most people don’t). I can’t carry a lot of other weapons. Most of those weapons aren’t practical to carry on a day to day basis. Sure, a sword would be fine if we still rode horses, but have you ever tried to get into a car with one strapped to your side?

I can carry a gun, though. I can carry a firearm and meet the threat regardless of what tool they opt to use. It doesn’t matter if they’re stronger than me or what. The firearm is the great equalizer. It lets me meet whatever threats present themselves and gives me a fighting chance in any armed encounter I find myself in.

So a robber carrying a bat’leth is an odd, somehow humorous story, but if someone came after you with a bat’leth, would it be funny? Or would it be time to put someone in the dirt?