I like that description, it is very good. The sad thing about spending all of our time on the druggist is that we have not yet looked at the keystone cops type robbery attempt, and the aftermath of murder convictions for them all is funny as all get out too, that just wasn't their day by any measure.
I'm not sure where you stood/stand on the Stolen Valor Act; I was a pretty outspoken advocate of it, and our pharmacist buddy here is a good example of why. A lot of opponents of the SVA insisted that if the person was using the claimed award/status for financial gain, existing fraud laws were adequate. My insistence is that not all things of value can be expressed in monetary terms. In this case, this joker tried to garner sympathy and leverage special consideration based on his hero status. Had he not been found out, he might have just been succesful in doing so with the court.
The perps were never going to contribute anything of value to society...they lived up to all my expectations for them. The pharmacist could have not only defended himself and his property; he could have also become a very good case study for the value of firearms in private hands. He ended up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.