A guy here robbed a convenience store and a restaurant a few weeks ago. He was later arrested on other charges and they happened to find his disguise, shoes (left distinctive prints in the snow at one scene), and recovered what turned out to be an airsoft pistol, as well.
My thoughts are that it would take real balls, or stupidity to use a fake gun in a robbery here. So many folks are armed (for real) in these parts, and using a fake gun carries the identical sentencing guidelines.
But the thinking processes of many criminals are often non-standard. I've read that when administering logic and thinking tests to inmates of various prisons, it has been shown that a high percentage of convicts demonstrate several consistent logical thinking errors over and over. So expecting criminals to think logically is a mistake.
That's one reason why security camera systems are often NOT a deterrent to crime, as much as we'd hope them to be.
It is also why people who are going to "carry" are often encouraged to carry something with good stopping power, and of course, shoot center mass until the threat is neutralized. While you or I would run the other way, even when faced with (or especially shot by) a .22, or worse, a .25, a criminal might not respond the way you or I would.
Shoot center mass until the threat is ended, and only when your life or another's is still in danger. Thats what I've been taught.
Theft does not warrant a death sentence, and we are not a judge and jury. But you do have the right to defend against death or injury to yourself or others when truly threatened. At least you do here.
If that video is real, I at least have to commend the security guard with remaining calm in a situation into which I would not knowingly want to insert myself! But he probably should at least take a good concealed carry class, though, even if he doesn't need the license or intend to carry concealed. It does seem to me that had the robbers been really armed, the outcome could have been a lot worse for everyone. But then I'm just armchair quarterbacking.