Bear Cothran Inspires Peaceful Protest at Shell Station

Kevin Boyle is not a political guy. He's never organized a protest before. But on Saturday Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. he expects a good turnout for a peaceful protest he's organized outside the Shell station on Main Street, where his buddy, Bear Cothran, used to work.

Cothran was fired on Oct. 14 hours after thwarting a knife-wielding robber who threatened to kill him, by pulling out his pistol. The company that owns Shell, Nouria Energy, has a strict corporate "no weapons" policy. Cothran understood the risk of losing his job by carrying a concealed weapon to work.

But the risk of losing his life to an armed hoodlum while working the late shift at a convenience store outweighed his urge to follow company policy.

In an interview with Nashua Patch, Cothran explained his reasoning: "I have a fiancee who I love very much, step-children I love, our first grandchild is due in December. Given the situation, and the way the man who tried to rob me was acting, I truly believe if I didn't defend myself I wasn't going to be coming home to see my family." 

Boyle, 37, of Nashua, who has known Cothran for about eight years, said the peaceful protest, set for 2 p.m. outside the Shell station, 301 Main St., is meant to raise awareness over employee safety issues.

"Pretty much every convenience store chain across the U.S. has the same police, and so I was just hoping to bring more awareness to the issue that the policy should be changed.  I could be burying my friend this weekend if not for the handgun he was carrying," Boyle said.

He said the fact that Bear was notified of his termination within hours of the incident shows the company didn't weigh the positive outcome of the situation

"And I think the energy companies should be a little more apologetic, if anything. It took them three or four days to put out a statement on Bear's firing," Boyle said. "I actually work in unarmed security, so I understand the pros and cons of allowing clerks to be armed. But if they aren't going to do more to make sure their work environment is safe, then they need to change their policy."

"It's their job to keep employees safe, and in other cities they have glass barriers. You can see in the surveillance footage this guy just walked in with a knife. Bear had no protection," Boyle said. 

Boyle said he checked in with Nashua Police so he could be compliant with protest protocol.

"They told me it's anyone's right to protest, but we have to stay on city property, which is the sidewalk, we can't leave a mess, we can't block traffic, and under no circumstance can we harass employees or customers," Boyle said.

Colthran intends to be there, and posted the following message on the Facebook event page to encourage those coming with the intention of exercising their Second Amendment rights to use common sense:

"I would just like to ask one huge favor of folks, on a personal level, I obviously support your right and my right to carry, but I would appreciate it if any of those of us who will be showing up carrying leave the long guns at home, so long as we keep the required distance from the school zone we will be okey (sic), but rifles make folks really nervous. We are in the right here and have the moral high-ground, lets not give our detractors any reason to be able to try and take that away from us." 

Boyle said the only thing he intends to carry is a sign, although he hadn't quite worked out the message he was going to send as of Friday night.

"We told everyone to bring a sign, and to anything you want to say, because we do have freedom of speech. I'm just not sure yet what mine is going to say. I was thinking something like: 'Poke the sleeping Bear, get a Ruger.' or  'What do you get for protecting yourself at work in an unsafe work environment? Fired.' I'll be working on that later," Boyle said.

Boyle said he invited more than 1,500 people via Facebook. He knows there will be a lot of media attention, and expects Freestaters and gun rights groups will likely come out, too.

"We've even heard from people outside of New Hampshire who are talking about  protesting at their own Shell stations, just to send a message this blanket policy does not create a safe work environment," Boyle said. 

As for Cothran, the national notoriety has been unexpected and overwhelming, Boyle said. 

"We heard that Sen. Rand Paul wanted to hand  Bear an award if someone was going to give him one. We just heard that Guns Across America wants to give him a Stand Your Ground award," Boyle said. "I'm not a big political type, even though I'm living in a state that's known for politics. But if Senator Paul comes here to give my friend an award, that's a huge thing; he'll definitely have my vote."