An 80-year-old liquor store owner in California has called out politicians after his trigger finger helped him fend off armed robbers, claiming 'I'm not going to let them get the shot off first.'

Craig Cope, 80, said 'the crime rate is escalating and it's going to continue to escalate until they start putting the people away that are doing the bad things' after his harrowing shootout was caught in dramatic surveillance footage.

While he refrained from 'naming names,' he said 'there are a whole lot of them that are creating major problems for business owners,' and complained 'a lot' of criminals are 'career criminals, (and) they need to be locked up.' 

The way to prevent crimes like this from repeatedly occurring is to 'put pressure on the politicians because they got no clue what's really going on out here in the real world.'

Cope was behind the counter of Norco Market & Liquor shop in Norco, Calif., when he noticed a gang of men armed with guns creeping up to the door just before 3 a.m.

'There wasn't much time to think about' what to do, Cope said, as a 23-year-old man entered the store with an AR-15 raised and ready to shoot, forcing Cope to immediately fire off his shotgun, hitting the man in the arm and sending the group scrambling.