If he’s not armed, you risk being beaten to a bloody pulp (video):

A 72-year-old former boxer and Marine pummeled a potential thief who allegedly tried to reach into his pocket.

Bill Barnes said he was scratching off a losing lottery ticket inside a Michigan gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 (?223) in cash.

He immediately grabbed the person’s wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.

And should I say if he is armed?

One gunman is dead and another is in critical condition after they tried to rob a sandwich store and were shot by an armed customer Wednesday night, authorities said.

Donicio Arrindell, 22, of North Lauderdale, and Fredrick Gadson, 21, of Fort Lauderdale, entered a Subway restaurant at 1949 N. Pine Island Rd. and demanded money at gunpoint about 11:17 p.m., said Detective Robert Rettig, a police spokesman.

They then attempted to rob the lone customer, John Lovell, 71, of Plantation, by forcing him into the restroom, but Lovell, who was legally armed, pulled his gun and fired, police said.

Arrindell collapsed at the scene, while a police K-9 unit found Gadson hiding in a hedge in front of a nearby bank at the Jacaranda Square shopping center, officials said. …

Lovell is a former Marine who was a member of the helicopter detail that transported Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, White said. He also was a former Pan Am and Delta airline pilot who worked out regularly and was in good condition, White said.

Oh, and if you’re a bear, it’s best just not to mess with an ex-Marine, no matter his age:

A 300-pound black bear raided a family’s campsite, and the father saved his sons from harm by throwing a log at the beast, killing it with a single blow.

Chris Everhart and his three sons were camping in Chattahoochee National Forest in northern Georgia when the encounter happened Saturday. The bear took the family’s cooler and was heading back to the woods when the youngest son, Logan, 6, hurled a shovel at it.

The bear dropped the cooler and started coming at the boy, his father said. Everhart, a former Marine, grabbed the closest thing he could find: a log from a stash of firewood.

Added: That’s why they say “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”