Do you lock up? How many firearms are stolen each month in your city? Well in mine...

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karz10

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NC SC somewhere between the mtns & ocean
I just saw this report about how 480 guns had been stolen in the metro area in the first 4 months of this year, or about 120 a month.

www.wbtv.com/news/crimealert/7112071.html Print and Video avilable...

Stolen Guns on Charlotte Streets
In just the first three-and-a-half months of this year, almost 500 guns have been stolen in Charlotte.

These weapons are used to commit violent crimes and even show up in our schools.

Thieves are stealing these guns from legal gun owners. Then, they're making a quick buck by selling them to anybody who flashes enough cash.

In 2006, there have been more than 480 reported cases of stolen guns this year in a four-month period. That's about 120 stolen gun cases per month.

In this report, WBTV's Rob Tufano uncovers more details about the growing problem of stolen guns in Charlotte. Click "PLAY" to hear more on this story.

Story Created: Apr 19, 2007 at 11:46 PM EDT

Story Updated: Apr 20, 2007 at 12:22 AM EDT

Story says most are stolen from cars. I don't know if anything in this story is misprepresented or misleading at all. However, that does sound like a lot of guns.

I'm sure alot of the people on this forum are very responsible, so I'm not trying to preach or anything, but this does concern me. Before taking ownership of my 2nd Amm. rigths earlier this year, I thought about this a lot. I wanted to do my best to make sure that my weapon(s) don't end up in the wrong hands, among the many other responsibilities of owning a firearm.

I hope that we all make efforts to prevent things like this from happening, we don't need to give criminals any more tools than they already have, and we don't need to give the media and anti-gun crowd opportunities to point to situations like this.

Also, I wonder about the details surrounding these thefts. What if any efforts had the owner's taken to prevent the theft of their gun? For the one's stolen from their vehicles, why was it in their vehicle, do they always keep it there, or are they keeping it there only when not able to carry it into their destination?

I personally think if you're going to keep a weapon in the car most of the time, it should be locked up in some way while you are not present. If we're leaving them in cars because we can't carry them into restaurants, schools, and other places, then we need to include that in our arguments to officials for more accesible CCW legislation.

What do you guys think? Is anybody for our own community to help get the word out about cutting down the numbers of thefts like these, policing our own community? Anybody think we can/should use the fact that we don't want to leave firearms in vehicles to request better CCW accessible areas?

Thanks,

Karz

I've been looking at something like this for under the seat of my car:
titangunvault.com/

I wanted something like this for the console of my SUV, but they're no longer making them, but I've forwarded the design to the other guy at the above link, and he said he might make one like it later this year:
handgunsafe.com/cellphone.htm

I like those because of the simplex keypad, while most people would only put it in there when not in the vehicle, you may still want quick access to it, and if you ever had similar boxes w/ simplex locks in the house (drawer, bed frame, closet, etc.) you could use the same code for if you're under pressure. However, a much less expensive solution as a portable and last resort could be something like this, it requires a key, and not the fastest access, but can be moved easily to other vehicles, even a rental:
www.gunshopfinder.com/pistol_safe.html

Again, if you're legal to do so, you can always carry it on your person while in the car, or keep it at the ready based on your local laws, but this is good for those who want to keep it in the car all the time, or for when you have to leave it in the car...
 
Mine is home-made

The trunk of my car has steel tie down rings on the inside. I got a piece of chain and looped it through one of the stack on handgun safes.

TOtal cost was about $50

I understand that a dedicated thief won't be stopped, but I figure it'll stop any casual thief who isn't expected to have to cut a chain
 
When I lock my front door and back door, I HAVE SECURED my belongings, why does everyone think I must go beyond this to be responsible?

Burglars never mind the age are breaking the law in the first place committing a felony. :cuss: :banghead:
 
I have a Bersa with a built in trigger lock. If I HAVE to leave the gun in the car, I take the bullets with me and lock the trigger lock. If they do ever steal my gun, they won't be able to use it.
 
When I lock my front door and back door, I HAVE SECURED my belongings, why does everyone think I must go beyond this to be responsible?

Burglars never mind the age are breaking the law in the first place committing a felony.

Well, I guess everyone may have different opinions and motives. And while I understand that you can lock your doors on your house (and car for that matter), I don't personally believe that I want to solely rely on that to keep my firearms out of the hands of a criminal, should one break in.

I have insurance to replace property, no big deal. I don't want my 'sanctuary' violated, and have my family feel weird about having someone trash the house or damage irreplaceable items...etc., and I don't want someone stealing my personal data to later give me a hard time w/ identity theft, etc., so I take additional precautions likehaving a security system at home and a car alarm in the car, and keep most personal data locked up, making it hard to get to.

I thought it only logical to take the same type of precautions to keep illegal firearms off the street. You know we always complain that we should have unrestricted access to own firearms legally as responsible citizens, and claim that if you take away that right, that criminals will still obtain guns illegally and we'll be left unarmed to defend ourselves.

Don't we owe it to ourselves as individuals and to our community to do the best we can to make sure our legal firearms don't become illegal firearms? Not to get religous, but I was brought up that "To whom much is given, much is expected."

If we're not good stewards of the rights granted to us, we are in more danger of having those rights stripped away. If we can show the world that we take this right seriously, and take the so called high road when it comes to personal responsibility by reducing the number of illegal firearms, as a result of reducing legal firearm thefts from legal owners, then maybe we can avoid future legislation that could impact us negatively.

For example I ran across this in my hometown forum on ar15:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2007

H D

HOUSE DRH80355-LH-220A (4/5)

Short Title: Report Lost or Stolen Gun.
(Public)

Sponsors:
Representative Hall.

Referred to:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to require the reporting of lost or stolen guns and to provide a safe harbor for certain persons to encourage reporting.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1. Article 52A of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

"§ 14‑406.1. Duty to report lost or stolen weapon.

(a) Any owner or other person in possession of a handgun, rifle, or shotgun who suffers the loss or theft of the weapon shall report the facts and circumstances of the loss or theft to a police department or sheriff's office in the jurisdiction where the loss or theft is reasonably believed to have occurred not later than 48 hours after the person knew or reasonably should have known of the theft or loss. A separate report shall be made for each instance of theft or loss.

(b) Any person who fails to make a report required by subsection (a) of this section shall be guilty of an infraction for the first offense, of a Class 3 misdemeanor for the second offense, of a Class 2 misdemeanor for the third offense, and of a Class 1 misdemeanor for the fourth and subsequent offenses.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person who makes a report with respect to a handgun for which the person does not have a permit as required by this Article shall not be held criminally liable for failing to obtain such a permit for that handgun, so long as the person is eligible to have obtained the permit required by this Article at the time the report is made, and the person has not been previously convicted of violating this section.

(d) Subsection (a) of this section does not apply to a federally licensed firearms dealer who reports a lost or stolen weapon as required by federal law.

(e) The officer or department receiving the report required by subsection (a) of this section shall promptly give written notice of the theft or loss to the Attorney General, along with all of the information received in connection with the report. The Attorney General shall undertake to furnish and to make available the reported information to State and federal law enforcement agencies."

SECTION 2. This act becomes effective January 1, 2008.

Regardless of whether this passes or not, the point is, as the media is reporting that almost 500 guns have been stolen in ONE CITY in 3 1/2 months, we're seeing legislation proposed in the state of that city, proposing criminal charges be brought against the owner if they don't follow the letter of the law in reporting it.

My fear is that if we don't police our community better, then legislation worse than this will get passed somewhere, and yet another level of government imposed restrictions will be in place affecting our ability to act and live responsibly and not have some twisted law catching us on some technicality.

Not to mention if I found out one of my weapons was used to rob, hurt, or kill someone else, while the blame in that case rests on the criminal who stole it in the first place, and the criminal to committed the ultimate armed crime (may or may not be the same person), I still wouldn't feel good about it. Just like the guy who legally sold Cho the Glock, he didn't do anything wrong, but it doesn't make him happy, and he's catching a lot of flack for it, even if not rightfully so. I don't need any more drama than I already have.

Plus, for those unfortunate people who come home in the middle of a home invasion, sometimes are confronted w/ their own weapon upon entering. While some criminals may be armed anyway, if they weren't, I sure wouldn't want to give them an edge in getting the drop on me.

I realize some of these scenarios are low probability, but so are the chances that I would ever need to use a firearm in self defense, and yet I still want to be on the cautionary side of those averages, and therefore own a firearm in the first place.

I'm not for legislation to punish us, or specify how and where we should be allowed to store our weapons, especially because if you give them an inch, they'll take a mile, and pretty soon it's a big mess, and legal people are going to start getting in trouble for stupid stuff. However, I do believe we as a community can do more to not feed the criminal beast, or the media beast, in regard to stolen weapons.

Karz
 
If i were allowed to exercise my rights, I would always have my SD firearm on my person and be able to make 100% sure that it is in my control at all times.

It's the gun laws that force a law abiding citizen to disarm and leave their weapon in their car to possibly be stolen.

So, IMHO, if some of these so called gun laws that are designed to keep us safer were relaxed, we would see fewer stolen firearms in the hands of the bad guys.
 
karz10

You’re missing the point I secured my belongings, Period.

I have 4 safes and an alarm but that is for MY OWN benefit because I know police are ineffective record keepers, however without what extra I have done, LEAGALY I secured them when I locked my doors.

Making more laws because of ineptitude of .gov to realize a felon who breaks into my home is the problem and they should be in jail not on parole, plea bargained or whatever. But NO .gov wants to make it my problem as a victim so they can charge me.

This attitude disgusts me and many others.
 
If I'm not packing it, it's locked up in my gun safe. Besides not wanting to lose my guns, I'd hate for them to be stolen and used in a crime.
 
eng23ine If i were allowed to exercise my rights, I would always have my SD firearm on my person and be able to make 100% sure that it is in my control at all times.

It's the gun laws that force a law abiding citizen to disarm and leave their weapon in their car to possibly be stolen.

So, IMHO, if some of these so called gun laws that are designed to keep us safer were relaxed, we would see fewer stolen firearms in the hands of the bad guys.

Hi eng23ine, yeah, actually, that was one of my points in the OP:
If we're leaving them in cars because we can't carry them into restaurants, schools, and other places, then we need to include that in our arguments to officials for more accesible CCW legislation.

So I agree, we should use this as a reason to get them to change the laws and allow more places to be free to carry in...

------------------

gezzer karz10

You’re missing the point I secured my belongings, Period.

I have 4 safes and an alarm but that is for MY OWN benefit because I know police are ineffective record keepers, however without what extra I have done, LEAGALY I secured them when I locked my doors.

Making more laws because of ineptitude of .gov to realize a felon who breaks into my home is the problem and they should be in jail not on parole, plea bargained or whatever. But NO .gov wants to make it my problem as a victim so they can charge me.

This attitude disgusts me and many others.

Hey gezzer, I'm sorry if I missed your point, but I hope we can get each other's points. I agree 100% you legally secured your weapons, I'm not arguing that whatsoever. I appreciate that you have and alarm and safes for your own benefit, that's great, I was trying to say the same thing.

I don't want them to make more laws either. I was trying to say that it disturbed me that almost 500 guns were stolen in my nearby city, and they're now on the streets in the hands of criminals, that I myself may face on the street one day, and that I didn't want to contribute to the problem by not securing my firearms enough. Now I might take several measures to prevent that from happening, and it could still happen, which would be ashame, but at some point beyond my control.

So, I was hoping that if more people took additional measures, like locking them up *when they're NOT on their person* or *when their not present* then in the tragic event they had a B&E or smash and grab on their car, that we'd keep one more tool out of the criminal's hand. I'm not suggesting more laws, or trigger locks on HD/SD guns when we're around, or any other junk, I'm just saying when we're not around/in need of the weapon, maybe some of us could do more. I don't know how those 480 guns got stolen, maybe some of them were secured well, but I bet at least half of them were just laying around in someone's house or car, w/ no security besides the lock on the door.

I'm sorry if I misunderstood you're argument being more towards the government, in your first response, you said "why does everyone think I must go beyond this to be responsible?" which made it sound like you didn't think everyday people, possibly me, had no right to suggest that if we wanted to cut down on stolen guns, we might want to think about locking them up when we're not around. Again, I don't want more laws to make us lock up a certain way, or punish us if something's stolen, but I also don't want to give antis or politicians a reason to propose such legislation, if we're not doing enough to keep our legal guns from becoming illegal guns on the street...

But my argument is more from a practical real world perspective than a legal one. Legally, someone shouldn't get in your car and steal it while the engine is running, but you're stupid to think you can leave your car for long with the keys in it and the engine is running, but enough people have done it now, that some areas have made it a crime to do so, and some insurance companies won't pay if you're car is stolen w/ the keys in it. Real world is, anyone can get broken into, and while the criminal burden is on the person that broke in to steal your stuff including guns, the practical responsibility is on us to make a reasonable effort to prevent that. Like even as simple as locking the door, they would illegally enter you home through an open window or unlocked door, and the crime is entirely on them, but we should excercise some responsibility to make it a little harder than that, right?

Thanks for the clarification.

Karz
 
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