Yesterday Uncle posted an email from an anonymous reader who had a pistol stolen.
The gun had been sitting in the attic in an unlocked pistol case. There was also another pistol in a locked case next to the pistol that was stolen. It had not been bothered with by the thief.
The owner had had some contractors up in the attic a few months previously but had no thoughts about the gun’s case being in plain view. It had been a while since he had gone to the range, and when he went up to the attic recently to retrieve the pistol to go shooting is when he noticed it was gone. He is positive that it was one of the contractor’s employees.
The worst part is that the gun had been a gift and neither he nor the giver of the gift had written down the serial number.
The writer of the email wrote to Uncle to let folks know a couple things: 1. That he will be buying a gun safe immediately, and 2. That he is having his guts eaten out by the knowledge that a firearm he owned, but didn’t lock down is out on the street.
I am still completely unable to see how someone can spend $300-$1000+ on a gun, or multiple thousands of dollars on multiple firearms, and then lean them against the wall in a closet. It just makes no sense to me. Sure, having them readliy available is a good thing, but you can own a safe and do that too.
I have read posts on the different gunblogger sites, and the comments to those posts, and some folks seem caught up in the “If it isn’t the best safe in the world, then it is worthless†mindset. I suppose that if they can’t own a Rolls Royce or a Bentley, then they don’t own a car either.
The other opinion I see on a large scale is folks getting so focused on their next firearms acquisition that the idea of buying a safe seems like a roadblock.
I enjoy everything I own. It is mine. I paid for it and I worked my ass off to come up with the money to do so.
And I purposely take pains to ensure that it is as hard to take away from me as possible.
My vehicles, my tools, and hell, even my lawnmower all have some sort if theft deterring device.
My home does as well. I lock my tools down inside their cabinet, inside my home. I also lock up my emergency supplies and ammo in their respective lockers. Why wouldn’t I lock my guns down, if for no other reason than to make the criminal have to bring his own gun to the shootout.
Gun owners, and especially internet junkie gunnies, know criminals don’t buy their guns from licensed FFL’s. They know that only a very miniscule number of them get them at gun shows. They know that criminals do buy guns which were stolen from law abiding citizens.
And yet when it comes to securing their own firearms, I’ve noticed that too damn many of them are of the cavalier “It can’t happen to me†school of thought
Well guess what gentlemen (and ladies): One of our own just found out he is contributing to the problem. If you haven’t read the post at Uncle’s take a moment and do so. He thought he was crafty in his hiding spot, and he discovered that he was very wrong.
I am very adamant about gun owners also being gunsafe owners for one simple reason: A good friend of mine also thought he was smarter than the criminals. He had his hunting rifle and a couple pistols stashed away where he thought no one would ever find them.
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