Comment from local law enforcement re: thieves, cars, and guns

[Old Dog]

I personally think that gun rights are best protected in the long run if we don't poke the bear too much. Keep a low profile, make sure that guns don't fall into the hands of irresponsible people, and you won't get the masses stirred up against guns. The way things are now, people in general hate arrogant gun owners (such as open carriers) more than they hate the guns themselves. At least that's what I'm seeing around the area where I live (northern Virginia). And yes, this area is going to vote Democrat by huge margins.

Well, now.

This worked very, very well for the minority communities in in the '60s, right? And the LGBT community, right? They all kept such a low profile and didn't push their agenda on any, didn't make a case for their civil rights at all, avoided publicity …

Oh wait … never mind.

And open-carriers are "arrogant gun owners?" So we don't stick up for our rights, for fear of "poking the bear too much." G*d forbid we should offend the mighty bastion of political correctness. Back to "making sure guns don't fall into the hands of irresponsible people," because it's easier to blame the law-abiding gun owners than hold criminals accountable for their actions, right?

Just what are you doing on this forum, anyway?

 

[Odd Job]

Yep.
I will add my 2 pennies:

1) I agree with Spats and others. If you have the right to own and carry, it makes sense to carry all the time (where possible). The criminal will choose the time and place of an engagement, not you. Best be prepared!
That is why I carried everywhere I could, when I lived in South Africa.

2) Allied to number (1) above, for me there would be little reason to leave a gun in the car. If I had to do it, it would be for a short time and the gun would be secured out of sight. As others have said, a car can be a soft target for thieves. An unsecured gun in an accessible vehicle can easily be stolen.
We should minimise the risk of guns falling into criminals' hands.

My advice is carry if you can, and do a risk assessment of how you will secure the gun if you can't carry it for whatever reason.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Well, there you have it. This means that everybody on the pro-gun side must march in lockstep, and subscribe 100% to the prevailing ideology. I've always liked this forum because (I thought) it tolerates diversity of opinion.

BTW, I'm not against the right to carry. I'm against the routine practice of carry. There are extreme circumstances in which the ability to carry would be useful.

I personally think that gun rights are best protected in the long run if we don't poke the bear too much. Keep a low profile, make sure that guns don't fall into the hands of irresponsible people, and you won't get the masses stirred up against guns. The way things are now, people in general hate arrogant gun owners (such as open carriers) more than they hate the guns themselves. At least that's what I'm seeing around the area where I live (northern Virginia). And yes, this area is going to vote Democrat by huge margins.

If you're "against the routine practice of carry", don't carry routinely. Your belief is suitable for determining your behavior, it is not a suitable criterion for dictating the behavior of other adults.

 

[P5 Guy]

This means that everybody on the pro-gun side must march in lockstep...

Well, that is the SOP of the gun grabbers.

 

[Spats McGee]

. . . .BTW, I'm not against the right to carry. I'm against the routine practice of carry. There are extreme circumstances in which the ability to carry would be useful. . . . .

Ah, but therein lies the rub, doesn't it? Knowing when those extreme circumstances will arise is a bit tricky (to say the least). If I knew when and where I might get into a gunfight, I'd go somewhere else. Since I cannot know when or where this might be, it only makes sense to carry everywhere legally permitted.

 

[GAF]

Before I had off street parking I never locked the doors of my vehicle and I never left anything of value in the vehicle. I was lucky enough to have a street light where I parked. I rigged a wireless doorbell transmitter into the dome light and had the receiver in my apartment. Someone opens my car door the doorbell chimes and wakes me up. I look out the window to see what is going on. If I see no one I look on the video from my two cameras . If I see someone going through cars I called the police. I sent 7 people to jail for burglarizing cars in my neighborhood.

My rule is to never leave a gun in my vehicle even if it is in the the garage and locked.

 

[John_R]

Well, now.

This worked very, very well for the minority communities in in the '60s, right? And the LGBT community, right? They all kept such a low profile and didn't push their agenda on any, didn't make a case for their civil rights at all, avoided publicity …

Oh wait … never mind.

And open-carriers are "arrogant gun owners?" So we don't stick up for our rights, for fear of "poking the bear too much." G*d forbid we should offend the mighty bastion of political correctness. Back to "making sure guns don't fall into the hands of irresponsible people," because it's easier to blame the law-abiding gun owners than hold criminals accountable for their actions, right?

Just what are you doing on this forum, anyway?

Poke the bear, LMAO. The "bear" needs to be poked, skewered, drawn, quartered, shredded, and the scraps fed to the cockroaches. Poke the friggin' bear. Kill it. I'm sure glad the Colonists chose to poke the bear (i.e. the world's superpower at the time). A certain poster is afraid of the bear.

 

[JWF III]

About a week ago, someone broke a window on my car in an effort to break in (the tinting film held the window together and the criminal gave up). The same night, the same person or persons got into my wife's vehicle that she had left unlocked. They rummaged through the junk in her car and tossed the contents of the glove box, but nothing was taken.

When the cop finally arrived to take down the report, he told me that it's now very common for thieves to break into cars looking primarily or only for guns. He relayed to me that he recently took a report from a victim whose car was broken into that contained both a new-in-box television and a not-new gun in the glovebox. The gun was taken, the TV was not.

Just out of curiosity, what part of Atlanta was this in. I do a lot of work in town, primarily the northern side. But in and out of most areas.

I have 2 friends that have had pistols stolen from their trucks while they were working. Each on separate occasions. Each on the east side of town.

Wyman

 

[Balrog]

Just out of curiosity, what part of Atlanta was this in. I do a lot of work in town, primarily the northern side. But in and out of most areas.

I have 2 friends that have had pistols stolen from their trucks while they were working. Each on separate occasions. Each on the east side of town.

Wyman

I am a life long GA resident. Atlanta has some good parts and some bad parts, but even the good parts have more crime than most other areas of the state. I try to stay out of ATL as much as possible, and pretty much all I do there is change planes at Hartsfield these days. Sherman burned Atlanta 150 years too soon.

 

[Odd Job]

I think we've covered all the angles of the original topic.