Gun Thefts Sweeping America

[kcofohio]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-19/gun-theft-is-sweeping-america

Stealing from people almost guaranteed to be armed would seem like a dumb idea to most, but not everybody got the memo. Firearm theft from licensed retailers including gun stores is becoming increasingly common, according to data released by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives this week.

And from a gun control advocate.

Chipman, a former ATF special agent, added that “when states require gun dealers to take responsible steps to prevent their stores from being burglarized—by properly securing not only their stores, but the firearms themselves—they eliminate the risk of thieves taking off with weapons. We know how to solve this problem, but we need more states to acknowledge this issue and put best practices for reducing gun store theft into action.”

Another onus for the victim and, oh well, criminals will be criminals.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

You must understand, no one knows anything until the news media or activists discover it, then it is news and it is sweeping America today, because they just suddenly discovered it.

James D. Wright and Peter Rossi, "Armed and Considered Dangerous", (Aldine 1986, 2nd ed 2008, ISBN-13: 978-0202362427), the NIJ Felon Survey 1,874 felons convicted of armed crime, 18 prisons, 10 states. The felons surveyed "obtain guns in hard-to-regulate ways from hard-to-regulate sources. . . Swaps, purchases, and trades among private parties (friends and family members) represent the dominant pattern of acquisition within the illicit firearms market." Criminals simply are less likely to go to legal sources, such as gun shops, sporting goods stores or pawnbrokers. (Authors' summary at: http://www.rkba.org/research/wright/armed-criminal.summary.html )
Of gun using felons,
50% expected to unlawfully purchase a gun through unregulated channels within a week of release from custody: friends (mostly fellow criminals), from "the street" (used guns from strangers), from fences or the blackmarket or drug dealers (who often run guns along with drugs);
25% expected to be able to borrow a gun from a fellow criminal,
about 12% expected to steal a gun for personal use.
7% cited licensed gun dealers and 6% cited pawnshops (usually through a surrogate buyer, a family member or lover).
40% of the felons surveyed reported stealing firearms,
12% reported stealing guns for person use, a lot of those who stole guns did so for resale.
Sources for stolen guns included:
37% stole from stores,
15% from police,
16% from truck shipments,
8% from manufacturers.
Leaves about 21% from individuals (cars, homes, etc).

That was known in 1983-1986 when the first survey of firearms using offenders was conducted.

The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Firearms Use by Offenders surveys of state and federal prison inmates who possessed or used guns in their last offense, gave similar results in follow-up surveys in 1991, 1997, 2004.

"Firearm Use by Offenders",
U.S. Department of Justice,
Office of Justice Programs,
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Source of firearms possessed
by state prison inmates at time of offense.
Source of firearm          1991  1997  2004
Retail Purchase or trade   20.8% 14.0% 11.3%
- Retail store             14.7   8.2   7.3
- Pawnshop                  4.2   4.0   2.6
- Flea market               1.3   1.0   0.6
- Gun show                  0.6   0.8   0.8
Family or friend*          33.8% 40.1% 37.4%
- Purchased or traded      13.5  12.6  12.2
- Rented or borrowed       10.1  18.9  14.1
- Other                    10.2   8.5  11.1
Street/illegal source      40.8% 37.3% 40.0%
- Theft or burglary        10.5   9.1   7.5
- Drug dealer/off street   22.5  20.3  25.2
- Fence/black market        7.8   8.0   7.4
Other source                 4.6%  8.7% 11.2%

As Wright & Rossi pointed out, friend or family of a prison inmate who is a Firearms Using Offender are often criminals themselves or at least aid, abet or associate with a criminal.


Pointed out by Knoxville police when interviewed over a proposed gun law in Tennessee, was that they were not in favor of it, because maybe one out five criminals they would encounter would have a gun, and of gun possessing criminals, four out of five get their guns from illegal soutces, one in five would get a gun from a legal source.
Lay that out as a grid:

N N N N N
N N N N N
N N N N N
N N N N N
I I I I L

N No gun criminal
I Illegal sourced gun criminal
L Legal sourced gun criminal

None of this is really news nor is it something suddenly sweeping America, The NRA has used the 1980s Wright & Rossi study as the basis of its positions, policies and programs since they were released.

 

[kcofohio]

None of this is really news nor is it something suddenly sweeping America, The NRA has used the 1980s Wright & Rossi study as the basis of its positions, policies and programs since they were released.

I'm with you on that it isn't news to most of us. What caught my eye was the quote from the gun control advocate. They're not wanting to go harder at the criminal, but they want it more complicated for the store owner to double/triple the security the owners already have in place.

 

[AlexanderA]

Mandatory "security" legislation focused on gun stores doesn't bother me nearly as much as such legislation directed at individual gun owners. For example, mandating a gun safe for every gun, strong rooms, burglar alarms, periodic police inspections, liability insurance, posting liability bonds -- in other words, turning our homes into fortresses at great expense and inconvenience. There's precedent for such measures in other countries, and this approach is considered "low hanging fruit" by the antigunners. You don't ban things outright, but make it practically impossible to own them.

Another similar approach is to expand the categories of "prohibited persons." Ever seen a psychiatrist for any reason, or ever had a drinking problem? You would be prohibited from owning a gun, for life. And the same would apply if any member of your household (a spouse, child, significant other, etc.) had ever seen a psychiatrist, or ever had a drinking problem. The unthinking masses could easily go for such restrictions.

This is why articles such as that mentioned in the OP are being given such play. It's laying the groundwork for some rather devious legislative ploys. Watch for them on the state level.

 

[Rembrandt]

Chipman, a former ATF special agent, added that “when states require gun dealers to take responsible steps to prevent their stores from being burglarized—by properly securing not only their stores, but the firearms themselves—they eliminate the risk of thieves taking off with weapons. We know how to solve this problem, but we need more states to acknowledge this issue and put best practices for reducing gun store theft into action.”

When the legal system begins enforcing existing laws and punishing criminals as they should, the rest of society won't have to take extrordinary steps to protect their property.

 

[xXxplosive]

Just had one in a gun shop in Jersey this past week.....read about it on their facebook web site RTSP Randolph, NJ.

 

[vito]

Here in Rockford, IL we have had at least five recent gun store break ins. As reported in the local news media, one of these involved no loss of firearms while the others did suffer losses. In one store, the burglars hit them twice within two weeks, so the owner announced they were no longer going to stock any guns, but would only sell them by special order. But when the local or state government gets involved, claiming they are helping by mandating excessive security requirements for gun dealers, it seems the real goal is to make it so onerous to operate a gun shop that the shops disappear or don't ever open in the first place.

On a personal level, I think it is foolish to announce to the world that you own guns and have one or more in your vehicle or home. Wearing gun-related clothing or hats, putting gun related stickers on a vehicle, and similar actions seem likely to increase the chances that a criminal will choose your home or your car to rob as a source of firearms. Its pretty easy to determine when a vehicle is unoccupied, and not much harder for a home (ring the doorbell, knock on the door, if someone comes to the door claim you are looking for another address, if no one comes despite repeated attempts its pretty likely the house is empty). Many, many years ago I used to have pro gun, pro 2nd Amendment stickers on the bumpers of my car, and an NRA sticker in the window. I did not have a gun in the car but it was broken into and the mess and hassle were bad enough that I decided to never put stickers on again.

 

[AlexanderA]

On a personal level, I think it is foolish to announce to the world that you own guns and have one or more in your vehicle or home. Wearing gun-related clothing or hats, putting gun related stickers on a vehicle, and similar actions seem likely to increase the chances that a criminal will choose your home or your car to rob as a source of firearms.

These are sensible precautions. The problem arises when security precautions are mandated by government as a way to harass gun owners. How would you like it if the police were authorized to stop by your house once a year to check if your gun safe was adequate, and all your guns were properly secured? Or if you had to have a psychiatrist certify your sanity once a year? (Catch-22: a visit to a psychiatrist to get such a certification could be prima facie evidence that there was something mentally wrong with you.) It becomes Kafkaesque. There are European precedents for all these things.

 

[Jim NE]

About 10 years ago, a gun store clerk in our city was murdered by two gun thieves. They both were caught. Not too long afterwards, a guy I know had his small gun shop broken into for the third time or so. Someone had driven a car through the wall after hours. That was the same tactic used to steal many weapons from a large sporting goods store in town about 5 years before these incidents. All of the stores involved changed their storage strategies after the thefts and have had no problems since. So, in our town, large scale gun thefts seem to be going down rather than up.

End user thefts, however, are what I'd worry about. That's one of the reasons I don't get online and talk about specific guns I own too much. I think it's even a bad idea to tell friends about your gun collection, because you never know who they might tell.

 

[Kleanbore]

On a personal level, I think it is foolish to announce to the world that you own guns and have one or more in your vehicle or home. Wearing gun-related clothing or hats, putting gun related stickers on a vehicle, and similar actions seem likely to increase the chances that a criminal will choose your home or your car to rob as a source of firearms. Its pretty easy to determine when a vehicle is unoccupied, and not much harder for a home (ring the doorbell, knock on the door, if someone comes to the door claim you are looking for another address, if no one comes despite repeated attempts its pretty likely the house is empty).

Good thinking!