This is where the disconnect with reality is.
You can't assume a criminal would not have committed a crime without some provocation... although provocation does not hold the correct connotation for this discussion.
However, seeing an expensive rifle hanging in the gun rack of a truck is powerful incentive for a criminal to steal it. It is also something that the victim could have very easily avoided by hiding the gun under a coat in the back seat.
A gun owner who open carries probably does have considerable ability to deter crime.
However, a gun that is unattended does just the opposite.
Otherwise, we would hang a revolver on our front doors and forget about locking them!
Guns are easily stolen, and easily resold at great profit, which is why they are such a common target of theft... which would a thief rather steal? Your TV? Or a rack full of guns worth several hundred apiece? As such, they are easy targets for theft.
While I'm not claiming that the other poster was this sort of person, there is a trend with some gun owners- particularly young ones- to "flaunt" their weaponry, and it is often done in a way that attracts indiscriminate attention, which is never good.
