THEFT AT GUN SHOW THIS PAST WEEKEND

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johnny blaze

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I was at a gun show in northern Ohio this past weekend. There was a fairly large crowd. We were checking out the various stuff there and a announcement came over the speaker system "Attention, there has been a gun stolen, the good news is, thanks to a witness, the person has been taken into custody." A big cheer went up that filled the whole building.
Later on I was talking with some of the dealers and was told that the gun that was stolen was a 38, and the same person stole a box of ammo also. Someone had noticed the theft, got the police, and the kid was arrested. The kid turned out to be only 17 years old.
This is the second gun show that I have been at that a gun was stolen. I was at an auction and a gun was stolen there also. Neither of those were solved.
Made me think of the way things are anymore. In this case, he may get a slap on the wrist, unless he has a record, but still, probably won't get much time as he is a minor.
 
What do you expect? Kid grew up hearing from the Clintons and Brady bunch how easy it was to procure a gun at a gun show.
 
Seventeen might not be a minor anymore in your state. In Michigan, a minor is sixteen and under. Seventeen or over and you go directly to jail with the rest of them.
 
The same thing happened at the recent Tulsa gun show. I was just passing a table where a gun owner discovered his Glock had been stolen.

He left it with a dealer who was supposed to install some aftermarket sights on it. The customer walked off. The dealer turned his back briefly to attend to another customer, leaving the gun on the table.

The customer returned and the gun was gone. The last thing I heard was the dealer intimated he would have to pay for the gun, since technically it was in his possession.

Thing was, I don't think the gun was out of anybody's sight for very long.
 
I dunno about the gun shows you guys visit, but the ones I've been to, here in southern Indiana, I don't see how I don't hear about guns being stolen. Seems like everytime I want to talk to a dealer about one of his guns, he's nowhere to be found. If I was a dealer, the last thing I'd do was leave my merchandise unattended. Granted all the people that are around, somebody is sure to see something, but I'm not one to rely on people coming forward or even paying that much attention.
 
Been aware twice of gun thefts at shows. Once a gun simply vanished and the dealer didn't see anything. He was quite upset and visibly shaken as he ran up and down the aisles looking at everyone but he didn't see who might have taken it so I don't know what he hoped to spot.

The other time the thief was pretty slick. Dealer noticed a gun missing and notified security. They detained a man at the door trying to leave who the dealer fingered as the suspect. He submitted to a search and they found nothing but his wallet and car keys. The dealer remembered him at the table about the time the gun vanished but he didn't actually see him take it. So he was allowed to leave.

They let the crook walk. Within a few minutes the dealer who had lost the gun saw it setting on another table. The thief had snagged it, walked two rows over and sold it for cash to another dealer. All the man had was cash in his wallet when he left.

Nobody, including the security guards who frisked him, had checked his ID for his name. All they did was search for the stolen gun.

Of course, the same effect could have been engineered with an accomplice to whom the gun could have been passed when nobody was looking. They wouldn't recognize the partner in crime and he could simply stroll out the door with the gun concealed on his person.
 
johnny blaze, where specifically was the gun show, if you don't mind saying. I went to a few shows up there near Cleveland, and I'd be interested to know.

jmm
 
So far I have never seen or heard of a theft of a firearm at the shows I've been to in NC. I don't recall ever seeing any handguns loose as most of them are either behind a glass case or have a cable connecting them to the rest of the handguns on the table. It's tough enough to even get within eyesight of the merchandise, so with all the people around I would imagine theft of loose handguns would be rather easy. Probably seems like a good idea to those who come to the show expecting to obtain a firearm but find they can not legally get one (either age or criminal history). Price does not seem like it would be too much of a factor since Hi-Points are readily available for under two bills.
 
The last problem I encountered at a gunshow was an ND. An intentional ND...


I was on the pay phone talking with my father about a rifle when all of a sudden there was a nice loud bang and echo. Joe Blow had picked up a rifle and aimed it at the ceiling to check the trigger. Unfortunately, he didn't check the chamber. :banghead: Put a nice new drainage hole in the ceiling before being escorted away by a sherriff.

After going back to the table I was helping with, the old feller I was keeping company had a few choice comments. Appearently, some worthless bastards will take loose rounds in the door with them and try to sneak them into guns when they can. I guess they're hoping somebody will get hurt and the gunshows will be closed. :fire:

This was about two years ago...
 
since he is considered a minor........and there will probably be very little confinement.......I think a good pistol whipping with the stolen pistol is in order. What is the Fathers phone number....I'll call him. Jeesh
 
TeachMe said:
So far I have never seen or heard of a theft of a firearm at the shows I've been to in NC.
Click to expand...
I don't recall which show it was, but there was a handgun stolen at one of the gun shows at the Metrolina Fairgrounds in Charlotte last year.
 
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I was at a gun show in northern Ohio this past weekend.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking it was the Medina show? Was it on Saturday? I went Sunday and no events happened while I was there. (Should have picked up that XD45ACP Tactical from Best FIrearms.)
 
17 is likely tried as an adult. I'm doubtful of a slap on the wrist. (Although my tin hat slipped off to one side and I wondered if the ATF wasn't using him in one of their "sting" operations...)

In Austin, all the guns (I think?) have zip ties through the action and any gun coming in also gets the zip tie to prevent anti-gun terrorists from slipping in live rounds.
 
english kanigit said:
After going back to the table I was helping with, the old feller I was keeping company had a few choice comments. Appearently, some worthless bastards will take loose rounds in the door with them and try to sneak them into guns when they can. I guess they're hoping somebody will get hurt and the gunshows will be closed.
Click to expand...
Wow! That's quite insidious. But I almost believe it. It wouldn't be too hard to see them rationalize it. They'd just say to themselves, "The gun was going to kill someone anyway. At least now it's for a good cause."

At least the guy was watching where he pointed it.
 
That's pretty lame. I haven't been a part of any gun shows here in South Florida where any sort of announcement was made. A good number of the vendors keep their wares in glass display cases that are openable from the dealer side only. I would think a lot of this could be avoided by having just one additional person behind the counter keeping an eye on things and not conducting sales.
 
At one of the Tulsa shows last year (maybe the year before?) and announcement was made over the PA system that someone had stolen a Bushmaster .308.

That had to be some BIG pockets.:uhoh:
 
I was at a show a few years back where a gun was stolen. The promoter came on the PA and advised the thief to turn himself in to the nearest LEO, for self protection. He said he would not be responsible for what the dealers and other interested parties would do when they found the culprit. Don’t know how the matter was resolved.
 
It was at the Medina gun show. After reading some of the replies, I got to thinking how many times I have had to wait for the person to become availble so that I could look at a gun. Not very good security. Others have their guns on cables, so that it would be harder to take something. I guess that some of them are still living in the world we used to have years ago, where you could trust almost anyone.

There has been several comments on people sneaking rounds into a gun show. When I qualified for my CCW, I went to a nice shooting range. They would not allow you to bring your own gun in, you had to use theirs.
The instructors were telling us about an event that had happened just a few months before. Two women from one of the anti gun groups had taken some live rounds into the class. They tried to load them into their practice guns instead of the dummy rounds. One of the instructors noticed the live rounds and immediately disarmed the two women. They admitted that they wanted someone to get injured for the publicity that it would create for the anti gun movement.
UNBELIVABLE!!!
 
So far I have never seen or heard of a theft of a firearm at the shows I've been to in NC.
Click to expand...

I seem to recall a story about a MP5 or some other ClassIII that grew legs at an NC show....might just be rumor though.
 
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