Why do people leave firearms in vehicles?

[Steve in PA]

And unlocked vehicles at that????

Overnight we had several reports of vehicles having been entered and items taken; wallets, CD, ipods, etc...........

Happens all the time. People leave their vehicle doors unlocked and these criminals just walk down the street or alley pulling on door handles. Well, this afternoon I took one of the reports...........

Guy parked his truck in the alley behind his house...........unlocked.....with a loaded Glock 33 inside. Guess what was not in there when he went to look?? So now there is a stolen pistol with two full mags floating around on the street in the hands of some wonderful people.

[mr snerd]

ther can be 4 reasons:
1. They are irresponsible
2. They don't think it will happen to them
3. They sold it, etc.
4. TAAFM.

Regardless it is deleterious to those who exercise their rights and take full contermeasures to ensure against such an action.

[Robert Kayland]

And unlocked vehicles at that????

Guy parked his truck in the alley behind his house...........unlocked.....with a loaded Glock 33 inside. Guess what was not in there when he went to look?? So now there is a stolen pistol with two full mags floating around on the street in the hands of some wonderful people.

I've heard stories about people concerned regarding future arms confiscations by the government, so rather than wait for the knock on the door by the gendarmes, they preemptively report a gun as lost or stolen... and then keep it salted away for use when the downfall of society comes.

/jes' sayin'... (ahem)... I don't condone such action myself... (cough)... nor would I suggest such a thing to others... (walks away whistling innocently)

[Steve in PA]

Well, this wasn't a secret way to keep the government from finding your firearms, it was a bone head move.

I would never, ever leave a firearm in a vehicle overnight.

[GunLawyer001]

Why do we have a system where petty thievery goes uninvestigated?

Yes, I defend people accused of crimes, so I'm either part of the problem, or a necessary safeguard to sort the guilty from the innocent. Whichever, doesn't affect my point.

Most thefts from vehicles are never investigated. No prints are looked for, nobody canvasses the neighborhood to look for witnesses, no stakeouts are established in high crime areas. So these thieves are free to wander the streets night after night, testing doors of cars and houses. I have video of some guy at 2 AM testing the handle of my car, I gave it to the police & never heard another word about it. Our cars have been stolen from twice in 8 years, and I've heard that the entire area is effectively under siege from junkies and "halfway house" residents who might as well be cockroaches, since they canvass the whole town every night looking for opportunities, and they scurry away when the lights come on.

So nobody tries to catch them. If the cops by blind luck stumble across one in the act, and he's prosecuted and convicted, you know for sure that he'll either be back on the streets on probation, or at the most do some months away. Then he's back.

We have a system that seems designed to guarantee that nobody is unduly punished for willful crimes, so that we will always have plenty of criminals roaming the streets. That fits in well with the agendas of nearly everybody involved, in law enforcement, in the court system, or on either side of the gun control debate. Not so good for the law-abiding victims, though.

What we need, honest to God, is a criminal justice system that identifies the bad people, and removes them from society. You don't plug leaks in your roof by patching each hole for a while, you patch them permanently. You don't get rid of weeds in your yard by trimming them back, you uproot them. And we for sure can't stop crime by giving unrepentant criminals "time outs" and then setting them free again.

I'm not talking about life sentences for tax evasion, for letting your grass grow too long, for speeding. But when someone targets another citizen and breaks into their house or car, or strikes someone without justification, or commits rape or robbery or any of the other violations of a specific individual's personal integrity, then that criminal should be toast. He should be gone until he can prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that he has reformed, and his victim should be on the panel that he has to convince. Prisons should all be located in the deserts of Arizona or the frozen wastes of Alaska, because I don't see any particular merit in maintaining him as a role model to his family.

At the same time, we can eliminate all the crap about gun bans, licenses for carry, mandatory reporting of cash transactions, and all the other laws that infringe our freedom in the forlorn hope of "maybe" inconveniencing criminals, too. Catch every criminal ONCE, remove the criminals from society, and let the law-abiding live like law-abiding citizens have earned the right to live. When the argument against me owning a new M-16 is that there are too many thugs walking around who would misuse them, my answer is to round up those thugs and leave me alone.

One of the few good things about places like Saudi Arabia is that thieves are terrified to steal, because they lose their hands. I could leave a gun on the seat of my car with the windows open, and it would be there when I came back. It's really time to make the criminals be afraid. We've got them outnumbered, we pay the salaries of everyone in government, it's time for the system to be set up to benefit us.

[Archer4Life]

Well stated GunLawyer001. I would have to agree with everything you said there.

[jerkin]

Me too, rep sent.

[FFEMT128]

Ditto what was stated by everyone else, very well stated.

[Iron Sights]

GunLawyer001, well said.

[-JD-]

100% agreed GunLawyer001. (Although I hate to pollute good wilderness.)

And how much time/money/energy/prison space gets consumed with victimless/morality "criminals" compared to those that spend their lives leaching off and preying on society.