Ridgely Whitmore Brown
Courtesy Stamford Police Department
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Seventy-two-year-old Ridgely Whitmore Brown owned a number of firearms. But after inviting a woman he met at a Stamford, Connecticut strip club back to his home last year, six of the guns went missing. And the attorney didn’t report the theft as he’s required to do under Connecticut law.

Brown, it seems, was the trusting type.

While he has a gun safe, he told police that while cleaning and working on the guns, he would leave his pistols on the kitchen table when the woman was visiting. When he left to run errands, he noticed the guns were missing upon his return.

Oh. Also . . .

Brown also said he was concerned about telling police about the guns because he believed that the man who was caught with his gun in Bridgeport, the woman he met at [the strip club] and her sister’s boyfriend are gang members and believes they were involved in the drive-by shooting death of 12-year-old Clinton Howell last December in Bridgeport and other deaths, the affidavit said.

He might have also been reluctant to make public the fact that he was “dating” someone he met in a strip club.

Something finally induced Brown to report the stolen guns on July 9. But two days later, one of his missing firearms was used by a perp to shoot at an officer during an arrest.

Capt. Richard Conklin said police at the scene of the attempted shooting of narcotics officer Bryan Cooper at Seaton Road on Tuesday figured out that the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard, five-shot revolver used by the suspect had been reported stolen by Brown a day or two before the shots were fired. Police said Cooper was nearly shot by Lawrence Moore, 30, who was about to be busted for possession of fentanyl, crack cocaine and marijuana. He is being held on a $1,050,000 court-appearance bond.

Now, as a result of the delay in reporting the theft (he had 72 hours to do so after discovering they were stolen), Brown is facing charges of failure to report as well as reckless endangerment.

As for his carry permit and other firearms . . .

As well as his state permit to carry a gun being revoked with Brown’s arrest, police seized another 19 pistols and long guns in his possession, Conklin said.

 

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191 COMMENTS

    • Depends on what kind of attorney. Is he an administrative law expert at Nirobian government environmental conservation efforts? Or, is he a criminal defense attorney who defends gangbanging murderers in court? There is a difference.

    • Leslie not sure where you are getting your information but Arizona has no law requiring a citizen to report a lost or stolen weapon.

      • Setting the mandatory reporting law aside. Can you honestly say that you would not report a robbery? Gun, car, jewelry, high end electronics, anything really? Or will you just chalk it up to fate and go replace the items that were stolen? If you would just go replace the items I hope you don’t pay for that part of insurance policies because for you it would be a waste of money.

        • I am not setting the mandator reporting aside. Leslie made a false statement about Arizona law. That was what I was responding to
          Should you report a stolen weapon? Yes should you not make false claims about the law? Also yes.

      • Connecticut does, and evidently, that’s where all this took place.
        How did AZ enter the conversation? This is Leslie’s post, from what I see: “As an Attorney he should have known better, trusting or not…” And that’s it. No mention of AZ.
        Did Leslie edit his comment?

        • I was replying to Leslie’s response to Gerad’s remark further down in the comments. Specifically the remark specifically his remarks home time stamped 18:15

        • For those of us who read the comments in the order shown, I, for one, would appreciate any responses to a particular comment be posted as a reply to that comment.
          Thanks.

  1. Strippers are not the girls you bring home. Every stripper I ever met had issues. Many issues.

    A 70 something attorney should have known better.

  2. Not to disparage a profession, but he brought a stripper home and he’s suprised his firearms were stolen. Really. Let me put on my suprised face. Hey asshole, that’s what hotel rooms are for.

    • Not sure I would keep my firearms in a hotel room while I brought a stripper home. Buy, hey, whatever works.

      • Scott, you have it ass backwards. Firearms at home. Stripper in hotel room. Never let them know where you live. Never wear your Rolex, etc. A grown man has to be told this?

        • You’re very adamant about stripper etiquette for someone who can’t pick up on sarcasm.

      • Casey, spent too much time in the real world to believe in sarcasm. I take what people say at face value unless they qualify it. He didn’t.

    • I used to live in CT. The states lost and stolen firearms law is just another way in which the law abiding in CT are harassed by the State. CT was on of the first states to have a red flag law. My advice to anyone moving to CT is don’t register your firearms.

        • Eleven states including Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Washington DC have similar laws about Lost and Stolen Firearms…

        • The only reason they want you to report stolen firearms is so they have someone else to charge with a crime or to blame or both! they could care less about recovering the weapon.

          So I curious, do they have the same law for stolen cars, knives, baseball bats?

      • “The states lost and stolen firearms law is just another way in which the law abiding in CT are harassed by the State.”

        If he gets convicted, I sure hope he appeals all the way to SCOTUS. They seized (stole from him) the rest of his guns. That’s a textbook infringement of his ‘right to keep and bear arms’ by the state of Connecticut.

        TTAG, please follow this one. It might make a neat example of a law that needs to be struck down “With extreme prejudice”…

    • Not only did he take her home, it sounds very much like he left her alone in his home while he went to run errands. I simply cannot comprehend that level of naivety in a 72 year-old.

    • The stories I read about this say he met her at a strip club, not that she worked there or that she was a stripper.
      Maybe she is a stripper, but I haven’t seen anything to say that (besides comments).

  3. If I’m this stupid upon reaching the age of 72, someone should feel compelled to put me out of my misery.

  4. Education and a degree you hang on the wall can never be used to prove intelligence or common sense. This is what happens when the little head does the thinking for the big one. Darwin Runner Up…

      • @Larry G Unintentional, but I guess you are correct. I can’t believe morons running thru the halls on the Capital, on both sides. Absolute disgrace, and what does that say about the average voter? Scary chit man.

  5. ‘He might have also been reluctant to make public the fact that he was “dating” someone he met in a strip club.’

    I think possibly the most retarded thing I’ve ever heard come out of a man’s mouth (and more than once) is, ‘my girlfriend used to be a stripper’ (said with pride). Yes USED to be a stripper. The fact is that in certain places you don’t have to be even remotely attractive to currently be a stripper. Saying your girlfriend used to be a stripper is kind of like saying your girlfriend is a washed up skank.

    • Bullsht on you. . How’s bout I make fun of your virgin bride skank. ,. ,,,, What’s the difference between one female playing one male for what she wants or one female playing many males for what she wants

    • Every stripper I ever met was WORKING her way through college no matter what her obvious age… Or how far away the closest institution of higher learning might be. Just don’t ask about her courses or major and you’ll be fine.

      • The ones I meet were “doctors in Cuba” and are working their way through medical school. Guess they’re a little more expensive here.

        • Must be a new trend .. As an owner/operator I hauled freight in the 48 contiguous and Canada, been in strip clubs in every state and north of the border (been to Hawaii and Alaska but no time for strippers) and I never had the pleasure (?) of being entertained by a Cuban Dr. working her way through med school…

    • This is why I have no problems with prostitution in a legal sense.

      You’re always, ALWAYS gonna pay for it. One way or another ass costs cash money.

      At least the hookers are honest about that.

      • Q; Do you know the difference between sex you pay for and sex that’s free?

        A; The sex you pay for is WAAAYYYY cheaper.

        • Sex that’s free could eventually cost you half of everything you own. If not then you pay for it in some way the rest of your life.

      • For the record, not all ex-strippers are washed up skanks, but the odds aren’t great.

    • I’m not clear on this from reading the article, but it sounds like he traded these guns to felons on the pretense they stole them, and when, eventually he attempted to indemnify himself from the unlawful act he had waited much to long and his story stinks to high heaven. He’s likely pretty lucky not to be facing far more serious charges.

  6. ‘Something finally induced Brown to report the stolen guns on July 9. But two days later, one of his missing firearms…’

    So his real mistake was admitting to breaking the asinine law when he reported them stolen on July 9. He could have easily stated they went missing on July 8 or July 7, but instead he confessed to committing a crime. I can only hope he wasn’t a criminal defense attorney because he would really suck at that.

    • “the attorney didn’t report the theft as he’s required to do under Connecticut law.”

      Harassment law to begin with,like if he had reported it with in the time required,the police would have went directly out and beat the bushes and overturned rocks to recover his stolen arms,uh hugh.

      • Why, I would expect nothing less than all those stolen guns recovered and returned to the owner in three days at the latest, if he just reported his loss promptly. Police would not leave one rock unturned until they recover stolen property, right? Now it will be much harder for them to go on a cold track.

        Or they can just write a report, charge the old fool and take his license and rest if his guns. Easier.

  7. I thought lawyers were supposed to be more intelligent folks. How’d this guy manage to get through law school?

    Regardless, this is the one time I can back the government seizing someone’s guns. Someone this dumb is too much a liability

    • Lawyers do not have to be intelligent. They just have to be good at memorizing the procedures and laws of the country they work. When they have done that enough to pass a test they get licensed.

      If you think having a lawyer in your corner means you have a smart person helping you out you are in very big trouble.

  8. Throw the book at him…in fact…every book…
    he was NOT ignorant of the law…he knew very well what he was supposed to do…
    20 years without possibility of release sounds about right

    • What about a scenario where a family member takes your gun without permission or telling you? Do you report them to the police for stealing your guns? Do you know what the police will do to people who steal guns when they find them? Do you save yourself or your family member?

      How does reporting stolen guns find those stolen guns?

      Should you be required to report your car stolen? Cars are considered lethal weapons and terrorists do use them to murder. Do you know what cops do when they see your stolen car? Do you know what people do when cops find them in your stolen car?

      • That’s a good point. In many jurisdictions, it’s a civil matter if you loan, rent, or lease something to someone and they refuse to return it. It’s a contract dispute. You would have to sue the person to get your property, or monetary equivalent, but they wouldn’t go to jail. It would be up to the police and prosecutors to decide if they want to be bothered with criminal proceedings. Keep that in mind if you’re using a peer-to-peer lending app, like Turo for cars.

      • I would report my own child stealing from me, especially a gun or vehicle! Both are deadly and I don’t want a death I had nothing to do with on my conscience because I didn’t report the theft. Plus I’m not that irresponsible. Maybe reporting the theft stops nothing but it definitely removes my responsibility after reporting it. The legal system is about percentage of blame. I want my percentage to always be zero if at all possible. Proper storage of my firearms, locking my car and securing the keys, teaching my child right from wrong, reporting a theft as soon as I know about it, not associating with know people to be of shady background or low character, and being responsible with integrity are all things that I can do to make my percentage of blame zero. Anything above and beyond my control like scum with entitled sticky fingers stealing from me then becomes the responsibility of law enforcement once I make them aware. Maybe they recover my property and maybe they don’t. My next call after law enforcement is the insurance company to file a theft and replacement claim though. Hopefully the criminal is caught and will also face my insurance company for restitution of their loss as well as criminal charges. I have absolutely no feelings whatsoever for criminals even if the criminal is one of my own family members.

        • I saw a bodycam of a cop killing a teenage girl. The father reported the car stolen by his daughter and the missing child suffering from depression. The teenage girl was on all kinds of anti depressant drugs and ran away using the parents rental car. The father didn’t want to charge his daughter as a carjacker, but police generally don’t feel the same way. When a cop “found” her she ended up hitting his car and standing on the freeway as she pointed an airsoft gun at the cop to get him to kill her.

          Police treat these situations as if the child is a dangerous criminal. If they believe the kid has a weapon they will act as if the child is a hardened gangster murderer fresh out of prison.

          You will find out just like this father did when he thought it was a great idea to call the cops on his daughter for taking the car without permission. He thought they would just find her and return the car. No insurance reports, no criminal charges. He thought his daughter was a nice little girl that was fine when on her meds.

        • I’m not that naive. I also do my very best to instill right from wrong and integrity in my child. If it did come down to those dire circumstances I would feel personally responsible that I somehow failed my child in their up bringing and have the lingering question of where did I go wrong. That is something I would have to live with. Actions do indeed have consequences and there is no justice or learning in not living those consequences. In the case of criminals sometimes not living is the consequence and there is justice and learning in it all the same.

        • There was a local case a few years ago where a guy who ran a lawn service had his troubled yoot working for him and when the dad refused to buy the kid (19 I think) cigarettes he took off with his truck and trailer. So the dad called the cops on the kid and he led them on a semi-high speed chase around town, backed up and rammed one squad car with the trailer, went off road and started tearing up the lawns at the local university. Rammed another squad car and when he started backing up the cop took him out. The whole dash cam video was on line. There was a lot of criticism of the PD and after watching it I wasn’t sure the shooting was completely necessary, but I thought there’d be no way if I were on that jury I’d convict the cop of anything.

          Anyway, be careful what you wish for if you get the cops involved in teaching your kid a lesson.

      • User 1 says: “How does reporting stolen guns find those stolen guns?”
        Furthermore, How does reporting stolen guns save lives?
        I guess reporting stolen guns somehow renders them useless in the hands of the thief and since this gun was not reported it worked just fine…………

      • “Do you know what cops do when they see your stolen car?”

        50/50 they P.I.T. it into a tree, ditch or telephone poll just for funzies.

      • “How does reporting stolen guns find those stolen guns?”

        It doesn’t, but they are doing it for a different, and very valid reason.

        They *must* have an accurate record of what guns you own to make it simple for their eventual confiscation. When they knock on your door to seize your guns, an un-reported theft messes up their registry of all the guns in circulation. So, they criminalize anything that interferes with maintaining thar registry.

        Every last one of these laws is designed to make ownership of guns so onerous, that you will eventually not bother to own them in the first place…

        • It makes the total transition to Socialism much easier if the population is unarmed. A more immediate threat is the way parents send their kids to college where they are indoctrinated to believe the US will be the one and only place where socialism will work. When the population sees the futility that exists in socialism it will be impossible to fight back after gun seizures as the Venezuelans are learning only too well.

    • No mercy at all for the law being unconstitutional on its face? Why the rush to convict this guy and sentence him to what would effectively be life in prison? What, exactly, did he do to deserve this?

      • He chose… poorly.
        Just because we think the punishment outweighs the crime doesn’t mean choices don’t (or shouldn’t) have consequences.
        As an attorney at family court, this guy knew full well that choices often have consequences far out of relation to the actual choice.
        Just because someone is a relation to you doesn’t mean their choices (or yours) won’t bring on disaster.

        Just because a law is unconstitutional doesn’t mean you can’t be arrested, charged, tried, convicted and punished to the full extent of the (unconstitutional) law.
        It means you shouldn’t be, but it doesn’t mean you won’t be.
        And that’s something that really should be considered.

  9. ‘(b) Any person who fails to make a report required by subsection (a) of this section within the prescribed time period shall commit an infraction and be fined not more than ninety dollars for a first offense and be guilty of a class D felony for any subsequent offense, except that, if such person intentionally fails to make such report within the prescribed time period, such person shall be guilty of a class C felony. Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section for the first offense shall not lose such person’s right to hold or obtain any firearm permit under the general statutes.’

    Now that’s about as confused and self contradicting piece of prose I’ve read in a long time. Apparently ignorance of the law drops it from a class C felony to an ‘infraction to be fined not more than ninety dollars’. And then it says that people who commit a class D or class C felony won’t lose their ‘right to hold or obtain any firearm permit under the general statutes.’

    Now that I’ve read that I could see even an attorney not understanding the law.

    • Rhw whole thing of not reporting a crime being a FELONY is a mystery to me. At one tine, FELONIES were crimes of violence and destructive to society. How failure to report a robbery equates to bank robbery or a murder………

      • “At one time, FELONIES were crimes of violence and destructive to society.”

        Using a stolen gun in the commission of a crime isn’t a violent crime? By proxy wouldn’t that theft of the same gun used in the commission of a crime also be a violent crime? Also by not reporting the theft the lawful owner of the gun then becomes culpable in the blame of the crimes committed afterwards.

        • By that logic the original violent act would rest with the guns designer, then producer, then seller, the buyer, and it’s an absolutely ridiculous thing to claim. Failure to report a theft is a long, long way from a violent crime, and attempting to tie one to the other is just asinine. Are you always this fanatically anti freedom, or only when it comes to guns?

        • By that logic a gun manufacturer and seller also would fail to report a similar theft. Any manufacturer or seller that values their business isn’t going to commit financial suicide by not reporting the theft. Yep I see your point is absolutely asinine. The issue is exactly that failure to report the theft if indeed it was a theft. As I’ve stated elsewhere I either want my property back or replaced. Not reporting it will get me neither. Law enforcement can’t do anything unless they are aware and the insurance company is going to want a police report for the claim. In this case it would also end in me being charged as well, losing my other guns (not an option), and possibly not being allowed to own guns (not an option). Fortunately I don’t live in a state that it is mandatory but I don’t know of any gun owners where I live that have to be told to report a theft. Especially guns or vehicles. A little common sense goes a long way.

        • Don’t worry, No One, gun grabbers have bills for honest guys just like you, who always report theft of a gun. If you are unlucky enough to have a gun stolen from you three times, you won a felony too!

        • Fortunately not where I live. The state I live in gets an F grade from ol antifreedom Gabby Giffords. On the other hand it won’t be a walk in the park stealing my guns either.

      • They’ve been contorting the word ‘felony’ for some time now, but other words are catching up, for instance ‘gender’.

  10. Him reporting the guns stolen would have stopped all the crimes committed by the gangsters who eventually got the guns? That’s wishful thinking.

    Remember how a woman [Kate Steinle] in California was killed by an illegal immigrant that stole a LEO’s gun from a vehicle? Where was the justice there? Maybe if she was a cop things would have turned out differently. She would still be dead though, apparently the ranger reporting his gun stolen didn’t save her life.

      • Yes, I have heard about “lojack” for guns. Bush and co. had the great idea of using it to track guns they allowed criminals to buy and to use for cartel related missions. Even Obama thought it was good enough to continue using when he inherited the Fast and the Furious program. Then one of those “lojack” guns killed a LEO, which made the government not so happy anymore.

        Yet the government still wants those NFC, GPS, micro stamping trackable “smart” guns for the public. Of course they don’t want the technology advancements of those “smart” guns for themselves.

        • Ooops…. one big false statement in that paragraph…Obama crew removed the electronic survellience part.

          So Bush crew was ignorant and misguided in an honest attempt to track guns.

          The Obama crew purposely fed untrackable guns to Mexico to create an incident to promote gun control.

        • doesky2 is right.
          Not only did Obama’s administration “forget” about the electronic surveillance part, they also forgot the part about coordinating their plans with Mexico, which Bush did do.
          IOW, Obama couldn’t even tell if the guns sold under his plan ever made it into Mexico, and, if they did, that the Mexican LEOs know about it (hint: they didn’t, until after they showed up somewhere).

  11. You commenters here crack me up. So far not a single person has even referenced the rape victim blaming unconstitutional law at issue here. Just goes most people are tyrants, they simply have there own preferred brand of it.

    • How about this then? He maintains some aspect of liability (not under this law specifically) for letting someone get ahold of property they shouldn’t have been able to when they obviously had morals questionable enough to steal the guns in the first place. If someone is willing to steal what other immoral acts are they willing to do?

      • Good question, maybe you should consult your crystal ball. Maybe this will lead to the end of the time space continuum.

        The fact of the matter is that he didn’t shoot at the cop or do anything else to harm another person. This absurd notion that the theft must be reported assumes that the government has some property right in you personal possessions. What a bunch of BS.

      • I continue to think it is sad that as soon as some unsympathetic individual shows up, everyone’s principles go flying out the window. So what if some pathetic lonely old man hooked up with a stripper? So now he is to blame for every crime the stripper or anyone she knows commits? This is why we have the infringements we have, because of the thinking illustrated in the comments of most of the commenters here.

        • I agree. I, too, notice people who claim to be for liberties and freedom, but then try their damndest to prevent their neighbor from painting his house a color they don’t like, or building a building they don’t want them to, or whatever. CLAIMING to be for freedom, but then when it’s time for the money to talk and for their bullshit to walk, they prove that the only people they actually want to be free…. is themselves and their buddies.
          “everyone would like to become a dictator if he only could do so, and rare indeed are the men who would not be disposed to sacrifice the welfare of others in order to attain their own personal aims.” -Protocol #1, paragraph #1
          1-1… THE most basic concept of control. It’s how to gain power 101.

        • It’s the same kind of person who believes traffic would be so much better if everyone got out of his way

      • In what way does one “allow” ones property to be stolen? By definition theft precludes permission, or else it would be called a gift, not a theft.

        Also, do you honestly want to hold people criminally accountable for failures in their judgement of others character? First, what would the point of this be? Second, without hindsight, what standard would you apply? What ought to be the penalty for poor judgement of another’s character?

        I don’t know why you’d think the victim of a theft is somehow complicit in the act, or, worse, in future criminal acts by the person who victimized them, but I’d really love to understand the rational behind such a though. If also like to ask if victims of rape are often, in your opinion, complicit in their victimization, and, given that rapists oft3n repeat their crimes, what sort of punishment one ought to receive for failure to report being raped.

      • You can’t meet someone at a strip club without being at a strip club.
        Equally questionable morals on both parts?

        • Someone: You will note I didn’t say that.
          I was replying to Andrew, who said: “He maintains some aspect of liability (not under this law specifically) for letting someone get ahold of property they shouldn’t have been able to when they obviously had morals questionable enough to steal the guns in the first place.”
          I pointed out that if you’re going to judge the morals of someone for being at a strip club, then all concerned parties who were at the strip club should be so judged.
          I pointed out in an earlier comment that the consequences of being there (and of what happened later as a result of the actions of the people who met there) can often be out of proportion to the actual act.
          Actions have consequences, and often they are much more harsh than we think they should be. That’s life.

    • It’s true; if rape reporting & testing was mandatory under penalty of law, there’d be a lot more convictions of rapists 😉

  12. I certainly do not approve of the victim of a crime being charged for what amounts to being the victim.

    But this one is so STUPID in so many ways I can muster no sympathy for him.

    The guns on the other, I do feel sorry for. The guns didn’t do anything, they should all go to a good home. But no, either the cops will find ways to keep them themselves or destroy them.

    Which should be a crime too you know!

    • You’re right. They should go to a good home. Are the guns actually destroyed? Unless it’s a type of “Mom’s Demand Something” ceremony, I doubt it. (Did Dicks really destroy all those AR’s?)

  13. Oh that’s all fcked up. How do the cops know when the gunm was stolen? It was reported stolen two days before the shooting , that’s when it was stolen. And a good lawyer should know how to loophole. I’d bet he’s one of them court appointed manaquins, nod and smile, shuffle papers while the system rapes yet another individual not wealthy enough to hire a “Real” lawyer.

  14. Sounds like they haven’t found her gun yet. At least it’s now in a database of stolen guns.

    Maybe we should make the law stricter so she can be held criminally liable for any crimes committed with “her” service weapon (that someone took without her permission) although she reported it. Then she won’t ever leave it laying around in public.

    • Why does she still have a job?? Other people (everyone else) would be in big trouble. Where’s the charges? Silly me, they’re held to a lower standard than regular people. (Like the judge that accidentally dropped his pistol in the Chicago courthouse) Oops, nothing to see here folks…….move along.

      • You don’t need those things, guns, the police are there to protect you, which is and always was a load of garbage. That said, the question is as follows. Is this woman still employed in law enforcement? If she is, how come? I wonder what she would have had to say about an armed civilian who was equally careless. What do you think??

        • She’s the police chief. She is appointed. The top cop can do what they want. It’s also California and she is (I guess) non binary, which gives her more armor to defend against removal from the force.

    • Hmm, did the next person in the restroom ‘steal’ her gun, or take advantage of the free gun they found? Should this person have left it there for a child to find? Should they have called the police, locking down the restroom and disrupting the business for who knows how long while her co workers try to sort it out, all while the finder is stuck there making reports and screwing up their day? Why is it incumbent on someone else to correct her bombastic mistake? In a nation with half a billion guns in circulation and many more added every hour, aside from cost to her, who left her gun in a public restroom, is there really any concern about where this particular gun ended up?

      Just playing devils advocate here, and if I found a gun in a bathroom I’d ask around to see if the owner wanted to claim it, but really, who carries a gun in such a manner as to have to remove it to use the toilet? That’s just stupid from the start. Also, who removes or lowers their clothing without, upon redressing, fails to ensure they still have their gun?

      Frankly, she planned to fail, and followed up by not following up.

      • Cops have a habit of leaving guns in restrooms. You would think they would have a routine down after all the years of carrying a gun. If they can forget their gun, do they forget to wipe too?

        This is why I would advise teachers to carry with a lanyard so they won’t forget. I figured teachers would be more likely to forget their gun in the restroom since their job/routine isn’t to carry a gun.

        Finding something that someone left in public isn’t stealing. However, not giving it back when the owner is looking for it or not leaving your contact information for the owner is stealing. If the owner never contacts you, then you can keep the property without being considered a thief, you go from possessor to owner.

  15. I wonder if the Stripper even knew about his Gun Collection before leaving the Bar, or after when the Old Fart showed it to her after reacting his home. And when did he notice them missing? After he Woke Up, or when he did it again with the second stripper he invited home…

  16. No pity whatsoever! First of all he’s an attorney for crying out loud. Second this speaks clearly about associating with people of questionable character. Third gun owners including me want undeniable rights to firearms but some of us can’t be responsible gun owners. Yes when you are robbed you would most likely report it if for no other reason than insurance purposes (I know I damn sure would). If my guns were stolen I would feel obligated to report it. Not just to get them replaced but hopefully recovered or better to know that if they are used in the commission of a crime than at least I let be known that it is possible. It may be just my opinion but he should be charged as an accessory to the crime if for no other reason the being stupid. Unfortunately stupidity isn’t a crime.

    • Would you feel the same if the guest (who may or may not be a stripper – the article doesn’t say) stole knives or baseball bats?

      • Yep because I don’t like thieves. If a person chooses to be a criminal and it is a choice than the get what they get.

  17. Bringing home some skank from a strip club and showing off your firearms is a piss poor way to get your dick wet.

    I had a firearm stolen last year from one of my rental properties while I had ran to the hardware store. I left my Ruger SR22 there as I was leaving for just a moment but as luck would have it, while I was gone some puke pushed an window AC unit in an stole it. I reported it the following day after I determined it was really gone and not my brain death as the reason I couldn’t find it. Unsurprisingly, it was recovered a week later during a drug raid at a drug dealers place. My Ruger is still in the property room and the dealer is scheduled for trial later this year.

  18. First of all, he should be charged with the infraction, not the felony, because his failure to report has noting to do with attempting to cover up an illegal gun transaction. I seem to recall that a felonies require proof of intent. Second,there is no apparent reason for seizing all of his other guns. They were lawfully owned and committed no crimes, were not stolen, and wre not used in any rime. What basis is there for the theft by the police?

  19. Well, this is exactly the kind of willful bonehead that is the impetus for these laws. Leaving guns around where some stripper can steal and then not telling anyone so she can sell them before getting caught and someone gets shot. Had he reported the theft honestly there is a good chance the police could have executed a warrant and found the firearms before they were used.

    I know a lot of people hate these laws but at least the enforcement here is against exactly the kind of person that the law was meant to address.

    • Maybe he didn’t report the theft because he paid a stripper to go home with him. Christians consider that a shameful sin, American society considers that unacceptable behavior and the government considers that a crime.

      Do you expect illegal immigrants to report crimes?

      A law against paying for sexual acts leads to laws being created on top of other laws. Republicans do the same thing Democrats do; it’s the same silliness just done differently.

  20. This is stupidity at its best. A lawyer, of all people, should know better, anyone with a gun liscence should know better. And lastly, anyone, with that much stupid going on doesn’t
    and shouldn’t own firearms or have a permit to do so… I don’t care who you are, where you live or whatever kind of degree or not you have.
    This is the problem. It’s not the guns, it’s the people. Guns don’t kill people, people kill
    people. Until this reality is embraced and dealt with, this kind of shit will go on… who else among us is sick of hearing about this stupid crap. Just saying, and trying to make sense of it all. Thanks

  21. Obama didn’t become President until 2009! The idea for Lojack for Guns was conceived in 2006…

    ( https : // www . ar15 . com / forums/general/GPS_trcking_devices_for_your_weapons__Lojack_for_guns__/5-483548/ )

  22. What difference would have made had he reported the theft within the law’s timeframe? It’s not like the cops would put out an APB on it. This is only a “thing” because a 72-year-old attorney got stupid and failed to follow a nonsensical law.

    • I disagree, at least somewhat. I posted a very brief description of what I went through just a little below. I also can’t speak for police everywhere. But in my case, they were all over it. I gave them a lead, shared my logic on what it must have been, yes, but they were really all over it. They wanted my guns back, off the street, seemingly as much as I did. In this example of the attorney, he also knew enough to point them in the right direction at least, but he was clearly hiding something.

      • “In this example of the attorney, he also knew enough to point them in the right direction at least, but he was clearly hiding something.”

        He was hiding the 30 yo peice of ass that he being in his 70’s didn’t want to lose would be my bet. His thinking was probably losing the guns was ok as long as she kept laying on her back for him. He turned in the guns being stolen my bet that would eventually lead law enforcement back to her whether he was upfront with them about her or not. Maybe she was the best looking of the lot and he couldn’t replace her with another. Either way he was thinking with the wrong head in this case. Apparently there’s a such thing as old dumb and full of cum too.

        • Right, but I’m also guessing/implying he was hiding even more. As in he gave her the guns in the first place, for the reason you explained.
          My reply was about it being a “nonsensical law”. If you know right away, AND have an idea of what happened, the police want to help. Once they’re “in the wind”, it’s wait and see.

        • Agreed and if he did indeed give them to her than he is even more culpable in the crimes committed afterwards.

  23. Want to bet they throw the book at the Attorney and plea bargain all the charges to lesser offenses for the dirt bag criminals?

  24. A local Stamford paper ran the story about the case. There’s some interesting details that make me wonder.

    https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Lawyer-arrested-for-failing-to-report-stolen-guns-14088577.php

    “He said after he began dating and having a sexual relationship last year with a 30-year-old woman he met while visiting Harry O’s, one of Stamford’s three strip clubs, the woman began visiting his home with a duffel bag and the guns began disappearing.”

    Barnett told the police he believes that she has the guns and that she is a Bloods gang member from Bridgeport, the affidavit said.

    “Brown said that he was trying to investigate what happened to the guns himself. He said he ended up giving the woman a cell phone, but mistakenly did not remove some banking information and that was used to take $250 out of one of his bank accounts, the affidavit said.”

    Maybe I’m just too cynical for my own good, but part of me is wondering now if the attorney was more complicit in things than he’s letting on to police? Repeatedly bringing a known gang member into your home, guns disappearing not in one quick grab but over a series of visits, not reporting it when she took money out of your bank account. I have to ask myself if these guns (and that bank draft) might possibly have been payments for “services rendered”?

    • I considered the same above. It sounds to me as if he more or less traded these guns for favors then belatedly realized he could be on the hook for providing arms to a prohibited person and attempted to indemnify himself after the fact, which is also likely why he’s being prosecuted.
      If this is what happened, then he deserves what’s coming, but if this is really an innocent victim of theft, it’s a travesty to prosecute him. A law like this says to me that if, for whatever reason, I don’t report the theft of a firearm within the time allotted i need to either A: Lie about when I discovered the theft, or B: Not report it at all, and if police come asking, check my collection , and thank them for discovering the theft of my property. I can’t see any way a law like this is either constitutional or useful. It sounds more like another trap for law abiding gun owners to fall afoul of.

      Consider, for a moment, how one might go about proving when someone became aware of a theft. The ultimate defense to being charged under such a law is to plead ignorance of the theft. Unless you’ve later attempted to do the right thing and screwed yourself like this guy has, that is basically an ironclad defense, since burden is on the prosecution, and it’s really going to be hard to prove someone didn’t notice something.

      I’m fairly certain the justification for such a law is to allow a backdoor to prosecute someone who knowingly provides a firearm to a prohibited person, and when confronted claims the gun was stolen from them as a defense to the charge. Sort of a catch 22. However, given that proving someone knew their gun was missing before the police showed up asking about it is basically impossible, I’m not really clear how such a law serves any purpose whatsoever, except that it is another trap for gun owners to fall into.

      Call it what you will, but in a burglary of my home it took me weeks to sort out what was missing and what was still here, including some firearms. Laws like these are obviously not written by people who own many guns. At various times I’ve had a sufficient number that a gun could be gone for months and I wouldn’t know it until I couldn’t find that particular one…and even then I couldn’t be sure I hadn’t just misplaced it.

      A law like this protects no one and nothing from anything, but can make a gun owner a felon for an oversight. Basically a garbage law that aims at nothing but screwing hapless gun owners.

      It’s truly sickening too me to see so many supposed POTG here baying for blood because an old man made a mistake. I have to suppose these same people believe I ought to be imprisoned, stripped of my rights and my property, because it took me awhile to sort out what was missing after a burglary. All that to prevent what? Nothing. Fortunately I don’t live in a state with such dumbassed laws, and frankly, if I did, what would behoove me in the event of burglary is to report either no guns stolen, or all of them until proven otherwise. Instead I think I’d just move someplace where they weren’t out to get me, and with friends like I’ve seen here too many times on this subject, who needs enemies!

    • Any person with intelligence or wisdom knows this old man wouldn’t be getting some young stripper girl to have sex with him without him giving her some valuable stuff first.

      What he was doing is now illegal in America, therefore, he wouldn’t want to report the situation to police because he wants to dodge a felony. So he decided to try to fix the situation himself because he doesn’t want to go to prison for prostitution and likely drugs. He is dumb but not that dumb; he is a lawyer. When the situation got out of control he decided to report the guns stolen and take the hit that way instead of the solicitation charges and shame.

      Men never change. They will do all kinds of silly things for some companionship with the ladies. Making that illegal causes all kinds of other messes. If the strip club could legally give him what he wanted, he wouldn’t have hired the girl under the table and brought her home.

  25. Almost 3 years ago, I called the police right away when we found that 7 handguns were stolen. We “knew” it was our then 16 year old son who did/knew/involved in whatever way. We didn’t hesitate to call, “knowing” what would happen. It was, still is, a nightmare.

    No feeling bad for this guy. An attorney who didn’t want to admit the strip club connection? Afraid of gang connections? He probably sold, or even gave, her the guns.

  26. That sucks. Revictimizing the already doubly victimized victim. Damn, that’s like some seriously multi-layered victimization and shit right there. Too bad he’s not one of those professional victims the Left loves or he could be making a killing right now.

    The law is bullshit from tip to tail.

    Damn, I feel bad for this lonely old guy. Guns stolen, possibly a heart broken but certainly shattered trust and then charged with a crime. That’s cold.

    I suppose one might argue that he chose his girlfriend/fuck buddy poorly but who out there doesn’t associate with some shady characters? (If you say “I don’t” then you’re either a shut in or not real bright.) We all associate with shady characters it’s just a question of if we know that or not. We just don’t tend to see it that way because they’re our type of shady.

    Personally I prefer my shady associates to be openly shady about their shadiness. That way I know they’re at least partially honest.

    • Everybody is all over this guy like he killed someone, and him the victim of a crime. I don’t understand POTG clamoring for his blood as if he had really done something wrong. The FUDD is super strong in those who think this guy ought to go to prison because he trusted someone he shouldn’t have and was slow to admit being victimized. I don’t think I ever quite realized how much gun owners coukd be so against each other until seeing the disgusting things people are saying here about this old man.

      • Yeah, it all comes back to the fact that the people you really can’t trust are usually people who seem really trustworthy.

        Anyone can be conned. Obvious con men get people who aren’t bright or are desperate for something but even very shrewd people get taken to the cleaners by good con men.

        P.T. Barnum supposedly said “There a sucker born every minute”, though to my understanding that attribution to Barnum is disputed. Either way, the people who are quick to call out someone for being a sucker are usually just waiting in line to get screwed by someone smarter, and usually the second group gets fucked harder because they honestly believe it cannot happen to them.

        Some might call it “hubris”.

    • Apparently the ‘date’ was a member of the Bloods gang. To me, that implies she was likely Black.

      Something tells me he didn’t want it getting out in public he was banging a Black hooker…

      • Eh, they’re all pink on the inside.

        Most Blood sets don’t take chicks other than as associates/hangarounds and girlfriends. It’s not a hard-fast rule but it’s pretty common. It does vary from set to set though.

        Either way, like I said, they’re all pink on the inside. It’s always been strange to me that people try to keep it on the DL when they bang someone of a different color. It’s like a get-out-of-jail-free card for being accused of racism. Plus, variety and all that.

        The last guy who talked shit to me about being a “race traitor” didn’t have to deal with me. He dealt with my wife and he found out the hard way that the whole “girls can’t fight” thing is a good way to end up leaving the area in an ambulance.

      • It’s illegal to buy love/sex with money in the U.S. You have to take the person to expensive places or buy them expensive stuff to get favors in exchange.

        We can’t expect some old lawyer guy who is illegally getting some boom-boom time with a stripper/prostitute to call the cops and say he was robbed by a whore and her pimp. Imagine that 9-1-1 call.

        Maybe his prostitution party would have been a felony and not reporting stolen guns would be a misdemeanor. He chose the latter.

      • “Either way, like I said, they’re all pink on the inside. It’s always been strange to me that people try to keep it on the DL when they bang someone of a different color.”

        Strych, my favorite ex was ethnic Mandarin Chinese, I have *zero* hangups in that department.

        I was trying to see it from *his* perspective as to why he wasn’t eager to report the stolen guns…

        • I wasn’t really trying to comment on why he would do such a thing. I tend to agree with you that it’s probably strip club/black/possible gang affiliation or maybe some combination thereof. Or maybe just panic when he realized WHAT was missing and didn’t really know what to do about it.

          I was more commenting on the concept that there are actually people out there who demean others for “dating outside their race”.

          The funny thing about racists, to me, is that while they’re all about how “superior” their chosen people are it’s always the truly dumb fucks that talk about how “superior” they are. You don’t see a lot of Einsteins in the white supremacy movement, MLKs in the Black Power movement or people like Bill Gates screaming about “da jooooooooooos”, for examples.

  27. “Depends on what kind of attorney. Is he an administrative law expert at Nirobian government environmental conservation efforts? Or, is he a criminal defense attorney who defends gangbanging murderers in court? There is a difference”
    Yes, there is, and I bet he is one of the latter types and was just cashing in on a legal fee for his services.

  28. I don’t see the point in criticizing the victim of these thefts. Nobody has ever articulated a rational case that reporting stolen firearms provides any benefit whatsoever, other than to the owner, who might have a slightly better chance of having them returned some day.

    How does a mandatory reporting law help advance the cause of gun rights? Could such a law pass strict scrutiny, if we ever reach the point where that is the standard to apply to gun-control laws? How does it serve a legitimate need of the government in the least restrictive manor?

    Without reporting a theft, what happens? The last known owner becomes a suspect in whatever crime the gun was used for. So what? If the investigators are worth more than half a plug nickel, it won’t take them more than about 10 minutes to figure out if that last owner is a legitimate suspect or not.

    Mandatory reporting laws serve only one purpose: one more way the gun-haters turn law-abiding gun owners into criminals.

    I would have thought the readers here would be more aware of that.

    • “How does a mandatory reporting law help advance the cause of gun rights?”

      It doesn’t. It does advance the cause of Leftist gun control.

      “Could such a law pass strict scrutiny, if we ever reach the point where that is the standard to apply to gun-control laws?”

      It shouldn’t, considering the part in the 2A that addresses “shall not be infringed”.

      How does it serve a legitimate need of the government in the least restrictive manor?”

      It serves the needs of a Leftist government that is Hell-bent on damaging or outright destroying the original intent of the 2A, which was to insure the citizens have an eventual, last ditch chance to restore the liberty the founders fought so hard for in the first place 200-odd years ago.

      They had seen up close and personal what tyranny really looked like in old Europe, and wanted no part of it in their new nation…

      • As I said… “I would have thought the readers here would be more aware of that.”

        Sad, and not just a little bit scary that more do not.

  29. Curious timing. The Little Barrister, there, after not reporting the theft, decides to report, late, just a couple days before the gun is used in a somewhat organized crime.

    Did be get wind that Jesse’s Girl n her crew had plans?

  30. that was a stupid lawyer if it shoots a bullet you better report it as stolen hell I knew that much when I was coming heck I had one gun stolen and it was a true saturday night special and I reported it

  31. Shall not be infringed. Most here believe that totally. Is it infringement to be charged for not reporting your stolen guns? It could very well be, if you don’t check yours often or such.
    We’re also the ones to say the loudest that we don’t need more laws, more background check laws. Why? Because criminals circumvent those laws already. How? By stealing and/or buying stolen guns. It’s been said over and over.

  32. So much of this sounds like a child saying you’re not my dad you can’t tell me what to do. To that I say this. If you haven’t done anything illegal why wouldn’t you report the the crime committed against you? I am going to take it that all of those that think this idiot shouldn’t have reported the guns stolen will also not report their own firearms stolen or their car or anything else. They also won’t turn anything into the insurance company that might be covered since the insurance company will most definitely want a police report. I’m sure they will instead just chalk it up to they didn’t really need the stolen items and if they did they will just go buy them again. Yeah I’m sure that’s exactly what will happen. (the sarcasm is free)

    • “If you have nothing illegal, why would you mind if we take a look through your house/car/pockets.”

      If it’s my property, it’s not anybody’s business it got stolen, until I decide that I want to report it.
      But you do you. If, like a good drone, you want the government to know where everybody’s stuff is at any given moment, you have to support registration and mandatory loss reporting.

      • Not sure where you got that quote from because I didn’t say that. However the mandatory reporting does seem to be what everyone is wrapped around the axle about. Most likely this lawyer gave those guns to the stripper and then tried to say they were stolen after he mostly likely found out they were going to be used in a crime. Stupid laws come from people doing stupid shit. This lawyer did some serious stupid shit and my bet is he wasn’t the first. This is another prime example of it costs nothing to do the right thing. Or the reverse of that in this case is it costs to do the wrong thing. So far it looks like it’s going to cost this lawyer his guns and a criminal record all because of a peice of ass. Choices have consequences, my advice is don’t make choices that come with consequences you can’t live or die with.

        • I’m sorry, it wasn’t exactly a quote. What you wrote is – “If you haven’t done anything illegal why wouldn’t you report the the crime committed against you?”
          It was just an extrapolation of that way of thinking.

          Now, what if that old guy did something illegal, that he was not willing to discuss with the police? Like paying for younger woman’s attention.

        • Again stupid laws come from people doing stupid shit. Choices have consequences and my advice is don’t make choices that have consequences you can’t live or die with. He did some serious stupid shit and is now jammed up because of it. This is his consequences as a result of his choices. I don’t feel sorry for him in the least. Don’t do stupid shit to draw attention and there won’t be any attention come your way. Pretty simple sense although it may not be common sense.

          No what I said and what you said are not even close to being the same. I would report the stolen items regardless of what they were without being told to because I don’t make stupid choices that could get me jammed up. Choices=consequences, consequences=choices.

  33. Oh! I forgot.

    Seems [ctrl+f] no one mentioned that these laws make it impossible to have a “boating accident” where all your banned weapons of war got lost. You will have to report your lost or stolen guns for police to go looking for them right away. They will need all your serial numbers and pictures of your guns or else.

    These types of laws are anti boating accident laws. No guns left behind. We will use the FBI, ATF, Coast Guard, Sheriffs, Police and Youtubers to recover those lost/stolen guns.

    • If the boat sinks and you don’t want insurance to recover/fix or replace don’t report it. Same with the guns that were in the boat, let the fish have them. Do I believe that 99.99% of people will actually do that? Not even a little bit. Now if the boat and guns were stolen or in some other fashion illegal than yeah I see it not being reported.

      • Just to clarify.

        A “boating accident’ is what gun owners who will not comply with the law will say caused their guns to go missing and unrecoverable. When ARs are banned a lot of gun owners — including those without a boat — will lose their guns in an accident. Those without a body of water near them will say the guns got stolen by some thug.

        Reporting laws are designed to stop guns from going “missing” when the police seek to find them.

        • Destroyed them is more convincing unless you actually have a boat. As long as they don’t find anything when they come knocking with a search warrant, who are they to say otherwise. If they tried I’d say ok prove I didn’t destroy them. Fortunately we’re a long way from anything like that where I live. Not much that can’t be owned here legally actually. However should that ever come to pass I’d refer to the tyrants that showed up as Hitler’s SS until they or I one died.

  34. Breaking News… Old man gets played by younger woman, he was probably zoned out on all the attention she was giving him and decided that it was worth a couple of guns and a couple hundred bucks to have his ego fed…

  35. And his reporting the gun being stolen would have kept the turd from shooting at the cop exactly HOW again?

  36. I once had an attorney who put herself through law school working as a stripper. She was a damn good attorney. She was also a profecient shooter.

  37. Yea, an old associate stole Ridgley’s hammer several years ago and hammered a bunch of Connecticutians with it. I look forward to seeing Ridgley pay for that as well. A good tool is a terrible thing to waste.

  38. if the geezer had been educated on the “hot crazy matrix”, he would have known never to date strippers. or anyone named tiffany.

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