Gun Owners Are Making it Too Easy or Criminals to Get Firearms bearingarms.com blasts. “Yeah, I said it,” Bob Owens writes, “gun owners are making it too easy for criminals to get their hands on firearms. Fighting words, I know – but to me, the news stories of guns being stolen from vehicles, legislators calling for additional restrictions on the Second Amendment and law enforcement scolding gun owners are completely unnecessary. Why? Because we know better.”
Mr. Owens was enervated by a Fox news story out of St. Louis, Missouri. Gateway City police report that bad guys stole some 1800 guns this year. The cops called for gun owners to stash their gat in a lock box in their car. According to Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, “If we were able to get people to properly secure their guns, our crime would plummet in St. Louis.”
While I agree with Mr. Owens that gun owners should secure their firearms, the po-po’s preachy message is an open-and-shut case of victim blaming. Ms. Joyce’s comment is well out-of-order; irresponsible gun owners are not responsible for St. Louis’ “gun violence” problem. And while Mr. Owens’ correlation between lax firearms security and support for gun control may be accurate, but that doesn’t make it right.
As far as I know, stealing is illegal, regardless of how property is or isn’t secured. And the existence of “gun free zones” has more than a little something to do with firearms thefts form vehicles. So how much — if at all — are gun owners to blame for gun thefts?