Alaska Woman Loses Gun

The Associated Press reports on a stolen gun incident in Alaska.

JUNEAU, Alaska — A 24-year-old Juneau woman went into a public restroom packing heat and left burned. The Juneau Police Department reports Veronica Balle-Arnes was carrying a Ruger .380 — a small pocket pistol — worth about $400 with her Friday night.

She told police she took the gun out of her waistband and set it on top of a toilet paper dispenser in the women's room at the Fisherman's Wharf, a building on Juneau's downtown waterfront with a bar, eateries and shops.

She told police she forgot to pick it back up. When she realized it was missing a few moments later, she returned to the restroom but the gun was gone.

She did what? She took it out of her waistband? What would a 25-year-old woman possibly be doing going around the "eateries and shops" of Juneau's waterfront with a gun in her waistband? Is this why Alaska is supposedly so safe because the young chicks carry pistols in the pants like in the movies? But that brings up two problems.

In the movies, isn't it usually the bad guys who carry guns like that? And that supposed low gun crime in Alaska isn't all it's cracked up to be when you consider the population. Isn't that right?

What's your opinion? Do you think there might be many unreported incidents like this one? It must be embarrassing for a gun owner to admit such stupidity. But, of course there are no sanctions for it, lost guns can easily be replaced, again and again. Someone's got to feed that gun flow.

One more question, in a case like this, would young Veronica bear some of the responsibility for what happens next? Shouldn't her involvement in allowing the theft tie her right into whatever crime the gun is used for, let's say it's used in a murder tonight?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.