Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Stolen Guns in Iowa


Thieves are grabbing guns during daytime burglaries in southern Iowa, authorities said.

Union County Sheriff Rick Piel said Monday that homes in his county had been hit. Deputies in Ringgold and Clarke counties are also looking into a string of gun thefts during the past few weeks.

Authorities said more than 50 guns have been stolen. The thieves are apparently taking only guns.
How about if we do it like this? The idea that only the thief is responsible is out. We recognize that in certain circumstances, the gun owner can be guilty of making the theft too easy. In those cases, the negligent gun owner pays a stiff fine, forfeits the rest of his guns and loses his right to own them in the future.

How's that sound.

Please leave a comment.

8 comments:

  1. Mike - claiming people are making theft too easy is just stupid. You would not make this claim with any other possession someone owns. If all they were stealing were kitchen knives that were then used in a stabbing homicide would you blame the home owner for not locking their deadly weapons in a safe when they were not being used? What if the only thing stolen was bleach which was then used to make a bomb? Should the homeowner have locked that up in a safe when not in use?

    It is just stupid to blame the victim of a crime for the crime being committed against them. I hope you are not the type that blames women for "asking for it" when they are raped.

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  2. How about we take peoples right to own a car away if they "allow" their car to be stolen. How about we take away peoples rights to get medicine if they "allow" their pain meds to be stolen. Your idea is stupid beyond belief.

    Criminals break the law. It's the definition of criminal behavior. Punishing the victim does nothing. Your ideas contribute nothing.

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  3. Sorry, guys, I disagree. Guns are singularly lethal and therefore require special treatment which includes secure storage. If you fail to do that, you are making theft too easy, and you are responsible for your part.

    Please don't try to say knives are lethal too. Yes, they can be, but guns are in a class of their own and cannot really be compared to any other "possessions," as much as you'd like to.

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  4. Mike youre wrong again.


    Ask any ER doc, he or she will tell you the truth, knivfe attacks are more lethal than gun attacks. Harder to fix too.


    Your fear of guns has you not thinking clearly. A pill bottle of 100 oxy's can easily kill twenty kids if they were OD d. A car has the destructive energy of a mortar round when it loses control.

    Guns are tools. Nothing more nothing less. It's the user and the intent which govern it's uses.

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  5. I intend on addressing P's assertion that knife wounds are more lethal than gun wounds in a post.

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  6. Thanks, Jadegold. One thing that occurred to me is how many minor cuts happen in kitchens all over the country which require nothing more than a band-aid. Compare those to minor bullet wounds, and the absolute folly of P's argument becomes manifest.

    Jim repeats, It is just stupid to blame the victim of a crime for the crime being committed against them.

    It depends on the circumstances, don't you think? I say people who leave a gun in the bedroom night stand in a drawer when they go out and upon returning find the house burgled and the gun gone have made the theft too easy. Naturally you would argue this because you argue against everything and anything that goes against gun owners.

    How about this one? A guy goes into a public rest room and leaves his gun on the sink. Realizing his mistake ten minutes later, he rushes back only to find the gun gone. He made the theft too easy, did he not?

    Now I grant you the second example is too rare to count for much other than to make my point about shared responsibility, but the first example is a good one that accounts for many many stolen weapons. Regardless of State law, gun owners have to practice safe storage in order to be guilt-free in case of a robbery.

    In other words, if you have guns locked in a proper gun safe, thieves come in and force it open, you are NOT responsible because you didn't make the theft easy.

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  7. Mike - your whole premise of making theft to easy is simply an excuse for criminal behavior on the part of the thief.

    Even in your example of leaving the gun in a public restroom. If someone accidently left their wallet in a public restroom and a thief took it, do the police blame the forgetful person and refuse to report the theft? Is that person then responsible for any identity theft as a result because the credit card companies won't cancel his accounts? What if the thief goes out and buys a gun with that guy's ID? Is the guy who had his wallet stolen to blame for that gun being too easy to obtain?

    Do people who drive around with their car doors unlocked get blamed for making it too easy for a carjacker to steal their car? What if the guy throws you out, jumps in and then mows down 20 people on the sidewalk? Is the carjack victim to blame for making it too easy?

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  8. Jim, The mistake you keep making is in understand my view as saying that the victim is blamed INSTEAD of the criminal. That's not what I'm saying. The victim is blamed for improper storage of the gun. The thief is blamed for stealing it.

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