Gang steals 50 guns during break-in
According to the Springfield, Illinois, State Journal Register five people have been arrested in regards to a break-in at a local gun store where at least fifty guns were stolen.
Authorities allege that Burrage, Lasalle and possibly others kicked in the door to the business, in a residential neighborhood on the city’s north end, around 10 p.m. Sunday.
Because the business’s alarm did not sound, police didn’t learn of the burglary until Monday morning. That appears to be a malfunction and not intentional, Mueller said.
“You never say no to a possibility, but that is not the avenue we’re taking right now,” he said.
The young men all have ties to a local gang, police said, though they declined to release the name of the alleged gang.
I sure hope that Obama and Hillary can get background check legislation passed so those gang members can’t sell those guns to unqualified buyers.
Thanks to Ex-PH2 for the link.
Category: Guns
It seems that the “gun store” wasn’t very diligent in securing their inventory at closing time, or did the thieves have bolt cutters and other such tools to gain access to the guns?
Sounds fishy to me. The few “walk in” gun shops I deal with basically have a walk in vault for gun storage, a few have multiple large safes.
Guns left in racks, counter displays, alarm “malfunctions” not intentional?
Financial status of owner vs insurance claim. Don’t know, just saying.
The bigger stores have vaults, too. Some of the mom and pop stores that I took B&E reports at really didn’t seem to care if their guns got stolen.
And one of the owners was just clueless about the need to secure his inventory.
But, but… they didn’t show their FOIDs, did they? Did they have FFLs for doing gun sales out of the trunks of their cars? Does that mean they’re just setting up a new bizniss for themselves? I mean, those guns could be sold in Indiana or Ohio, or even Englewood, you know.
I’m sure they intended on properly registering all the weapons they took.
I’m sure banning all law abiding citizens from owning a gun and enacting “responsible” background checks would have prevented this.
The gangs that weren’t involved know, by the process of elimination, which gang did the deed, so what’s the point in with holding the name of the gang whose members stole the guns?
Because those punks don’t need their gang to be given recognition.
These idiots would be proud they made the news just like the “Orphans” gang in the movie The Warriors.
I also like the way the newspaper refers to “the young men.” They are suspects. They are arrestees. They are alleged burglars. They are reported gang members. There are many ways to refer to them, but “young men” would not be in my top 50.
They’re a mob of thugs that will eventually get what they deserve, assumption of room temperature after a police confrontation or more likely at the hands of their brother criminals. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Young men? There’s not a man in the bunch.
Well I guess they moved away from the “youths” designation since we all know how horse shit that is now days. Young men sound like they were just waiting for their job interview and those pesky guns just jumped into their hands after breaking out.
As power went out due to Hurricane Matthew, gun stores where prime targets of robbers.
https://www.google.com/#q=gun+robbery+hurricane+matthew
Even in cities where there was a curfew, stores were still robbed.
“[He] couldn’t help but wonder what else he could have done to protect the shop. ‘I never knew the power, or the wind, would have gotten so hard or else I would have probably been here sleeping when they came,’ he said.”
Serious, this happens during every large disaster: It’s not a fucking surprise, especially if you live in Hurricane land.. The ATF, FFL and shooting orgs., and insurance companies all stress the importance of having a disaster plan. If you can’t be bothered to— at the very least — remove handguns from the display case and put them someplace more secure and get a alarm battery that lasts days (not hours), you’re just a selfish fuck. Welcome to the eventual state and federal mandates.
Also, a very belated feel-good story from the Google hits:
According to an incident report, the owner of the store, who was living in the rear of the building, heard a loud crash around 4 a.m. When he came out, according to the report, one of the suspects said “Kill the (expletive)”. The owner of the store then fired his AR-15 several times hitting all three suspects, according to the report.
Twenty-year-old K’Raven Aude Goodwin of Eastover died at the hospital as a result of the gunshot wounds. Two others, 20-year-old Eddie Stewart of Columbia and 17-year-old Franklin Robinson of Gadsden suffered gunshot wounds and drove to a nearby Waffle House after the incident. Both Stewart and Robinson were taken into custody by the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office.
http://www.live5news.com/story/19247223/potential-connection-between-gun-store-robberies-under-investigation
Waffle House?? What is it with Waffle House and criminals? Is there something in the pancake batter?
DAMIFINO, Ex-PH2! I like their food, they make a patty or Sausage melt to kill for as well as their “Smashed & Scattered” Hash Browns, I just never eat at one unarmed.
I am not sure why you think an alarm would do any good as in a hurricane, the police make it known they aren’t going out in the storm.
In fact, last week residents in some of the barrier islands in Brevard County Florida had police knock on their door, tell them to evacuate, and if they decided to stay, sign a form listing next of kin and acknowledging that the resident was on their own as no emergency services would be available.
I am not sure what size place or safe would be needed to store and lock up all of a store’s inventory of weapons, but I suspect for most, it is a size they do not have and would not have.
I understand what you are saying. I really do. I am just not sure that it is feasible.
The fact of the matter is that criminals will venture out into a storm knowing that law abiding citizens and the police are doing the responsible thing and seeking safety.
Looks like over a thousand guns were burgled during the storm in FL and SC. But, but if we had more “universal backround checks” this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe we also need climate control, as this storm was caused by the planet’s number one threat, “Climate Change.”
Isn’t burglary as well as possession of stolen property already illegal? That happened in Illinois, thus I’m sure the little shits will get a slap-on-the-wrist and continue their criminal careers afterward.
You can bet the first charges the DA’s will negotiate away in the plea agreement will be all the state & federal gun crimes they committed. Anyway, my local police say that is what happens with our DA’s office.
I have NO DOUBT about that. WTF good are laws when they’re rarely or never enforced?
Obviously we need to enact legislation to expand background checks and close the Malfunctioning Alarm loop hole, and then this type of thing wouldn’t happen.
Just a question: can’t these guns be made useless by removing the firing pins?
Yes, but it is really easy to buy another firing pin and replace it. They could also have removed all the bolts and locked them up in a safe. But then bolts are available too, on the internet (anyway for most semi-auto rifles). Some gun shops with small inventory just lock the guns up in a large safe, especially handguns. But most just rely on their active and passive security systems.
I think removing parts not easily noticed would be a great step because I highly doubt the the youths doing the thefts would figure out what was wrong and or obtain the parts to make it functional.
A better option would be for every gun shop to have a trigger lock on every weapon with the keys (or combinations) stored in a secure vault.
The gun would be inoperable unless the lock was removed by force, which would damage ruin the weapon as well
Not really. Trigger locks, which are inexpensively made, have a locking tumbler that can easily be drilled out, enabling removal of the lock with little or no damage to the weapon. They are only designed to keep a child or someone who doesn’t know how to operate a drill press from squeezing the trigger. The best protection is to have all the guns locked up in a large safe or a vault room, but then the dealer has to pay staff to put the inventory back on and off the shelves and display cases every day. For most dealers this is a PITA and adds to his overhead. So many just put the pistols in the safe or vault and run a chain through the rifle trigger guards and secure them with heavy duty locks. But most small dealers probably do neither.
How about recessed display cases with sliding false fronts that make it look like the guns were simply taken down and put away?
I imagine criminals would figure that out in short order. The crooks usually case these places by posing as customers before they try to break in. Most savvy gun shop owners have configured the front of their stores so that it is very difficult for thieves/burglars to break through the store fronts and external doors even with a vehicle. But of course, all that hardening with bars, steel doors, etc., is expensive. They also need a good alarm system with a battery backup which still works when the power goes out.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/world/middleeast/iraq-isis-mosul-battle.html
When it comes up, page down and look at the still pic. Raise your hand if you see a problem.
Oopsie. Wrong thread.