Tuesday, July 15, 2014

So, where's the good guy with a gun when you need him????

I know it's anecdotal, but I heard that thieves target cars with pro-gun stickers on them (you know the type). 

Seriously, ever think that having a gun might make you MORE of a target for criminals.  Again, it's anecdotal that most crime guns are stolen: usually from people who bought them for protection.

Nothing like being robbed with your own gun...

Although, the cognitive dissonance must be painful when headlines like this appear:

Robbers attack PA gun collectors home, leave with 31 guns

Three armed men wearing masks kicked in the door of the 71-year-old man's house in Sharon, 75 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, at around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday and took firearms including an AK-47, handguns, rifles, shotguns, other semi-automatic weapons, ammunition and historic pistols, police chief Michael Menster said Thursday.

The robbers tied the gun collector up, ransacked his house and locked him in a closet. They also stole a television and stereo. When they left, the man was able to escape and call 911, Menster said.
So much for the old "I don't dial 911"--you do, but only when it's too late.

The good news, 17 weapons were recovered and two people charged.

16 comments:

  1. Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that just because the man collects firearms doesn't mean that he even necessarily has a carry permit. Or perhaps he does have a permit and ascribes to the philosophy of never carrying unless he's going somewhere where he would need it, which depending on who is commenting on it here, eliminates about eighty percent of the places.
    This seems to be a common train of thought used by some here. You don't need a gun in a store, in the car for an errand, going to the movies, etc. If you go somewhere that might be dangerous, you must be out looking for trouble. And if you're in one of the places where carrying a gun is brought into question and a situation arises where you needed it and didn't have it, it becomes proof that owning a gun didn't help.
    Hard to say with the little data provided.

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    1. Yeah, too little data. I'd like to know how the guns were stored.

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    2. How the guns were stored might have meaning if the owner wasn't home. But in this case how they were stored is meaningless. "Give me the combination or die!" would be a pretty good motivator to give up the goods to save oneself. It is, however, a perfect example of carry at ALL times, including in your own home.

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    3. The fact that he collects guns makes him a target for criminals. Maybe he should take up a less dangerous hobby.

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    4. "The fact that he collects guns makes him a target for criminals. Maybe he should take up a less dangerous hobby."

      I think the modern term for this statement is "victim blaming". Not so very long ago this was done as a defense for sexual assault.
      Provocative dress was seen by some as an inference that the victim somehow contributed to their assault. I thought we had progressed beyond that.

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    5. Maybe you shouldn't wear that short skirt - you are just asking to get raped. Is that what you mean?

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    6. Now that's a cute diversion, we were talking about guns and you guys turned it into a discussion of rape.

      This is one of the gun-rights fanatics' favorite tricks of misdirection.

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    7. "Victim blaming."
      Some people aren't to smart and cause their own problems by not making good choices, or not taking precautions when they make a decision regarding a dangerous situation, or item. Like not checking to see if a gun is loaded before they point and shoot. Like not safely storing away a gun from children in the home. Did they ever consider what could happen if their child got a hold of their gun? Apparently not because we read the stories daily about the deadly consequences. To say a "victim" is always blameless, is naive.

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    8. "Some people aren't to smart and cause their own problems by not making good choices, or not taking precautions when they make a decision regarding a dangerous situation, or item."

      There is no mention of anything in the article that would suggest that the victim made any bad decisions. You could even make an argument that he likely stored his guns securely enough that the criminals has to resort to armed robbery because that was the only way to easily get to the firearms.
      This man was engaging in an entirely lawful activity. Suggesting he is somehow to blame because someone might be willing to commit armed robbery to take what doesn't belong to them doesn't make sense.
      Does someone who collects gems for instance get blamed if he is robbed?

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    9. I agree that the story doesn't indicate any wrongdoing on the part of the poor persecuted gun owner. But, the story does support one of my favorite themes. All (or nearly all) guns used by criminals start out the lawful property of gun owners like this guy. Proper gun control laws would prevent many of these situations and lessen the numbers of guns that continually flow from the good guys to the bad guys.

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    10. Yes, how did we get to rape? The typical gun loon dishonest response.

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    11. "Yes, how did we get to rape?"

      After you suggested that the crime victim was in some way responsible for being attacked, I used what was once a common defense to highlight that in most areas, we have progressed beyond assigning blame for a crime because they were engaging in legal activities.

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    12. Well, I wouldn't call it dishonest. I would call it evasion and obfuscation.

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  2. "The fact that he collects guns makes him a target for criminals. Maybe he should take up a less dangerous hobby." The fact the you earn money and buy nice things make you a target for criminals; maybe you should give your money and possessions away to eliminate your "dangerous" activities.

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    1. Sorry, I collect stamps. They aren't made to kill. It's not a dangerous hobby. The fact that you don't consider guns dangerous is the same thinking that allows thousands to be killed with guns every year. If you are to stupid to consider your hobby can be dangerous, or deadly, then you will and probably deserve to be hurt. Like the hobby of skydiving, or bungee jumping, every year some idiot dies because they failed to take proper precautions and forgot they were participating in a deadly hobby.

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  3. One point all the gun nuts conveniently overlook in this thread is how a man with plenty of guns was powerless to prevent this crime. That's pretty funny, in a sick ironic kinda way.

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