Reader Command’oh writes:
The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that about 1.4 million guns were stolen from 2005-2010, and other studies give even higher estimates. Most of these guns end up on the black market where dealers (shockingly) don’t run background checks. If we can reduce the number of stolen guns entering the black market, the black market price will rise. This could lead to a decrease in the number of crimes involving guns.
While not a perfect solution, the wide spread use of gun safes would reduce the total number of guns stolen in the US. Making it more difficult to steal firearms should result in fewer firearms stolen.
The question is, how do we encourage their use? The answer: the same way government encourages anything else…tax incentives. If the government wants you to buy an electric car or solar panels for your home, they offer a tax credit. Assuming less gun crime is the goal, offering gun owners a tax credit should result in gun owners buying more gun safes. It’s simple economics.
This is a win-win for everyone. Since there’s no requirement that you buy or use a gun safe, nobody’s rights are curtailed. Gun owners who choose to buy a safe save some cash. And the ant-gun left can claim they’ve “done something” about guns by doing what they do best — throwing a bunch of taxpayer money at the problem. Who knows? It may actually work.
My take on this whole situation is that the liberal/progressives want to make government responsible for allowing any sale of a gun be it commercial or private…are they also willing to take responsibility when a government agency fails to do its job? The “expanded background check” buzz word does nothing if the important information that is supposed to sent to NCIC/FBI is not sent. Essentially, another gun law will not change criminal behavior… People like Chris Murphy and the Bloomberg cartel have been saying that “expanding background checks” is necessary for lessening “gun violence”. How? Crickets chirping…….
Perhaps we should require BCs on black market stolen guns.
No.
There is no such thing as a safe that cannot be cracked. An enterprising criminal will just haul the whole thing out of your house and break it open at their leisure. (Or just cary the thing in the case of most home defense useful things.) You’re not going to put that safe somewhere in your house where it cannot be easily removed without major construction work.
You know what WOULD work? Mandatory federal minimums for “felon in possession” charges. 10-20 on the first offense, 20-life on the second ought to do the trick. When felons are getting slapped on the wrist, crime goes up.
Even if you defined “felon” in the most restrictive way, to those who actually are violent, more people in prison will not prevent theft. There will always be a serious pool of humanity willing to steal things, and all these “possession” laws only enter the picture AFTER the fact. And guns are not the sole tool used to commit these crimes, of course.
The most rational solution to violent crime is the death of the aggressor at the hands of the intended victim and/or their guardian, neighbor…
No repeat offenders there.
How about the government gives a gun to anybody who wants a gun. That way nobody would have the need to steal one. The government can pay for it by taxing dildos and abortions.
if they were dropped onto criminals.
otherwise they will just use them for cover…
“Do something!” OK, what? Be specific and give details.
Let’s review the gun laws. There are thousands at the local, state and national level. How many can be repealed? Should a law that fails be ended?
The “View” just has a host talk about how prayer didn’t prevent the church shooting. Well, neither did all those gun laws. You want to disrespect prayer. Then you need to take an honest look at the gun laws
Criminals will always exist and they will always adapt. There was a time when cars were relatively easy to steal without the keys, and cars were stolen. Today, cars are very difficult to steal without the keys and cars are still stolen. Criminals adapted in one of two ways, either the high tech way or the low tech way. The high tech way is to use a special devise to hack into the vehicle’s computer. The low tech way is to walk up to someone in a parking lot, point a gun at their head and demand their keys. Perhaps we were better off when they could just rip some wires out from under the dash.
That said, keeping your guns locked up is still a good idea, but the gubmint doesn’t need to get involved, IMHO.
Point of order; rarely outside of movies we’re cars ever “Hotwired like that”.
Usually they’d just take a screwdriver put it to the lock cylinder, smack it with a hammer. Boom done.
So because my neighbor is too lazy or cheap to pay for and use his own gun safe, you propose that the government extort money from me, by way of the tax code and men with guns, to pay for his safe and to hire other idiot, unemployed neighbors to administer the program? Well.
I don’t know about win-win, but it sure sounds like a lot of unjust enrichment on the parr of a lot of other people, all funded by me.
Your feel-good program will backfire, anyway, when people don’t even use their subsidized safes.
By the way, where exactly in the Constitution is the government granted the authority to steal from my safe to pay for someone else’s safe? Quit trampling on the Constitution you allegedly revere by trying to socially engineer the country via the tax code. Just fund the constitutionally defined functions of government and leave us alone.
No, but in time, the requirement that all guns be locked in one will result in those mass machete home invasions you read about in shitholes like Australia and South Africa
Oh great. The safes meme. The only people safes keep out are quadriplegics and drooling infants.
I work security (cyber) as part of my job and much security theory is applicable to all aspects not just computers and encryption.
The problem with safes will largely be with the end user being cheap and less than diligent. Those are the problems that lead to just about every security breach we’ve ever experienced. You’ll get unlocked safes, combos stuck to it with post-its, guns left out of the safes, cheap sheet metal crap that can be defeated with no tools at all.
The answer to that is always inspections and enforcement. Essentially passing the responsibility to not be lazy and cheap off to somebody else who in turn is just as lazy and cheap but now has authority over you which inevitability stirs corruption and bias into the mix of lazy cheapness.
It’s all just tail chasing stupidity.
I don’t go to Church unless I need to go out of politeness and respect for someone else’s religion.
But when I do go, you can bet your ass I’m carrying.
No. It’s the same as saying less guns mean less crime. John Lott wrote a book based on the opposite.
In Washington State, gun safes are exempt from sales tax.
I would love to put it in a safe but then it would be hard to carry concealed. BTW, my gun (semi-auto pistol rendition of a very popular manufacturer) was stolen last month. The police found it exactly one month later. That was quick.
The typical gun safe is a deterrent only to the quick smash and grab type burglars / robbers. Security through obscurity and some moderate hardening of your house (visible deterrents like cameras & alarm company stickers, good door locks, reinforced door frames, properly attached security film to key windows, etc.) is just as effective and protects a lot more than the contents of a safe.
The last time I checked there has never been a case of a gun committing a crime in all of history.
Crime is committed by people. Locking up people who commit crimes and making them understand there are consequences for their actions will lower crime rates.
Yes is makes sense from a security and safety stand point. However Locking up guns to prevent crime will be as effective as locking up alcohol to prevent drunk driving.
That reminds me. I need to go find some SA and RRA reviews to @^%# on. I don’t think I’ve trolled them this week. Thanks TTAG for the reminder!
Ever since the founding of our great nation It was the gun that made and kept us all free.Our brave police officers and our great military and their might, keeps us free. why on earth would anyone spend trillions of dollars over time for our protection on something that didnt work.sure the bad guys with twisted beliefs have always and will always frustrate us all.especially when good innocent people go to pray and are all good hard working americans. the bad guys can even make their own guns. I remember in the 50’s they made Zip guns with a rubber band trigger. nations that outlawed guns in their country look at the majority of them now.the people are afraid and surpressed and it ends up usually as a very poor country.I served my country proudly and at 75 yrs old if they called me up I would be there. even though I can only walk about 50 ft without stoppin and fighting two types of cancer.. My only point is take away our guns and you take away our freedom even to comment like im doing lets all pull together and work on the things we can acomplish. We have already plenty of gun laws on the book . over 100 but lets enforce them. Have stringent backgrround checks Not just at an auction or gun show, I heard, a auctioneer yells out has anyone here have a felony.And thats it. Duh! Ive been there.All of us agree we have the right to protect our families. I live in the midwest in the country.And can’t or expect the police to be here to protect me and my loved ones. So common sense tells me to have a firearm to at least have a chance. I respect every american and their opinions and value them we have to become a better person each and every day when they massacre children,women and christians no human being should tolerate anymore . and the people that disagree with me really never have any answers They just say ‘Im against guns” none of us wants to take a life. but a gun sure have saved millions of lives. Example like yesterday he was a CCW instructer and a NRA member as I. and possible saved many more fine people from getting killled.We have to change their twisted hearts.
Yeah….. thanks to SA and RRA. Again.
Thanks for reminding why i will never buy a product from either of them again. Well i dont own any RRA firearms, but i have 2 SA and was gonna go for a third. Glad i didnt. Both companies can FOAD.
Also cant wait to move out of illinois.
My guns have always been locked up! I acknowledge that safes can be cracked easily by some but most criminals will not attempt to do so because it takes more than a few seconds to do it. There is no recourse for gun owners beyond safes but they should still be used. Safes create a much harder target.
Uhh, I own a Sig 1911, but for that kind of money, especially with grips that don’t fit any but the huge handed among us, I’ll go with a Dan Wesson or Les Baer
P.S. I like the new look of the website, but as soon as I click on an article I have ads at the top, bottom and both sides, and I’m still entering my name and e-mail, even though I have enabled cookies for this website. No bueno.
I hope Fulton Armory is now getting a huge boost in business since I will be going to them from now on for all my M1A’s and even my AR15’s now since they produce 20″ A2-Style Service Rifle AR’s.
Ugly slide. I prefer the rounded slide that John Browning designed. Yeah yeah, I know, it follow Sig’s square edged stylistic pattern, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. The grips are pretty awesome though.
Anti gun legislation is like a cockroach infestation. Usually easy to beat back to being barely noticeable but very difficult to really, truly kill. It hides and waits to reappear.
As I’ve said before Illinois doesn’t get a hell of a lot of sympathy from me. Elect anti-gun pols, get anti-gun legislation. Wanna change things? Vote differently.
You mean that if they electing democrats it means they’re still gonna get even more gun control?
I’m shocked! Dismayed!
I bet all those Illinois blue collar Union types still believe the myth of the “conservative” democrat. And they will continuously vote D because they’re completely brainwashed or because that’s how their union leg breaker “recommended” them to vote… or else…
I have a gen 2 purchased 8 months ago. It has been reliable and a pleasure to own. I ran over 500 cast lead loads through it without cleaning and it is still going strong. I would recommend a spot of lithium grease on the caming surfaces of the pederson action. I have over 2000 round through it and can barley tell if it has been used.
Take down could be better but still managable.
I just ordered another from Buds last week. Good pistol and the cats meow with a crimson trace laser.
Remington did good.
“…Sutherland Springs Shooter Wore Bullet Resistant Vest, Carried 15 30-Round Ammunition Magazines, 2 Handguns and a Ruger AR-15”
So what?
I am not trying to be callous, I am just pointing out that what he had or wore or carried have little to nothing to do with what he was going to do/did.
None of the things he wore made him do what he did.
None of the things he carried made him do what he did.
Through whatever warped mental pathway he took he came to the conclusion that he was going to go kill some people. He could have used any number of things to accomplish his task and until someone starts calling it car-violence or bat-violence or gasoline-violence all you are doing is accepting their rules of the conversation.
I also carry a Millenium G2. Great pistol – has been super reliable for me over the past 2 years and holds 13 rounds in a pretty small, very comfortable to hold/shoot package. +1 on the Casio G-Shock too. I’ve been wearing one almost daily for 10 years and recommend them to anyone looking for the best watch that can be had at that price range.
What I find interesting about the mainstream media coverage is that the shooter had an “ assault rifle” while the Good Samaritan had a “ rifle”
They are ignoring that it was bad guy AND good guy both with AR 15’s
The only thing that would have been better is if the bad guy had the weapon of all bad guys- an AK 47
If you know anything about any topic you quickly learn just how uninformed non specialized journalists are.
My cousin’s wife is with the Washington Post. I asked her last year if gun murder had been going up or down the past generation, she literally said to me: “you don’t need to read much of the news to know it has been going up.”
It tells you a few things. Modern journalism is a pack circle jerk, emphasizes impression instead of fact, and when it comes to subjects where they already have a bias, can often literally invert the core objective metric. In fact US firearms murder is way way down.
It starts with a pistol grip. Everyone knows that a rifle with a pistol grip has a split personality and is dangerous
We also have more cars per capita but not as many car bombs as say Iraq or Bali.
Does that also suggest anything.
It’s all political nonsense
1100 bucks for THAT?!? It’s interesting(if crazy heavy)anyways. And I can buy 2 AR’s for that price…