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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Largest Source of Stolen Guns? Parked Cars.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/25/us/illegal-guns-parked-cars.htmlhttps://archive.ph/EUXfc
The Largest Source of Stolen Guns? Parked Cars.
The growing number of firearms kept in vehicles has become a new point of contention in the debates over regulating gun safety.
By Richard Fausset
March 25, 2023
NASHVILLE On a Sunday in January 2022, a Glock 9mm pistol, serial number AFDN559, disappeared from a Dodge Charger parked near a Midtown Nashville bank after someone smashed in the rear drivers side window.
Ten months later, Nashville police officers arrested three teenagers suspected in a series of shootings, and discovered a cache of weapons in a nearby apartment. Among them was AFDN559. Forensic analysts would later tie the Glock to three shootings, including an attack in August that wounded four youths and another that wounded a 17-year-old girl in September.
In a country awash with guns, with more firearms than people, the parked car, or in many cases the parked pickup truck, has become a new flashpoint in the debates over how and whether to regulate gun safety.
There is little question about the scope of the problem. A report issued in May by the gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety analyzed FBI crime data in 271 American cities, large and small, from 2020 and found that guns stolen from vehicles have become the nations largest source of stolen firearms with an estimated 40,000 guns stolen from cars in those cities alone.
In some cities, organized groups of young people have swept through neighborhoods and areas around sports arenas, looking for weapons left under car seats or in unlocked center consoles or glove compartments. Their work is occasionally made easier by motorists who advertise their right to bear arms with car window stickers promoting favored gun brands, or that declare molon labe a defiant message from ancient Sparta, which roughly translates as come and take them.
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"Steal My Gun, Please. It's In My Vehicle"
ProudMNDemocrat
(16,967 posts)DUH!
dem4decades
(11,330 posts)Looks like we're making America great again.
sanatanadharma
(3,769 posts)New laws if necessary! Such irresponsible gun owners are not victims; they are aiding and abetting criminal gun activity.
ThoughtCriminal
(14,080 posts)save gun thieves a lot of time. And even they have a vehicle gun safe, they are the ones who will get a broken window.
hunter
(38,362 posts)Burglars aren't really interested in ordinary consumer crap.
70sEraVet
(3,584 posts)He advertises that he has a weapon, the weapon is stolen by neighborhood criminals, which then become armed.
It sure sounds like we'd be better off if the first guy didnt have a weapon.
TheBlackAdder
(28,277 posts)BlueWaveNeverEnd
(8,254 posts)Takket
(21,751 posts)Kick in to the DU tip jar?
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