I HATE a Thief - Stolen Handgun

IUHoosier429

IUHoosier429

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Happy Mother's Day (long rant alert)...

Awoke at 6:30 this morning to my wife telling me our house was broken into. Going from dead-ass asleep to frantic, freak-out awake, she then explained that it was only our garage. Still...

The dirtbag(s) opened her driver-side door and snatched her big purse, which also held her wallet, work documents, and makeup bag - including her DL, employee badge, credit and health insurance cards, and a freshly refilled ADHD prescription. They opened my passenger-side door and took off with my Glock 17. Fugggg. They also grabbed my old Ray-Bans, but left her $400 pair of Givenchy sunglasses (yeah, I know ... :rolleyes:) behind. I have a couple nice knives and a multi-tool, a $100 flashlight, and a bag of about $30 in change in my driver-side door, and a nice backpack in the back, which are all still there. A pocket-sized copy of the Constitution in my glove box was on the seat, so maybe the perp(s) read through that? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And our garage door fobs and spare keys are still there. Nothing in the garage was touched.

Cops came out, asked next to no questions (I actually had to ask them if they wanted the serial number of the gun) and made a report. Our neighborhood has a private Facebook group and I posted there. We have Ring cameras facing front and back, but they do not capture the driveway so nothing was recorded - I am working on that today. Security system was armed and thank GOD no one came inside our house. I found a tossed metal CD case and several scattered CDs in the street that did not belong to us, so perhaps someone else in the 'hood had a vehicle that got hit. I told the officers about that, and they took photos and put everything in an evidence bag. Both our neighbors have Ring doorbells, but the police only knocked on one door. I'm reaching out to local gun and pawn shops. The Glock is an MOS model with a red dot, weapon light, and aftermarket barrel, so it stands out a bit. I have about zero confidence it will turn up in anything other than a crime, but never say never.

I'm quite thankful it wasn't worse ... for my family and for whoever decided to steal from us. It could have been way, way worse. I'm also furiously livid. My heart aches for my wife. She awoke on Mother's Day to this crap, only to be late to work and so will have to work late tonight. Now she won't get to spend any time with our 1yo tonight before bedtime, and together read her truly, absolutely terrible Mother's Day card that my daughter made her. All this stolen stuff can be replaced, but not my family's sense of safety. And I hate that I've now contributed a handgun to the criminal pipeline.

Besides canceling cards, alerting all our relevant institutions, and picking up a nice bottle of wine for my wife, is there anything else I should be doing right now?
 
Stogies said:
I am a little surprised that you left all that stuff in the garage to be honest.
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Don't blame the victim... This on the thief, not @IUHoosier429

He can leave whatever he wants in his cars. That doesn't make it ok for the thief to break into their garage.
 
Bigjim said:
I would make damn sure the garage is secure with the alarm system. Could be you end up with another incident. I’m sorry that you’re having to go through this.
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👍 I just purchased a smart garage control that works with our security system. We have credit/ID monitoring and thankfully nothing has been flagged yet - obviously will be be watching that like a hawk over the next several days/weeks.
 
It’s just complacency. People set up a secure area, then store valuables outside of it.

How did they gain access?
 
IUHoosier429 said:
👍 I just purchased a smart garage control that works with our security system. We have credit/ID monitoring and thankfully nothing has been flagged yet - obviously will be be watching that like a hawk over the next several days/weeks.
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One last thing. I’d contact the local pawn shops and give them the sn of the 17 in case someone tries to get rid of it.
 
Bigjim said:
One last thing. I’d contact the local pawn shops and give them the sn of the 17 in case someone tries to get rid of it.
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Great idea. Probably why he mentioned it in the OP. 😂
 
IUHoosier429 said:
And I hate that I've now contributed a handgun to the criminal pipeline.
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Yeah no. You didn't do that. The piece of trash thief did that.

I went through this a while back when I also had a gun stolen from my car. That wound up being a cheap lesson and prompted me to upgrade home security. And I'm pretty sure thieves look for that stuff. Since I added the camera overwatching my cars I have not even had a door checker step foot in my driveway.
 
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Alabamacoastie said:
Don't blame the victim... This on the thief, not @IUHoosier429

He can leave whatever he wants in his cars. That doesn't make it ok for the thief to break into their garage.
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Still... the best way to lose a handgun is to leave it in a vehicle.
 
Alabamacoastie said:
Don't blame the victim... This on the thief, not @IUHoosier429

He can leave whatever he wants in his cars. That doesn't make it ok for the thief to break into their garage.
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In this day and age it’s just not prudent to do so.

I don’t want the neighborhood bear to eat the steaks off my grill, so I don’t leave them out there unattended. 😉
 
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...and were the vehicles locked?

I don't think it is much different. That's the lesson here. The BGs go for the vehicles, whether in a garage or not. Far less chance of getting shot (or caught) when breaking into an unlocked, unoccupied vehicle, even inside a garage.
 
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Let's be a bit careful here about "blame".

How many times have people here used the phrase "don't do stupid thing in stupid places with stupid people at stupid times"? Or how many times have people here pointed out poor decisions that placed someone in harms way?

The fault of an assault, robbery, rape, etc. ALWAYS lies with the person(s) committing the act, that's indisputable. But like it or not, there is a bit of wisdom to be had here.

And I think that's all that was meant.

Certainly, @IUHoosier429 has discussed changes he's going to make to help minimize a recurrence, and perhaps even capture evidence of who if it does happen again. This is part of the (painful) learning process.
 
I keep a handgun in both the truck snd van. They are not coming out, home or not. Not chancing NOT being about to defend myself by forgetting my weapon because it’s something a thief may take. $70k worth of tools and parts could be taken also. Do I take them off every night? 🙄
 
Sp00ks said:
/me walks out to the car and retrieves the firearm I forgot when we got home.
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Extra handling is extra opportunities for a ND, in my opinion.

Sounds like it either needs to be worn, or the car needs to be locked.

Too bad there isn't a one size fits all answer to this.
 
kcult said:
Extra handling is extra opportunities for a ND, in my opinion.

Sounds like it either needs to be worn, or the car needs to be locked.

Too bad there isn't a one size fits all answer to this.
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I'm not 100% sure of your point....

Car was locked, but I rarely leave it in the car and it's in a lock box in the car..... If I wasn't visiting the Hospital ICU today, I would be wearing it. I could probably get away with wearing it in the ICU and nobody would be the wiser but my brain isn't in it at the moment. I live in BFE and it likely wouldn't be a problem but I still don't like leaving it in the car.

I can kind of understand leaving a firearm in a car in your garage, but it really surprises me that a woman would leave her purse in the car, in the garage. It should neve have been a problem but it was.
 
Geezer said:
I'm saddened to see some of you placing the blame on @IUHoosier429. He's the victim here.
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I'm not blaming him.

The problem is that the BGs have our number. They know where to find our stuff, and how to get away with stealing it. More guns are stolen from vehicles than anywhere else. It's happening all over the US. Here's a recent local article about it.

Here is a study which mentions that lots of guns are stolen from cars, but also finds that the majority of guns stolen in the US are stolen in the South.
 
BlackGun said:
I keep a handgun in both the truck snd van. They are not coming out, home or not. Not chancing NOT being about to defend myself by forgetting my weapon because it’s something a thief may take. $70k worth of tools and parts could be taken also. Do I take them off every night? 🙄
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I worked out of a van and or pickup for decades and carried tools that were worth thousands of dollars. I also carried a handgun that was NEVER left in the vehicle at ANY time. Sure I worried about losing the tools but I could sleep at night knowing some dumb ass teen wasn’t gonna find my pistol and kill someone or themselves with my gun. Statistics show that the majority of car burglaries are committed by 12-16 year olds. I carried concealed over 45 years I never forgot my handgun because it is part of my wardrobe. I’d probably forget shoes before the gun. If My pants are on I’m carrying, simple as that.

My point is probably going to piss some of you off but I really don’t care.
Firearms do not belong in an unattended vehicle at any time no matter where the vehicle is parked. Using any excuse to justify leaving one in a vehicle (especially “I might to bring my gun today”) is irresponsible and stupid in my opinion. I truly hope no one on this forum ever has to learn that a dipshit 14 year old stole their gun (from their car) and killed his buddy. Imagine living with that every day.
 
Jeppo said:
How did they enter the garage?
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My wife thinks she left it open when she got home from work late Saturday evening :( She works in an unimaginably stressful job with critically ill and dying kids.

I didn't want to "throw her under the bus" in my original post. Mistakes happen - Lord knows I make them constantly - and literally the only person I'm angry at is whoever came onto/into my property to commit a crime.

We live in a nice suburban neighborhood, know all our neighbors, know each others' kids' and dogs' names, help each other out, cheers beers. It's safe here. It's great here. Kids leave bikes in the yards, people leave their cars parked with the windows down. Just an honest mistake after a horrible workday, and an expensive yet valuable lesson. It could have been worse.

New security camera mounted in the garage; another is going up outside that corner of the house tomorrow.
 
IUHoosier429 said:
My wife thinks she left it open when she got home from work late Saturday evening :( She works in an unimaginably stressful job with critically ill and dying kids.

I didn't want to "throw her under the bus" in my original post. Mistakes happen - Lord knows I make them constantly - and literally the only person I'm angry at is whoever came onto/into my property to commit a crime.

We live in a nice suburban neighborhood, know all our neighbors, know each others' kids' and dogs' names, help each other out, cheers beers. It's safe here. It's great here. Kids leave bikes in the yards, people leave their cars parked with the windows down. Just an honest mistake after a horrible workday, and an expensive yet valuable lesson. It could have been worse.

New security camera mounted in the garage; another is going up outside that corner of the house tomorrow.
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A year or two ago, I posted about finding some https://www.myq.com/ devices on the WalMart scrap heap. They were cheap enough to give ‘em a try. One of the numerous features I’m really enjoying is a schedule that closes any/all open doors at a preset time (8PM in our case).
 
Sorry to hear about your item's that got stolen. I know you said pd went to one house with ring door bell. If I were you I would go speak with my neighbors and look for cameras and see if they have any suspicious cars coming in or out of neighborhood. Hopefully you will get lucky and registration plate was caught on camera. Normally one car is not broken into in an neighborhood , unless they got spooked. While working pd we had 38 cars b & e reports in one neighborhood one Sunday morning. All the vehicles were unlocked and multiple guns were stolen. We eventually caught them. Good luck and I hope you get your stuff back.
 
biganimal said:
I worked out of a van and or pickup for decades and carried tools that were worth thousands of dollars. I also carried a handgun that was NEVER left in the vehicle at ANY time. Sure I worried about losing the tools but I could sleep at night knowing some dumb ass teen wasn’t gonna find my pistol and kill someone or themselves with my gun. Statistics show that the majority of car burglaries are committed by 12-16 year olds. I carried concealed over 45 years I never forgot my handgun because it is part of my wardrobe. I’d probably forget shoes before the gun. If My pants are on I’m carrying, simple as that.

My point is probably going to piss some of you off but I really don’t care.
Firearms do not belong in an unattended vehicle at any time no matter where the vehicle is parked. Using any excuse to justify leaving one in a vehicle (especially “I might to bring my gun today”) is irresponsible and stupid in my opinion. I truly hope no one on this forum ever has to learn that a dipshit 14 year old stole their gun (from their car) and killed his buddy. Imagine living with that every day.
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Yeah you pissed me off. As for someone stealing my gun and killing themself- see ya later asshole.
 
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Biganimal stated that you should never leave your gun in the car unattended. While I agree with that generally, there are times where you have to go into places where you are not allowed to carry under penalty of law, ie schools, and certain government buildings.

Should you disarm for your whole trip to that location or just keep it in your car, I prefer to keep it hidden in my car.
 
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I have a security camera setup to show the driveway and I can see the garage doors. Wife forgot and left the door up one one day, it happens.

To this day my wife will carry her purse with her to go somewhere, could be the mall to go shopping, a music festival, a horse race, whatever, and when we get parked she discovers that she doesn’t want to carry it. So, open the trunk, she puts her purse in, opens it up, rummages around for stuff in it for a minute, then close the trunk. Car has not yet been broken into, but everything about the process creates avoidable risk, and that drives me nuts.
 
kcult said:
Extra handling is extra opportunities for a ND, in my opinion.

Sounds like it either needs to be worn, or the car needs to be locked.

Too bad there isn't a one size fits all answer to this.
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There is. Unfortunately they won't let us shoot them except in certain circumstances.
 
blewis3 said:
Biganimal stated that you should never leave your gun in the car unattended. While I agree with that generally, there are times where you have to go into places where you are not allowed to carry under penalty of law, ie schools, and certain government buildings.

Should you disarm for your whole trip to that location or just keep it in your car, I prefer to keep it hidden in my car.
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Yeah the legal stuff is part of the problem. If you are sane enuff and legal enuff to carry anywhere, you should be able to carry everywhere. You don't change just because you crossed a threshold somewhere.
 
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IUHoosier429 said:
Happy Mother's Day (long rant alert)...

Awoke at 6:30 this morning to my wife telling me our house was broken into. Going from dead-ass asleep to frantic, freak-out awake, she then explained that it was only our garage. Still...

The dirtbag(s) opened her driver-side door and snatched her big purse, which also held her wallet, work documents, and makeup bag - including her DL, employee badge, credit and health insurance cards, and a freshly refilled ADHD prescription. They opened my passenger-side door and took off with my Glock 17. Fugggg. They also grabbed my old Ray-Bans, but left her $400 pair of Givenchy sunglasses (yeah, I know ... :rolleyes:) behind. I have a couple nice knives and a multi-tool, a $100 flashlight, and a bag of about $30 in change in my driver-side door, and a nice backpack in the back, which are all still there. A pocket-sized copy of the Constitution in my glove box was on the seat, so maybe the perp(s) read through that? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And our garage door fobs and spare keys are still there. Nothing in the garage was touched.

Cops came out, asked next to no questions (I actually had to ask them if they wanted the serial number of the gun) and made a report. Our neighborhood has a private Facebook group and I posted there. We have Ring cameras facing front and back, but they do not capture the driveway so nothing was recorded - I am working on that today. Security system was armed and thank GOD no one came inside our house. I found a tossed metal CD case and several scattered CDs in the street that did not belong to us, so perhaps someone else in the 'hood had a vehicle that got hit. I told the officers about that, and they took photos and put everything in an evidence bag. Both our neighbors have Ring doorbells, but the police only knocked on one door. I'm reaching out to local gun and pawn shops. The Glock is an MOS model with a red dot, weapon light, and aftermarket barrel, so it stands out a bit. I have about zero confidence it will turn up in anything other than a crime, but never say never.

I'm quite thankful it wasn't worse ... for my family and for whoever decided to steal from us. It could have been way, way worse. I'm also furiously livid. My heart aches for my wife. She awoke on Mother's Day to this crap, only to be late to work and so will have to work late tonight. Now she won't get to spend any time with our 1yo tonight before bedtime, and together read her truly, absolutely terrible Mother's Day card that my daughter made her. All this stolen stuff can be replaced, but not my family's sense of safety. And I hate that I've now contributed a handgun to the criminal pipeline.

Besides canceling cards, alerting all our relevant institutions, and picking up a nice bottle of wine for my wife, is there anything else I should be doing right now?
Click to expand...
Just to encourage you, I had a glock 22 stolen from my truck some years back. It turned up at the Durham po po and I eventually got it back.
 
JimB said:
I have a security camera setup to show the driveway and I can see the garage doors. Wife forgot and left the door up one one day, it happens.

To this day my wife will carry her purse with her to go somewhere, could be the mall to go shopping, a music festival, a horse race, whatever, and when we get parked she discovers that she doesn’t want to carry it. So, open the trunk, she puts her purse in, opens it up, rummages around for stuff in it for a minute, then close the trunk. Car has not yet been broken into, but everything about the process creates avoidable risk, and that drives me nuts.
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My wife does this purse hiding thing, inside the car or trunk and usually while being in plain view of anyone watching- who now knows exactly where the purse is hidden. No amount of "reasoning" with her works, its like that whole chunk of logic slides right out of the pan.
 
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