NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Metro Police said more than 550 guns have been stolen from vehicles in Nashville so far this year.
Just last week, police said 21 guns were stolen from vehicles and 8 of those vehicles were easy targets as they were unlocked.
More than 550 guns stolen from vehicles so far this year in Nashville
The word is officially out in Nashville (and probably everywhere) that you can find a gun in a car. This no longer a burglary to sweep the forgotten cell phone or backpack from the car, but a search for a high value item. Did you notice the part were it said only 8 of the vehicles were left unlocked? That means the rest were gained access by other means.
I tried to get more info on how the cars were broken into, but nothing was found easily. can only speculate that it may include a decent amount of glass-breaking and then a quick grab of the unsecured weapon from some obvious location (center console, glove compartment, etc.)
Carry then gun with you all times and if you legally cannot, make sure it is really secured in some sort of safe or strong box that would require a thief to put way too much effort to get and they rather move along than waste time.
And keep it out of sight too.
Hannibal Lecter : No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don’t you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice?
Hat Tip to all the readers who sent me the link
Finally convinced Mrs B to get a center console vault for her daily ride. (Now to get her to get her concealed carry permit.)
Having put one in each of our vehicles, my assessment is these things are for running into the post office and the like. Yes they are armored, yes they lock, no they will not withstand a dedicated assault over an extended time. That’s not the point.
Like any tool, or perhaps a better analogy is personal protective equipment, use your lockbox responsibly and appropriately. But, step 1, have a lockbox.
J.Kb. has posted numerous times about low costs methods of security firearms. Miguel has posted links to car gun safes.
The gist of all of this is exactly as you’ve stated, something is better than nothing. What we consider sub standard EDC is likely more than any thug dreams of carrying on a regular basis. My guess is that they have a rock and a will and nothing else.
The fact that a person with a bic pen can unlock a lock box in under 30 seconds with practice doesn’t matter. Because the thief is unlikely to have even that bic pen with them. So what if the cable isn’t hardened and you can cut it with a pair of side cutting wire cutters in less than 5 seconds, they aren’t carrying a pair of wire cutters.
In almost all cases, the fact that there is something there is enough to stop them. In my case, I just never ever leave a firearm unattended in my vehicle. I want to have a truck gun and I have the firearm, I just don’t have a place to safely secure it.
If I have to go to the Post Office, I either take somebody with me to guard my firearm while I’m in the Post Office OR I make sure it is well concealed and carry it into the PO.
There are a number of car lock boxes on Amazon for less than $50, look into them.
“ Unsecured Guns in Cars”
Why?
I do not understand this sort of thing.
There is No Excuse, ever.
There’s no reason to believe these numbers. In 2019, there were approximately 3400 burglaries in Nashville. If we assume all of those were car burglaries, and assume this year is the same as last, that would make about 2550 car burglaries so far this year.
The police want us to believe that over 20% of the cars burgled had unsecured guns in them.
But let’s assume more realistically that only half of the burglaries are car burglaries. So, over 40% of cars have unsecured guns in them.
That’s not believable. Police administrations are gun control enthusiasts. These numbers are propaganda.
May as it be, but we do have a serious issues with people leaving unsecured guns in cars.
And that is our responsibility.
And make sure that “securing your firearm” for the environment it is going to be in. At this point in my life, my children are firearms safe (within limits) but my grandson most definitely is not. A gun locked and loaded is not safe for him to be around.
For the bedroom rifle, the answer is a simple cable lock through the magazine well and ejection port. I want something better, but the better is either to expensive for now or just plan not available. My concern was “Now I have a key to deal with in the dark in a stress situation.”
My answer was LBE. It is a vest with six built in single magazine pouches and MOLLE ladders. The M7 went on one side, the IFAK/Blowout kit on the other, six mags in the pouches. It has D rings at both shoulders. The key to the lock went on a carabiner on the left shoulder. Now everything is in a known location. With reasonable access.
My kids could easily pick up the vest and grab the key. Somebody COULD steal the rifle. But the threat I’m securing against is the grand kid. If I wanted faster and safe from kids I’d go with https://stopboxusa.com/products/ar-15-chamber-lock which seems to be a quick and reasonable answer.
Is this going to stop somebody from stealing my rifle and just cutting the lock? No. But the gun safe(s) are bolted to the floor and are a bit harder to open. They aren’t B Class or C Class UL TL-30×6. What they will do is make the thief think it might be time to move on.
Side Note: We were gifted with a safe from pre-WWII that nobody had the combination to and we suspected was empty. Using destructive means, it took only about 10 minutes to cut through the mild steel back and expose the interior fireproofing and cut resistances. It was sort of a nasty clay/concrete mix. Ate my cutting disks.
If you are willing to make noise and destroy the safe, it doesn’t take all that long to open most safes. And the door isn’t where you start.