Authorities in Greenwood, Indiana say they've arrested four suspects in the attempted burglary of a gun store over the weekend, and as we've seen with other recent smash-and-grabs targeting firearm retailers, several of the arrestees are juveniles. 

According to Greenwood police, two 18-year-old and two 14-year-olds, all from nearby Indianapolis, were arrested over the weekend after trying to break in to Atkinson Firearms, though it doesn't sound like they were able to get away with any merchandise. It's at least the second burglary of a gun store in the small town within the past two weeks, however, and the suspect in the first burglary was more successful.

The Greenwood Police Department told 13News that around 3 a.m. Sept. 9, around 20 handguns were stolen from the Greenwood Trading Post, located at 2801 Fairview Place A, off State Road 135 and a few blocks south of Fry Road.

On Wednesday, Greenwood detectives executed a search warrant of a 16-year-old suspect where they found a firearm that had been stolen from the same store. 

Police believe two other teenagers were involved and that two stolen cars were used in the burglary.

It doesn't appear that there's any connection between the two incidents, despite the similarities. Sadly, as NSSF senior vice president and general counsel Larry Keane detailed here at Bearing Arms just a few weeks ago, these smash-and-grab robberies, typically also involving the use of a stolen car, are becoming a disturbing trend among juvenile offenders. 

These thieves will literally steal trucks and vans, drive them through a cinderblock wall and make off with dozens of firearms in seconds – all before police have a chance to respond to alarms. These thieves threaten the community when the firearms they steal are in the hands of criminals. They threaten the small businesses – the mom-and-pop shops that make up the majority of federal firearms licensees across America.

The trend is alarming not just in the shocking lengths to which criminals will go to illegally-obtain firearms but also who is committing these crimes. These criminals are younger – just teens – some with known gang ties. Police in Delaware announced the arrest of a 14-year-old in New Castle in May for allegedly stealing a flatbed truck and driving it through the wall of Millers gun shop, stealing 16 handguns from the six-decade old business. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tells NSSF that these thefts are often part of gang initiation test. 

So what can be done to address the issue? Keane says NSSF's Operation Secure Store offers some help to FFLs by educating them on how to identify vulnerabilities in their own shops, but adds that politicians in many anti-gun states are choosing to treat the victims of crimes as if they're criminals themselves. 

Washington state passed a law earlier this year that requires gun shop owners to have bars, grates and security screens on all windows and commercial-grade metal doors at each point of entry. The law mandates firearms be stored overnight in a fireproof safe. The state also requires security alarms systems monitored by a remote base that’s capable of notifying law enforcement and retain those recordings for seven years. Those systems must include motion and sound detectors. Those system also require monitoring of customers. 

Those mandates are cost-prohibitive for some FFLs, and while the state is happy to impose requirements on gun store owners it's not helping to foot the bill through grants or tax incentives. 

Meanwhile, many juvenile suspects arrested for these smash-and-grabs are simply released to their parents and told to show up in juvenile court months later. And when they finally do get their day in court, they're all too often sentenced to probation, perhaps with a few hours of community service thrown in as well. 

The goal of the juvenile justice system is rehabilitation, not just incarceration, but the status quo doesn't seem to be deterring juveniles from stealing cars and smashing into the storefronts of gun stores so they can take off with the firearms inside. We need to ensure there are serious consequences for these serious crimes, or else they're likely going to become even more common in the future.