If It Can Happen To Rob Gronkowski, It Can Happen To You

Super Bowl Sunday wasn’t a good day for Rob Gronkowski. Despite playing pretty well, his team lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in a thrilling game. Not only that, he returned home to find out someone had stolen firearms from him while he was playing.

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Three firearms were reportedly stolen from the home of New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski during a robbery while he was at Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.

Cheryl Fiandaca of WBZ-TV reported the news Tuesday.

TMZ Sports noted Gronkowski called police after returning home from Minnesota to report the stolen items. The police report said the burglary took place Sunday night around 8:50 p.m. ET, right as the Super Bowl was taking place at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“This isn’t an emergency … this is just uh, Rob Gronkowski calling,” he said during the 911 call Monday, per TMZ. “And while I was gone, my whole house got robbed while on the Super Bowl trip and I just got back.”

Gronkowski shared his place with two roommates. It’s unclear if they were in town during the time of the break-in or not, probably because they weren’t celebrities.

Now, once we get past the idea that a sports star like Gronkowski has roommates, we can get into the meat and potatoes of the issue, the theft of three firearms.

Based on the TMZ Sports report, the thieves apparently focused on the roommates’ belongings because they couldn’t gain access to Gronkowski’s room, which was locked. It wasn’t until later when Gronk learned his guns had been stolen.

It isn’t clear whether the firearms were secured in a safe or with a lock or not. It’s possible that such measures weren’t in place due to the fact that no children appear to have had access to the weapons.

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There’s a lesson here, though. If this can happen to a celebrity, someone who has deeper pockets than yours (most likely), then why would you think you’re immune to theft? Even a homebody like me runs the risk of someone stealing their guns, which is why I’ll still have my safe even after my kids have left the house.

Unfortunately, there are now three guns in criminal hands. This isn’t Gronkowski’s fault, but the fact remains. It’s up to us as gun owners to do what we can to minimize any potential increase in those numbers. While we can’t prevent all firearm thefts, even of our own guns, we can make it damn hard for the jackwagons, and that’s what we all need to do.

Nothing is ever theft-proof, but we can make it unattractive to criminals. We can secure our homes and our firearms in such a way that the crooks will simply decide we’re not worth the hassle. They’ll be forced to look for softer targets. While that sucks for those softer targets, there’s only so much you can do. It’s up to those softer targets to harden up, not yours.

After all, if a man who has made tens of millions of dollars can be victimized, what makes you think you’re immune?

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