One of the recurring themes here at Bearing Arms is that criminals do not obey gun laws. By their very nature, they don’t follow any law they don’t want to. That’s especially true of guns as they are a key part of their “trade.”

Yet while anti-gunners want to impose new restrictions on people like you and me, the criminals are still getting guns despite the myriad of gun laws already on the books. How is that possible?

Well, for one, if they get them from a gun store, they’re usually not doing it legally…or, in some cases, when it’s even open.

Oconee County Sheriff’s Office officials said a man was arrested Monday following a burglary at a gun shop near Westminster.

According to the sheriff’s office, deputies responded Saturday at about 5:52 p.m. to an alarm at Blue Ridge Arms, located on Blackjack Road.

…

The Criminal Investigations Division gathered enough evidence to obtain arrest warrants for Michael David McCann, 26, of Westminster, for second degree burglary, grand larceny, malicious injury to property and wearing a mask during the commission of a crime, according to the sheriff’s office.

Allegedly, McGann used the trailer hitch on his truck to break the window, which enabled him to get in the store. All the firearms were recovered.

However, there’s no mention of whether he filled out the Form 4473 or underwent the required NICS check. Considering how backlogged the NICS system is, I’m going to guess he didn’t.

Let’s just call it a hunch.

Of course, people do this all the time. I had no idea how many gun store burglaries there were in this country until I started writing for Bearing Arms and came across news reports of just this happening on a daily basis. Or, at least, that’s what it seemed like.

What I do know is that gun store burglaries are common. Gun stores do what they can to mitigate this, many boasting iron bars on their windows and doors and building barricades to prevent this kind of assault on their property. However, others can’t. They’re small businesses that aren’t necessarily flush with cash. They do what they can, but you’re never going to stop a determined thief.

Now, McGann is behind bars for his alleged role in this, as is right and proper.

However, had he successfully sold those guns to interested buyers–likely criminal buyers–how many of those guns would have been used to commit crimes that would, in turn, be used to justify still more gun control? My guess is that a lot of them would have. Then again, most crimes are committed with guns obtained illegally in the first place. Either through theft or deception, the bad guys keep getting guns and will continue to get guns. That’s not about to end.

What can end, however, is the restriction on law-abiding citizens so they can meet the criminal threat on something approaching equal footing. Then they can…disuade criminals with any and all due force, thus ending the threat for them and the next poor soul who would have been targeted.