Guns aren’t an inexpensive purchase. Unless you’re dropping money on things like Hi-Points, you’re spending several hundred dollars at a minimum, and if you’re buying Hi-Points, you’re still paying more than $100 for a firearm. The better the gun, the more you spend, as a general rule.

Purchasing a firearm can be comparable to buying a laptop, a flatscreen TV, or a piece of jewelry, depending on your gun budget.

Yet, no one leaves those things sitting in an unlocked car. They just don’t.

So why, then, are Leon County police reporting so many firearms stolen out of unlocked cars?

On July 1, a Leon County Sheriff’s deputy was patrolling the Ballard Road area in southeast Tallahassee, when he ran the license plate of a gold 1996 Toyota.

The reading — which came back as a 1998 blue Ford — sparked a pursuit between the deputy and two men in the front seats, who ran away, leaving a young child in the back seat, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Both men were soon handcuffed and the vehicle was searched after a deputy said he “smelled marijuana.”

While looking through a backpack that allegedly contained pills and marijuana, officers found a Taurus x22, a semi-automatic pistol made in Brazil.

About six weeks earlier, the very same gun was reported stolen to the Tallahassee Police Department.

The owner told police that it was taken out of an unlocked car — parked in the 2300 block of Eastgate Way — around the corner from Tallahassee Regional Animal Hospital on May 14.

This was one of more than 120 guns wereported stolen from unlocked vehicles this year in Leon County and Tallahassee.

*sigh*

Honestly, folks, what the hell is wrong with people?

I’m pretty sure that the average Bearing Arms reader doesn’t do stupid things like this, but you probably know people who do. If so, forward this to them because they need to understand one thing: DON’T LEAVE YOUR GUN IN AN UNLOCKED CAR, YOU MORON!

Look, I get that you can’t always take your gun with you. Some places forbid carrying and they use metal detectors to make sure you’re not. As such, you may have to leave the gun in the car.

One would assume the gun is stashed out of sight, at least one would hope it is. However, to then fail to lock the door is the height of stupidity.

As noted previously, guns are expensive and you wouldn’t leave any other expensive item in an unlocked car and reasonably expect it to be there when you get back, so why would you do that with a gun? Even if you weren’t worried about arming a criminal–you should be, but assuming you’re not for whatever reason–why would you do such a stupid thing with such an expensive item?

Honestly, the idiocy on display in these cases boggles my mind. It’s not enough to make me say that these people shouldn’t get their Second Amendment rights due to stupidity, but they sure do make it hard to remember that “shall not be infringed” doesn’t include a passage about needing to be intelligent first.

Folks, don’t do this. Lock your guns up if you have to leave them in the car. Lock your car. Don’t make it easy on the bad guys, for crying out loud.