There are upsides and downsides to renting your home instead of owning it. For one thing, when something breaks, you just call your landlord and they’re on the hook for getting it fixed. Often, they even take care of the landscaping so you don’t have to.

One downside is that it means you have a landlord who can just walk into your place anytime they want.

Yeah, even if they’re not supposed to, you can’t exactly keep them out. Usually, though, it’s not an issue.

In North Carolina, though, it became a huge problem.

Andrew Culbreth, who identified himself to WRAL as Ned Byrd’s landlord and said he lived in the home with the deputy, was charged with felony breaking and entering and five counts of larceny with a firearm, the station reported.

…

According to arrest records obtained by WITN, Culbreth is accused of taking mountain bikes, a tactical case and gear, a Remington shotgun and a pistol from the house. In all, Culbreth is accused of taking items totaling at least $10,000.

I’m sorry, but that’s especially low.

Don’t get me wrong, theft is wrong all on its own, but to steal from your murdered tenant is especially repugnant.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that he stole firearms, which is a big no-no pretty much everywhere.

What did the landlord intend to do with these stolen guns? We don’t know. Maybe he just intended to keep them for himself. Maybe he planned to sell them to someone else. Either way, it’s still disgusting.

However, I can’t help but wonder how many landlords have done this elsewhere. Especially if there’s reason to believe the next of kin doesn’t actually know what should be there and what shouldn’t.

I’m not saying it happens often, but I do wonder how many black market guns come from just such a thing.

Regardless, this particular individual is looking at a long time in prison for this particular crime. Frankly, stealing from a murdered cop means there’s no sentence he’s likely to get that would really be enough.

Further, he’s made a great case for home ownership even for single people. At least then, no landlord will walk into your home after your death and take your stuff.

There’s no mention of the particular sentence for such a crime in North Carolina where this took place, but again, it won’t be long enough.

Clearly, what we need are laws against such thefts. After all, if gun control works as advertised, the problem is that we don’t have enough laws against theft, right? Especially the theft of firearms from deputies murdered in the line of duty.

What? There are laws against all that? And people break them anyway? Shocking.

In all seriousness, this happens and I’m glad the landlord is looking at prison time. If he did indeed do this, he deserves everything he gets and more.

However, we should note that he’s only accused of the crime and is considered innocent until proven guilty, as he should be.

But if the evidence convicts him, he’ll get no sympathy.