When we talk about gun violence, few people seem interested in talking about where the guns themselves came from. We know they’re generally stolen guns and rarely obtained by the gunmen in a lawful manner, but few seem interested in acknowledging that fact.

That doesn’t change the reality of the situation, though, which means stolen guns are a particularly troubling problem for those who support gun rights.

After all, these aren’t firearms likely to end up in law-abiding hands, now are they?

And around two dozen more have just landed in criminal hands.

More than 20 guns have been stolen from a local hardware store in Sumter. Police are asking anyone with information to come forward.

“It is a family business, but all our associates who feel like the work family…it feels like a violation,” Simpson Ace Hardware CEO Shawn Matthews explains. “It feels wrong.”

The Sumter Police Department says nearly two dozen long guns were stolen when five people, caught on security footage, broke into the family-owned business on Wednesday around 4:30 a.m.

“We’re all staying positive and really hoping that they’re going to catch the guys that did it,” Matthews explains.

…

There is a $5,000 reward for anyone with any information that leads to an arrest. If you think you might have seen anything early Wednesday morning near the business or might know someone who was involved, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously in any of the following ways:

• Call 888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372).
• Use the P3 Tips mobile app.
• LOG ON to www.midlandscrimestoppers.com, and click on the red “Submit a Tip” tab.

The reward may well be enough to get someone to turn these five guys in. It’s not likely to be enough to get them to turn on one another, though, but I could be wrong.

Either way, it’s important that these people be brought to justice.

The right to keep and bear arms is important, and nothing threatens that right quite like people stealing guns. After all, these weapons will end up in criminal hands, then be used in some criminal way. Those statistics will then be used to justify restricting our right to keep and bear arms, all because of the actions of people who didn’t get the guns legally in the first place.

Then we cannot understand the impact this kind of thing does to thing has on the stores themselves. Sure, they likely had more than a couple dozen long guns on the shelves, but those are now losses. Insurance might help, but that takes time and some stores may not have it.

My hope is that this one does and my hope is that these guys are caught before they can sell the guns to other criminals. Then the store can get their property back, the bad guys don’t arm other bad guys, and none of those guns are used in crime.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of other stolen guns out there that will be used in such a manner that we won’t even notice a difference in the statistics.