A few days ago, I talked about a report showing that there was a drastic increase in guns stolen from people's cars. In that piece, I asked about how many of those guns were stolen outside of gun-free zones.
After all, it just stands to reason that many people who carry guns are going to keep them on their person up until they're prohibited by law. Then, they have to leave them in the car to take care of their business, and that leaves them vulnerable.
There aren't likely to be any kind of answers to that question, at least not anytime soon, but I'm not the only one seeing the connection here. The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms sent this out as a press release recently:
A new report from the Council on Criminal Justice revealing an increase in firearms thefts from parked cars over a five-year study period (2018-2022) overlooks one major component of the problem: the necessity for legally-armed citizens to leave their firearms before entering so-called “gun-free zones,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms observed.
“While the report raises alarms about a 31 percent increase of gun thefts from vehicles,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “it fails to mention a major reason people must leave their firearms in their cars, and that’s the proliferation of ‘gun-free zones’ and ‘sensitive areas,’ all promoted by the same social justice extremists who complain about guns falling into the wrong hands.
“A legally-owned firearm is safest when it is in the possession of its owner,” Gottlieb explained. “Armed private citizens should never be expected to leave their firearms just to have lunch, attend a meeting or public hearing, handle personal business in a government building, enter churches, synagogues or mosques, or merely to go shopping at a mall or market.
“Research indicates that mass shootings occur more frequently in so-called ‘gun-free zones’ than any other venue,” he continued. “Legally-armed citizens have successfully intervened in such situations and prevented tragedies, such as the incident at Indiana’s Greenwood Park Mall, where a young man neutralized a would-be mass shooter after he had opened fire in the food court area. Armed volunteers have stopped killers in places of worship in Texas and Michigan.
“Establishing laws that disarm honest citizens while creating risk-free environments for criminals and crazy people is not simply ineffective,” Gottlieb stated, “it’s insane. Such restrictions not only make it impossible for victims to defend themselves, they provide unparalleled opportunities for thieves, especially during the holiday season.
“No law should ever be allowed to force law-abiding citizens to leave their means of self-defense locked in an automobile,” he said. “If you want to prevent gun thefts from parking lots and garages, don’t make things easier for thieves. If you want to deter mass shootings in public places, make it possible for people to fight back. If you want to keep guns out of the wrong hands, then allow those guns to be in the right hands.”
It's nice to see your own thoughts echoed after you first published them.
I'm not taking credit for this, mind you. I'm quite sure I'm far from the only person who saw these numbers and had the same thought. It's just nice to see them validated by someone else also saying the same thing.
And really, it seems pretty damn obvious that this is the issue.
While I have no doubt some people are leaving guns in their cars as a matter of general practice, most of us don't. We have no interest in any such thing, and while I know plenty who will carry in gun-free zones because they'd rather get in trouble than get killed, a lot of others don't and won't.
That makes guns available.
Sure, many are stolen from outside people's homes, but many more are stolen from outside bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and other businesses that are often considered off-limits due to things like alcohol sales.
Gun-free zones don't mean no guns. They mean no guns in law-abiding hands.
Yet the guns have to be somewhere, and if you're someone who lawfully carries, you're left with a choice, none of which are great. That's going to mean bad things no matter what you do, and some of those are risking your gun being stolen from inside your car.
You can blame people for leaving their guns in sight or in unlocked cars, and you wouldn't be wrong. But there' more than enough blame to go around, and that includes a share for gun-free zones.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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