What I'm suggesting is that you can’t just lock your front door and assume
that you’ve done your part in securing your belongings, and it’s the responsibility of the law/police/state/insurance company/lock manufacturer to ensure that your guns and other possessions are secure.
I recently had a satellite radio stolen from my car. The car was parked in my driveway, the radio was sitting in a cradle on the dash, I forgot to lock the doors, and I left it there overnight. I came out the next morning and the door was open and my radio was gone. In my mind, who’s responsible for that radio being stolen? Me. I was the dumb ass who left the radio sitting on the dash in an unlocked car.
Well, you may have made it easier, but as Pilgrim says, it's still not your
fault.
I had a similar thing happen to me a number of years ago. I was moving
stuff out of my car into the office in the back of a friend's store, and it
was late at night. I had forgotten all about the door to my car being
open. The two laptops and the tools I had in the back of my car were
gone, stolen. I did blame myself for leaving the door open but I also
felt victimized. Was I stupid? Yes.... I felt like shit about the whole
thing. but the bottom line is, whoever stole those things is the thief and the true blame ultimately rests with them. That doesn't change the
fact that my belongings are gone and I could have easily averted the
problem.
In a perfect world, I should be able to leave my car unlocked in my own driveway without worrying about my radio getting ripped off. I should be able to rely on the law, the police, and basic human morality to protect my belongings. But this isn’t a perfect world, and I need to be in tune with that reality and protect myself accordingly.
Generally I will agree with that.
If I had locked my car door, I doubt my radio would have been stolen.
Maybe, or as pilgrim said, broken window.. ? Not having a lock
does make it an order of magnitude easier.
And I’d venture to say that if the gun owner in this article had invested a couple grand in a quality safe and a decent alarm system, his M60 and UZI wouldn’t have been stolen either.
I can agree with that.... Personally I would have that as a minimum if
I had an MG... but I don't speak for everyone and others circumstances
may be different.
Hopefully he has good insurance, so that he can at least be made whole again, financially speaking. But he’s probably not getting his guns back. And if he does, his M60 is unlikely to return in the “mint condition” it was in before it was stolen. It really suck, and I feel bad for the guy, but I don’t have much sympathy for people who don’t help themselves.
The only consolation prize is that maybe he will be more careful
next time about storing his guns. Often times one does not get
galvanized about security until you've been a victim.
-Mike
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