Guns stolen from NY sheriff's car while he shopped

[LAGC]

HENRIETTA, N.Y. — Police are investigating the theft of two loaded guns from a western New York sheriff's car while he shopped with his grandchildren at a suburban Rochester mall.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office says John York, the sheriff in neighboring Livingston County, was at the Marketplace Mall in Henrietta Friday afternoon when someone smashed a window on his unmarked patrol car and stole two .45-caliber handguns, a stun gun and other items.

York reported the incident when he left the mall and returned to the car.

Monroe County sheriff's deputies are investigating the thefts. A department spokesman says Monday no one has been arrested.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP1adb007caadd46ae9e8a8b3675ce2cb3.html

Yep, all we need to do is just ban anyone except for police from being able to legally own handguns.

That would stop criminals from getting them, yessirree Bob.

[petronius]

1. That's got to have been the most embarrassing phone call of his life

Pretty sure I can name one no-show at the next Monthly Sheriffs' Poker Party And Bowlathon...

[rfranklin]

2. Yep, good reason for everyone to carry a gun!

Then there would be less theft since everyone has one.

[LAGC]

4. Nice strawman.

It's actually been my experience that private owners tend to be more careful about their possessions.

Public-sector employees tend to be more lackadaisical, since after all, its the government's property, if anything happens, they can just requisition replacements.

Of course, most people just have one carry piece that they keep on their person (assuming CCW is allowed where they're going) so there generally aren't just guns laying around in the glovebox for any ol' thief to steal.

[AndyTiedye]

5. Yeah, but Accidental Discharge Would Become the Leading Cause of Death & Injury in the Country

[SteveM]

23. Adolescents have those all the time... Oh, wait! This is Guns... nt

[ileus]

6. If he'd been carrying them they wouldn't have been stolen.

If you have a EDC keep it on your waist.

[SteveM]

22. "That's you all over!" Wiz. of Oz.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. Not as bad as the picture of that M4 Assault rifle forgotten laying on the trunk of a Cop Car.

:rofl:

[one-eyed fat man]

7. Along with the most famous female officer

in Marble Falls, Texas.

Do you suppose she thinks she has a round chambered?



One of the most disappointing sounds on earth is a "click" when you are in desperate need of a "bang."

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

8. God, that picture is just embarassing.

Terrible shooting form. Terrible use of cover. Terrible weapon function/operation...

And the brady bunch wants us place our protection solely in the hands of the law enforecemnt. :rofl:

[Kennah]

21. She needs counseling. It was an obvious suicide attempt.

[SteveM]

24. "...round in chamber?" Got, I hope not. nt

[iverglas]

9. how too bleeding obvious is it

that this is in the news because the individual in question was under a duty to report and fulfilled that duty ... and that countless incidents like this obviously occur where the firearm or firearms are owned by ordinary members of the public and either don't make the news or are simply never reported?

Let's have a few dozen threads a day about some asshole who is under no duty to be in possession of firearms who fails to secure them, as a result of which they go walkabout in the hands of criminals, shall we?

[Remmah2]

10. Say what?

[AtheistCrusader]

11. I don't know anyone who has had a firearm stolen

that hasn't reported it. Firearms are expensive.

last guy got his .50's and .308 match grade rifles back too, they caught the scum in a motel doing who knows what with the rifles. Probably trying to arrange a sale.

[iverglas]

13. rifles???

Stolen and sold by and to criminals???

But I digress.

How many tens of thousands of firearms are stolen from members of the public in the US in a year?

How many of them make the news?

[AtheistCrusader]

15. Not many, I am sure.

But a lot are reported. The police are usually pretty good about recovering them. At least around here, they take missing firearms super-serious. That's high profile stuff.

But yes, stolen by criminals. They knew he was out of town, and had lots of time to cut away at his safe. Very expensive for him to repair, even though the guns were returned, and Liberty Safes will replace a safe if someone manages to cut into it. They did a lot of damage to his house doing it.

I am not aware of a report we can cite to examine the number of reported missing/stolen firearms in a year. I am interested in this statistic as well.

[iverglas]

18. figures vary very widely

and it's difficult even to find reports. Try googling

firearm stolen "united states"

-- which seems like the basic stuff -- and there just ain't much.

A Canadian figure from an official source:

http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports/annual_report_2007/feature_focus_2007_e.html

The Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) has maintained records pertaining to stolen or missing firearms since 1974 <as of 2007>. Currently, there are approximately 85,000 firearms recorded in the system, of which approximately 44,000 are classified as restricted firearms (e.g. handguns).

More recent figures:

http://www.guncontrol.ca/English/Home/News/clifeb07.cit5.pdf

In 2004, there were 3,582 firearms reported lost or stolen. That number bumped up slightly the following year, to 3,773, then rose to more than 4,187 in the first 11 months of 2006.

Say 4,000 a year ... multiply that by ... ? ratio based on number of firearms, number of firearms-owning households, different types of firearms owned, different propensity to report theft ... ? I think we'd have to agree that the figure for the US isn't a simple nine-times multiple of the Canadian figure.

Ah.

The National Crime Victimisation Survey (NCVS) in the United States reported that an estimated 341,000 incidents of firearm theft occurred per year between 1987 and 1992 (United States Bureau of Justice Statistics 1994). These figures only relate to the number of incidents, and not the number of firearms stolen per incident. The majority of the incidents of firearms theft occurred during a household burglary or theft (79.2%). A further four per cent were reported stolen during a violent crime or personal theft. Just over half of the incidents involved the theft of a handgun.

More recent estimates suggest that 600,000 firearms (long-arms and handguns) were stolen from residential premises in 1994 in the United States (Cook & Ludwig 1997).

Yeah, I'd think that an average from 1987-1992 and also a 1994 estimate might be a little out of date now.

[AtheistCrusader]

12. This happened to Gil Kerlikowske as well.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002141041_chiefgun05m.html


The Seattle Times reported in July 2001 that between 1996 and 2000, 15 Seattle Police Department guns were stolen from either cars or homes. More recent figures are not immediately available, Whitcomb said.

Sgt. Kevin Haistings, president of the Seattle Police Officers' Guild, said he knows of no situation where an officer has been disciplined or investigated for having a gun stolen.

15 guns in 4 years? crimony

[iverglas]

14. oldie but goodie

The tale even has a fanny pack!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=230963&mesg_id=230963

(Tampa radio personality) Bubba the Love Sponge has guns stolen out of car

Police recovered the items after witnesses reported a description of the burglars and undercover officers arrested two men.

Clem's 2005 Chevrolet Suburban was among three vehicles reported burglarized at the Sunrise Lanes on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N at 11:07 Wednesday night, according to St. Petersburg Police. The radio personality reported a fanny pack was taken from his vehicle containing credit cards, a bank card, two handguns and an honorary sheriff's badge from Indiana; Clem has a concealed weapons permit.

Clem's boss at WHPT-FM (The Bone 102.5), the Tampa station which airs his top-rated morning radio show, said the host decided to sleep in today after staying up late Wednesday night handling details related to the burglary. His program airs at 6 a.m. weekdays.

An honorary sheriff's badge ... probably doesn't qualify him as an "LEO". ;)

If he'd been Joe/Jane Nobody working at the local gas bar, this would not have been in the papers.

[AtheistCrusader]

16. 'Love sponge'?

I don't even want to know.

[iverglas]

17. I don't write 'em

I just copy 'n paste 'em. ;)

[brendan120678]

19. His show is pretty sleazy and raunchy...

it used to be syndicated up here in Hartford some years ago, but they finally decided to drop him.

I'm pretty sure that his show is re-aired on SiriusXM satellite radio in the afternoons on one of Howard Stern's channels.

[SteveM]

26. "re-aired" is the term for it. Ah, the death of Marconi's medium. nt

[SteveM]

25. Sticky tile. Acidic aroma. Courthouse bathroom. What's not to like? nt

[Euromutt]

20. And as with Sheriff York, one lesson to take away that...

...a Crown Vic Police Interceptor with tax-exempt plates is still identifiable as a police vehicle, even if it is "unmarked." At least in York's case, the thief had to actually break into the car, whereas in Kerlikowske's case, there was a very good possibility he'd inadvertently left the vehicle unlocked.