Henry Rifle Forums

I just found out that while I was on vacation, three of the four local gun shops here were broken into. Two were smashed into with vehicles and one was broken into twice in one week. Of course, people are upset with the gun shops saying they are not secure enough. I been in all three and with the exception of one, they are all concrete blocks construction. they all have camera's and alarms. Some citizens want them closed down or make them like prisons with upgrades that these shops just can't afford. these shops are mom and pop stores, family owned for generations. It would be a shame if they were forced to close. I am pretty sure one is going to chuck it as she wanted someone to buy her business before this happened. I am going to talk to her tomorrow and see how she is doing. I would not be surprised if she closes and goes down state and lives with her daughter. Jeri is one cool lady and I hope she sticks it out.
One other owner said it is like an arms race with robbers. What ever he does, they one up him. He says it is all in the response time for the authorities . He can only slow them down so much.
I am sure after the hysteria has die down, accommodations will be made on both sides to make the situation more secure. The world would be a sadder place if these mom and pops shut down. Not only for the owners, but for people who work for them, suppliers of products, and of course their customers.

Hard to stop a speeding car!

We had a shop not too far from here broken into recently. Big news for a couple of days.

A small gunshop is going to open near me soon. There is a very good chance I may be employed there at least part time. My greatest concern is security. The county Sheriffs office is about a mile away. Hopefully this will cut down on temptation.

Squatch wrote:Hard to stop a speeding car!

We had a shop not too far from here broken into recently. Big news for a couple of days.

I'm not going to say what all I could, but
if it was my shop I would defend it.
May not be able to stop the car, but
I could sure make sure he wouldn't do it again.

RP

My local shop was hit last year. Same way, a car driven through a set of doors. They had to rebuild that wall solid and reinforced it with steel bars. Those were the original doors that were closed up when they expanded about 5 years ago. They also added concrete and steel barriers to make the approach to the new entrance too narrow for a vehicle to get to the doors. It is a shame they have to spend so much to keep the animals out. Considering what is in the building they have to invest in the best possible defense.

Wiz I hope the criminals who did those break ins are caught. And that the owners get the best outcome for them.

not surprised in the least but I'm sorry to hear it .... I sure hope they are caught and punished

It can happen, anywhere. We had a local shop broken into at night in a similar way. They only took the Glocks and a few black rifles, even though there were far more valuable guns in the shop. Turns out they were a drug gang from the next county, over, and all were caught in a few days when they tried to sell the guns back to other shops in the area. Not the brightest bulbs.

I hate it when the gun shops get hit as it's ammo for the anti-gunners to use and it's a risk for everyone involved. Most of the major robberies here have occurred when the shops are closed, as most of the shop owners and employees are armed, and many of the employees are Law Enforcement or military working off duty jobs... and have the skills to use what they carry.

A major robbery many years ago involved driving a huge wrecker thru a side wall of one of the largest gun shops in the area; and taking the used guns from the floor racks in the aisles. All the new guns, and all the handguns in the shop were rolled into vaults every night before closing. But... the thieves loaded some 400 rifles and shotguns into multiple vans in just a few minutes and were gone before dispatch could finish giving out the calls. They suspect it was a carefully plan professional job by an out of town crew. NOT one of the guns was ever recovered as far as I know.

The nearest LGS to me was robbed about two years ago. The thief was quickly caught and several rifles that were taken were recovered; but the owner of the gun shop found himself in greater trouble than the thief because, while investigating the robbery, the ATF found evidence of numerous regulatory violations, including a failure to keep adequate records. He had no clear idea of what was actually missing from his store until they were recovered by the local police. The store never reopened.

Not much press on it. But a couple of pawn shops were cleaned out during the Baltimore riots. From what I've heard through a friend who knows one of the owners is that insurance won't cover their losses either because it was "Civil Unrest"!

Yep a shop in Bellevue, WA was bulglarized recently for the 2nd time within a year and they got 40-50 handguns. Probably not too far from where Sir Henry lives!

There is a nice gun store that I sometimes shop at about an hour and half from me. They had an early morning break in last week. They lost 40 to 50 handguns also.

Talk to Jeri, gun shop owner who got hit (literally). Place is boarded up in front. She got lucky. Her place was In vacation lock down. She closes down for the holidays. Had all her all her hand guns in her safe. Same for her long guns. Her cowboy and frontier guns were in caged room. All they got were two wall hangers.

The good news is she may have pictures of the suspects. After a another store got hit (100 guns) earlier that week , she got suspicious when two guys walked in and where just wandering around not really looking at the guns so much . She got a clerk ( ex lawman) to engage them while she went outside in the parking lot. She was looking for a red Monte Carlo with a bashed in door that was seen at that robbery . Bingo! Took pictures of the car. Went back in got some more pictures of them and turn everything over to the detective's handling the cases. They were very happy. This was before she and two other stores were hit.

One of the shops that was hit twice in one week last Dec., just auctioned off all its inventory off. It will stay opened as a range only now. According to an employee, they were not making enough to justify keeping that side of the business going. Plus, i imagined they were going to get hit with a big increase in premiums because of the break in's. Hopefully, no layoffs. I think too that they were heavily into the tactical side of the industry, which is in decline.

They only took the Glocks and a few black rifles, even though there were far more valuable guns in the shop.

Yep - they only wanted what they were familiar with for crime, trade and sale. These drug addled idiots wouldn't know a valuable gun from their next drug high. A similar burglary took place in Washington State recently and I don't think it's going to stop any time soon.

If you want to read about a gun store robbery that turned out bad for the perps, just google " The Beckwith Incident" . It happened near Micanopy Fl. several years ago.