PA Bill Number: SB945
Title: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals.
Description: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals. ...
Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (199-0)
Last Action Date: Apr 17, 2024
Armed Robbery Suspects Caught, Had Stolen Police Gun :: 08/01/2020
“If people couldn’t buy guns, criminals wouldn’t be able to get their hands on them!”
How many times have you heard that kind of thing? I don’t know about you, but if I had a penny for every time I’d heard such nonsense, I’d be the guy Jeff Bezos looked at to pick up the lunch tab.
And, in fairness, I see the reasoning. Such as it is, anyway.
The concept is that if law-abiding citizens can’t get guns, then criminals couldn’t steal those guns, thus eliminating many sources for bad guys to get guns as things currently stand. It wouldn’t work, of course, because water always finds the low spot.
However, even without that, the thinking is faulty. Why? Because law-abiding citizens aren’t the only ones who can be the victim of gun theft.
According to the Calera Police Department, four male suspects were arrested after an armed robbery in the Oliver Court community on Wednesday night.
…
A total of five guns were recovered, one of which was stolen from a police department, according to police.
Someone stole a gun from the police.
Shocking, I know.
Yet is there any set of circumstances where you can imagine the police actually being disarmed? Oh, some are pushing for it, to be sure. They’re often the same people calling for defunding the police by illustrating the need for the police with rioting, but they exist. Because of their actions, they’re not likely to see a disarmed police force.
I’m thankful for that.
With regard to this case, the takeaway here is that there will always be a source for guns. So long as there is a source for guns, there will be a threat to law-abiding citizens.
That threat is why I refuse to give ground on my Second Amendment rights. The bad guys will always be armed, either with guns or some other weapon. I’m too old to try and get into a knife fight with a 22-year-old career criminal and my wife isn’t physically strong enough. Couple that with criminals getting guns no matter what and our right to defend ourselves makes the right to keep and bear arms absolutely essential.
Oh, some might argue that this is an isolated incident, that there’s nothing in here that should alarm us. They’re wrong.
Over the years, I’ve written a number of stories about police guns being stolen by criminals. I’ve seen a greater number that I haven’t had a chance to write about. While it may not be common, it’s far from unheard of.
So please tell me what good the most draconian gun control measures possible would do if criminals can still get guns but we’re unable to defend ourselves from those criminals? No, seriously, I want to know.
The truth is, though, even if it would eliminate all so-called gun crime, I would still oppose it. The bad guys aren’t playing by special rules, so I refuse to be further hindered in my ability to protect my family.
Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. He's also the host of Unloaded TV on YouTube. https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton/
https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2020/08/01/armed-robbery-stolen-police-gun/
