Oh the joys of gun ownership

Waldo family held at gunpoint has guns stolen

A Waldo family was held at gunpoint late Wednesday night during a robbery that led to several guns being stolen from the family's home.

The suspects –- believed to be three men who drove off in a blue Kia car -- are still on the loose.

The robbery occurred in the 400 block of E. 80th St. just after 11 p.m. Wednesday. Police are investigating.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/111000.html

If the owner had a handgun readily available maybe the theft would not have been able to occur. More than likely he was delayed taking the mandated trigger safety lock off after getting it out of the required locked gun vault and the thieves got the drop on him.

I suppose it's also possible that Dad got drunk and left the gun safe wide open. The kids were playing with one of the handguns and were just about to accidentally blow their little brains out when the robbers broke in seeking jewelry and money, but upon seeing the guns decided to take those instead. (By the way, I own a long gun and two handguns.)

I value all human life, especially my family and my own.

I live in a town where you can get a pizza delivered faster than the cops come for a break-in.

Welcome to DU phoreten :hi:

Either that or yer spying on these folks. You seem to know alot about them.

Next time someone gets robbed at gunpoint, shall we blame the victim for owning a wallet? Or next time someone gets carjacked, should we blame them for owning a nice car? Or someones house gets burgled, will we point the finger at them for having a DVD player and a TV? After all, if they didn't own those enticements, they might not have been robbed!

They're not quite in the same class as the fencible-
for-drugs stuff that we all own.

But nice try to deflect the issue...

Tesha

Should that be banned?

There are a lot of things that criminals desire. Guns, for many, aren't even near the top of the list. For people like me, guns are actually our only line of defense against criminals (rural dweller...the police are 30 minutes away on a good day). We had a rash of home invasion robberies in this area a few years ago, and the police told us flat out that if we wanted to be safe we should all buy guns because there was no way they could protect us. When the robbers were finally caught, it was only because a homeowner had managed to trip his intrusion alarm as the robbers kicked in the door. The invaders forced the homeowner to deactivate the alarm and were just leaving the home when the police arrived 30 minutes later.

During their spree, they had forced their way into 20 homes, shot one person, beaten many others, sexually assaulted several women (including one woman who was raped while her husband and children were forced to watch), and held guns to the heads of young children while taunting their parents.

I have another even more personal story about how guns can save people, but I'm having a good day and don't want to get into it right now. If you're curious, look up my history and find the story of the man who raped my wife. You'll have to pardon me if I disagree with your position that some of us don't need guns.

We don't know, and the story doesn't say, if the home was targeted specifically for guns or if the criminals, having the family silenced and under control, took the time to do a search of the house and found the gun safe.

I find it quite plausable that, while looking for small, expensive things like jewelery and electronics in the master bedroom they found the gun safe and forced the homeowner to open it.

Or say someone who got mugged downtown was at fault for wearing a nice watch?

sorry you don't see that.

Which IMO is quite unjustified in either case.

had guns - maybe several people would have ended up dead.

Nothing gets the conservative blood pumping like some shoot-out bloodshed! Or gay hookers. Either/or. :P

it makes for a much friendlier place.

:P

:)

so there were no witnesses. Maybe a nice fire to destroy evidence and hide the robbery.

Or the homeowner could have shot one of them and the rest fled, with police tracking them down and arresting them.

...and there was a .44 Magnum lying on top of the refrigerator or somewhere similar. No vault, no trigger lock, no nothing.

If you're going to keep a gun loaded and readily available for self-defense, at least don't make it so obvious to any burglar who is lucky enough to get the jump on you.

says he was a collector, and that "at least a dozen" long guns and pistols were taken. They also imply the couple is elderly, since their granchildren live in the area and are with them now.

They were ambushed on their front stoop, coming home from dinner by three men with drawn firearms. Even if one of the victims had been carrying, unless it was already in his hand, you'd be an idiot to try and draw in those circumstances, don't you think? just as the training says that you should not point a gun at something you don't intend to shoot, so you must assume that someone pointing a gun at you is willing to shoot you, correct? and three of them, versus one or maybe two, when they have the jump on you? unless you are in a hollywood movie, give them what they want.

and yes, because of the loose gun show regulations, stolen firearms have good value, an unscrupulous or unwitting dealer could easily sell them at a gun show for a nice profit.

they just had the wrong TYPE of guns, of course!

If they had a loaded handgun ready with the safety off, no tragedy could have ever occured!

The Waldo's for having guns on their own private property AND the thieves who entered that property, held them at gunpoint, and then stole the firearms are both at fault?

Do you also think that a woman who wears sexy clothing and her rapist both share fault?

Would you say they were at fault for not defending themselves with said guns?

If someone robs you at gunpoint, it's somehow your fault?

I don't understand your logic on this one.

:wtf:

I'm suprised it wasn't a Prius.
:popcorn:

:rofl:

they took it, assumingly to carry the stolen loot. methinks they found more stuff in the house than they were expecting.

The victims were a right-wing conservatives for sure.

:dunce:

I keep mine in a safe.

but, in the eventuality that it's not, I have guns.

Now, they could have put their guns in a safe, but how would that have helped *in this situation*? It seems to me that the Waldo's could have had their guns in a safe, being guarded by rabid pit bulls, and surrounded with triple-strand concertina and they still would have been stolen.

But many, many gunowners do not store them safely. And gun laws aren't enforced strictly enough. Why don't we all work toward stricter enforcement of gun laws?

facing little prospects for success in its lifetime before finally turning to a life of crime to support itself.

But that wouldn't have helped prevent this crime.

How about a little tax incentive for people to buy good gun storage devices? Mine cost close to $3,000.

No incentives, no excuses. Just stricter, enforceable gun laws.

A strictly authoritarian approach to the problem.

I said your approach to the problem is authoritarian, and I'm right.

BTW are you suggesting that owning guns automatically makes one an authoritarian? I support the right to own guns for exactly the same reason I support the right to abortion - Liberatarian grounds.

It's the philosophy of me, myself and I.

It seems to be painful for you to have yours pointed out. That's often the case with people who consider themselves to be progressive or liberal, or just open-minded.

If you have a hard time accepting the idea that you embrace an authoritarian position or harbor irrational preconceived ideas about people, if those things seem inconsistent with your view of yourself, then maybe you need to revisit either your thought processes on this matter. Or maybe you need to re-think your definition of who you are.

Do you really embrace freedom zanne, or is your motivation really to manipulate and control the behavior of others so that you personally feel safer? I support your right to ban firearms from your home, but your right to control what I say, do, or own ends at your property line.

If or when the three are arrested, I hope they push for the death penalty with no possibility of parole for robbery with a weapon. Thre theft of each gun should be a separate count.

someone puts a gun to your wife's head and says 'open the gun safe' I figure you are going to open it. you wouldn't keep, say, a million dollars in gold in your bedside table, (if you do, please PM me your address and the times you are away from home :) ) you would keep it in a safe, but if someone offers you the classic "your money or your life" choice, all the security in the world won't help.

in this case the robbed family would have not been allowed the guns he presumably legally owned. Course the three goons who held them at gun point on their front porch. That makes such perfect sence.

Not to get O/T here but do you have a dehumidifier in your safe? If so how well do it work?

The little cord going to the back of the safe powers it. The safe is also located right next to my central furnace - That is behind the wall to the right of the safe. The furnace runs only at the coldest time of year, which is also the wettest here. We get no summer rain. It's not near a window or exterior wall. The house has a concrete slab foundation. The safe is anchored to the slab.

I live in a rather dry climate, so humidity isn't much of an issue. As long as I clean weapons and lube them before storing them, I never have rust.

No trigger locks to fumble with, no worry about stolen codes, and I can open the door in 1.5 seconds. I've never understood the mindset of people who buy guns for protection and then lock them in a safe that takes 30 seconds to open.

Burglars may cut off your fingers and use them to gain access to your safe.

ETA if I were to keep a gun for home defense, it wouldn't be in the safe except when I'm not home.

Never thought of that.

My safe does have an emergency lock on it that can disable the fingerprint scanner. If I hit "0" and then swipe my fingerprint, the scanner turns off and the numeric code has to be entered. I don't even KNOW the numeric code at this point (it's written on a piece of paper, which is sitting in a safety deposit box at my bank along with a few other important documents).

FWIW, I would never actually TELL a burglar that my finger could open the safe, and the reader isn't incredibly obvious at first glance.

But they are not in a burgler-resistent safe.

There is a difference. My guns are secured against my kid getting them, not against a reasonably determined adult. Oh, well, maybe one day...

Nice safe. Does it have some sort of appliance inside that plugs into the wall?

It plugs into the wall. It warms the air slightly, creating air movement within the safe. That coupled with the naturally low humidity of San Diego's climate, and several pounds of silica gel, keep everything inside just fine. (I have a lot of other things besides firearms in there.)

Sorry couldn't resist.

Sorry, neither could I.

Its an area of older residential homes - lots of lovely tree-lined streets -generally considered to be a nice, quiet part of town to live in. South of the Country Club Plaza.

I was born in Kansas City, Kansas.

Want to cut down on “normal” gun crime? When/if found these people and anyone using a firearm to commit a felony should get a mandatory death penalty.

But not the DP under any circumstances.

(Insert mandatory door/ass closing statement here)

They bill your family for the bullets, and they sell your organs on the black market.

My daughter lived near 80th and Oak in thier first house. It is too bad that lawlessness has infected that part of town. From the video clip, the elderly couple was ambushed on their return home. The Kia was apparently their car -stolen along with the guns and what ever else may have been taken. I find blaming the couple as the cause of the rmie because they owning guns to too idiotic to understand. Is it now permissable to target the elderly - as we have seen in other stories - bexause they are old and less able to defend. I will enjoy watching the Star to see more details. Perhaps the couple was known for keeeping jewlry or cash too and guns just lead better on the tv news.

This is an unusual incident for Waldo.

Do I fit in now?

Which THEY are you referring to?

but the article doesn't mention where the robbers got their guns, from the victims, or brought guns with them to the robbery.

If you're thinking that the robbery is somehow the victims' fault, then is this fixed by not owning guns? Or not owning anything that's worth stealing? No cars, shoes, or copper plumbing? No jewels or clocks or stereos? No paintings or sculpture? No bicycles? Nothing that would tempt a poor, helpless armed robber away from his intended straight-and-narrow path of righteousness?

Guns are not bad in the right hands.

since reports are indicating that the guns were the only thing taken (except the Kia) and were apparently the target of the robbery, if he didn't have the guns, he would never have been robbed in the first place.

there's a catch 22 for you. :)

Who knows? Word on the street? Someone who knows someone? Collectors tend to talk about their collections.

Collectors tend to talk about their collections.

I write openly about it on DU but there are only three or four DUers who know my real name, and only one of them knows where I live. Save a few who also happen to be friends, my neighbors know nothing of my collection. Outside of my family and close friends, nobody knows a thing about it.

With the kind of meanness and nastiness I've been subjected to by a few DUers, I can't really trust anyone on these boards unless I've met them in person (and know where they live too).

This is one of the silliest premises I've seen relating to this debate. The warped logic of it is just unbelievable.

With his impeccable reasoning, great taste in automobiles, handguns and environmental ethics (not to mention an AWESOME taste in music!), OMC once again delivers the smackdown to ANYONE who dares question his ability to shoot whatever animal he wants whenever he wants!

Ride on, you heavy metal cowboy! You're a real man!

Wow was your response irrational and emotionally overdramatized. Sheesh! Sure it isn't you with the psychological problem of inability to respond rationally to those you disagree with?

Seriously. Your reply is all sorts of whacked. Get a grip bro. :crazy:

I guess now we should start blaming the rape victim for dressing in a skirt too. :crazy:

Gun nuts and anti gun nuts are invited. Some times you feel like a nut, some times you don't. Both sides have nuts, neutrals don't.

trying to liberate them. I am not a gun owner but i was brought around them and taught to respect them, and how to fire them. I have no problem with responsible gun owners. My Dad is a liberal, gun owner and nra hater.

with those guns that were stolen from them.

this would have never happened.

:sarcasm:

you can't be robbed, raped or beaten if you have a gun!