Just off of ABC 15 news in Phoenix:

Someone backed a SUV in to their front door and stole 61 firearms- 50 handguns and 11 AK's and ARs- according to the store manager, who was interviewed, not the media. The alarm came at 3:53AM the first PPD officer arrived at 3:57 and they were gone.  He didnt even get a look at a vheicle. Survailance cameras were of no use- all it caught on film were some black clad individuals.

PPD announced after this that it was the THIRD smash and grab robbery of a gun store in Greater Phoenix in the last month.  There is apparently a crew going around specialising in this.  Some of you guys had better start sleeping in your shops now.

My guess is that the guns are probably south of the border now, that is where the big market for such guns is right now.

I just saw that on the local news also. I watched the footage the news had. They showed where SW had a couple of ar's, HK SL8's, and a UMP hanging up, all gone now. From what I can tell they left the used guns and the revolvers and the cheap semi auto's. They took the glocks, hk's, and many different 1911's. Last time I was in that place they had a real nice Wilson CQB. That place also rents Class III guns, I wonder if any of them were stolen?

I truly feel sorry for these guys and am saddened at the amount of firepower now in the hands of gangs.

However, what the hell kind of security measures to these gun shops have? Plate glass windows with guns on velvet pillows right in front? Shouldn't there be some better preventative measures in place?

I understand (maybe, after all my info came from the stoopid TV news) the bad guys actually smashed into the place next door, walked into SW (exactly how I dunno) grabbed guns, and opened the door to SW to escaped.

Expect a new bill mandating that gun stores are built like Fort Knox or The Benevolent Masters yank their FFL.

Oh, brother.  I hope that everything was fully insured and that the insurance company doesn't give them crap about paying up.

I also hope that the police are able to nab those b*stards.  However, I gotta agree with [b]ArmdLbrl[/b]; they're all probably "south of here" right now.  [:(!]

Did any Title II weapons get stolen?  If so, I hope they were only post-samples.

Mike

I must also ask................How did the crooks get their hands on so many weapons in short a short period of time?

All the major shops and even most minor ones in my area remove all their stuff and lock it in their vaults at night.

If you backed into one of their shops all you'd see would be a bunch of empty cases.

I mean really.............why would any shop with High-End Military style rifles and handguns leave them out at night?

I find that hard to swallow.

One of my favorite gun stores goes through the laborious process of putting every single gun in safes whenever they are closed. I can see why.

They might now, but they thought they were safe, the entire building was a vault. Concrete block building, no windows that I saw on film (they are a little far east to be one of my browsing stops so I am not that familiar with them). Very high quality steel doors- the one that was knocked down was still locked and only slightly dented. The [i]frame[/i] had come out of the [i]wall[/i] and part of the wall went down as well!  It apparently never occured to them that a truck could do that much damage and still be driveable itself.

They have ID'd the vehicle as a Jeep Grand Cherokee- its tailgate glass fell out when they peeled out so they were able to ID it from that.  Of course by the time they figured that out I am sure they were safely across the border.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/breaking/0731burglary31-ON.html

azcentral.com - Dozens of guns taken in Phoenix burglary

Dozens of guns taken in Phoenix burglary
Ashley Bach
The Arizona Republic

July 31, 2001 12:00:00

Burglars rammed their car into a Phoenix shooting range this morning and
escaped with dozens of handguns and several high-powered rifles in just a
few minutes, police said.
The thieves drove through the front door of Shooter's World at 3828 N.
28th Ave. at 3:52 a.m., Phoenix police Detective Tony Morales said. When
police arrived five minutes later, the thieves were already gone.
"They were really quick," Morales said. "They knew exactly what they were
doing."
Along with the handguns, the burglars took two high-powered rifles, three
automatic assault rifles and two rare sniper rifles, Morales said.
Whether the guns are kept by the burglars or sold, a gun theft on such a
large scale is not to be taken lightly, Morales said.
"They're not going to keep them in their home because they like guns,"
Morales said. "I think there's a very dark side to this situation."
The robbery is similar to an incident on July 12 at the Arizona Sportsman
sporting goods store at 2314 E. Bell Road, where burglars also drove
through a door and took a large number of guns, Morales said. Police
aren't yet sure if the robberies are connected.
The shooting range where the latest robbery occurred is in the same
building as another Arizona Sportsman store, Morales said.
The value of the guns taken in today's robbery is in the "six figures,"
Morales said.

Police have no leads on the suspects.
.
Copyright 2000, azcentral.com. All rights reserved.

It shouldn't matter if the building was built like a vault.  They should have a damn good safe where the expensive and Class III toys are stored.   4 minutes was the time?  No way they could break into a safe, or carry it out to a large vehicle.

I'm sure they did and hopefully none were taken.

No one has mentioned any NFA weapons being stolen.

This worries me.

Warlords post says...

"Along with the handguns, the burglars took two high-powered rifles, three
automatic assault rifles and two rare sniper rifles, Morales said."

I'd say automatic assult rifles are NFA weapons.

This is in the media.  "Automatic assault weapon" obviosly means any semi-automatic rifle.

Considering what has been stolen in these last two robberies, there are only two kinds of criminal that could be involved.  Foreign or domestic terrorists, or Mexican drug gangs.  They are the only people who would want weapons on such scale. They are in the computer as stolen, so they cannot be resold for profit in the US.  There only use on this side of the border is to commit crimes without being traced.  On the other hand Mexico is starved for guns, but only the cartels would need so many.

All of the gun stores I frequent have concrete filled pipe pilings, in front of any door accessible by a vehicle.  DUHH!! the smash and grab is a classic.