480 guns stolen in Charlotte, according to WBT and CMPD, in just the first 3 1/2 months of this year... That's 120 month for one city. I feel we need to stress this more to new gun owners, and people we deal with.

I saw this report on WBTV www.wbtv.com/news/crimealert/7112071.html Print and Video avilable...

Stolen Guns on Charlotte Streets In just the first three-and-a-half months of this year, almost 500 guns have been stolen in Charlotte. These weapons are used to commit violent crimes and even show up in our schools. Thieves are stealing these guns from legal gun owners.  Then, they're making a quick buck by selling them to anybody who flashes enough cash. In 2006, there have been more than 480 reported cases of stolen guns this year in a four-month period.  That's about 120 stolen gun cases per month. In this report, WBTV's Rob Tufano uncovers more details about the growing problem of stolen guns in Charlotte.  Click "PLAY" to hear more on this story. Story Created: Apr 19, 2007 at 11:46 PM EDT Story Updated: Apr 20, 2007 at 12:22 AM EDT

Story says most are stolen from cars. I know there's another thread posted recently about a bill to enforce more charges against someone not reporting stolen guns, and not having legal/registered guns that are stolen etc.

I don't want any legislation that could impact someone trying to do the right thing, don't get me wrong. And I don't know if anything in this story is misprepresented or misleading at all. However, that does sound like a lot of guns.

I'm sure alot of the people on this forum are very responsible, so I'm not trying to preach or anything, but this does concern me. Before taking ownership of my 2nd Am. rigths earlier this year, I thought about this a lot. I wanted to do my best to make sure that my weapon(s) don't end up in the wrong hands, among the many other responsibilities of owning a firearm.

I hope that we all make efforts to prevent things like this from happening, we don't need to give criminals any more tools than they already have, and we don't need to give the media and anti-gun crowd opportunities to point to situations like this.

Also, I wonder about the details surrounding these thefts. What if any efforts had the owner's taken to prevent the theft of their gun? For the one's stolen from their vehicles, why was it in their vehicle, do they always keep it there, or are they keeping it there only when not able to carry it into their destination?

I personally think if you're going to keep a weapon in the car most of the time, it should be locked up in some way while you are not present. If we're leaving them in cars because we can't carry them into restaurants, schools, and other places, then we need to include that in our arguments to officials for more accesible CCW legislation.

What do you guys think? Is anybody for our own community to help get the word out about cutting down the numbers of thefts like these, policing our own community? Anybody think we can/should use the fact that we don't want to leave firearms in vehicles to request better CCW accessible areas?

Thanks,

Karz

I've been looking at something like this for under the seat of my car:
titangunvault.com/

I wanted something like this for the console of my SUV, but they're no longer making them, but I've forwarded the design to the other guy at the above link, and he said he might make one like it later this year:
handgunsafe.com/cellphone.htm

I like those because of the simplex keypad, while most people would only put it in there when not in the vehicle, you may still want quick access to it, and if you ever had similar boxes w/ simplex locks in the house (drawer, bed frame, closet, etc.) you could use the same code for if you're under pressure. However, a much less expensive solution as a portable and last resort could be something like this, it requires a key, and not the fastest access, but can be moved easily to other vehicles, even a rental:
www.gunshopfinder.com/pistol_safe.html

Again, if you're legal to do so, you can always carry it on your person while in the car, or keep it at the ready based on your local laws, but this is good for those who want to keep it in the car all the time, or for when you have to leave it in the car...

Most of your ideas are good ones and far exceed what the average person does.