The Hammpond News reports on the incredibly fast recovery the owners of the Hammond Gun Shop made after a traumatic break-in. Just one day later, Deb Gales, the owner of the family owned business is open for business.
Burglars forced their way into the store about 4 a.m. Thursday in the 6800 block of Kennedy Avenue and stole 28 handguns. Officials at first believed 33 guns were stolen.It seems on one, not the police, not the ATF, and certainly not Debbie herself, have any concept of shared responsibility. Whenever guns are stolen, the focus needs to be placed on the "victim" of the theft. The thieves are already gone, the horse is already out of the barn, so to speak, what needs to be determined is how responsible were the precautions taken to prevent the theft and how properly were the guns stored.
"They took out the whole front door," Gales said. "They smashed all our cases."
David Coulson, a senior special agent and ATF public information officer, said the federal agency has seen many stolen guns over the years end up in the hands of gang members and drug traffickers.
"It breaks my heart to know there are guns on the street that came from my store," said Gales, who has owned the business since 1993. "I've never had that before in all these years."
Guns stored in a glass display cases during the night are not responsibly secured. Jewelry stores and banks don't leave their valuable property in easily accessible places, neither should gun shops.
Video surveillance and other alarm systems need to be state-of-the-art. No one should be able to approach the front door of a gun shop at 4:00 a.m. without being immediately detected and captured on video.
But for all these mistakes and omissions all we get is that it breaks the heart of the owner, not enough to miss a days business, mind you, and certainly not enough to invest in the proper and responsible measures to ensure no repeat performance, but she felt really badly. I guess that's something.
What's your opinion?
