Crime Think

The crime does not begin with victim selection.

The first part of the crime is a mindset.

"I'm walking through a neighborhood and checking for unlocked car doors," is the first step for snatch and grab car burglary.

A gun laying in plain view in the seat of a car does not cause an honest person to check the doors.

But someone who's already in the, "if I walk past a car and see something valuable, I'm checking the doors, and if they're open I am taking it," mindset is breaking in.

We'll give you an example:  The Lovely Harvey.

She works in a by-law and by company policy gun-free-victim zone because they've a .edu in their address.

She's got to do the gun shuffle or be disarmed on the 35 mile commute.

The .edu she works at is in a, shall we say, culturally diverse area.  You might have even read about the serial killer in that area!

So she, by law, must leave the gun in the car while at work.

You can't lock the glovebox on her car.

I'm convinced, without evidence, that her iPod was visible and that got the thief to check the doors.  The Boy might not have gotten his door latched when they returned home, which means none of the doors will lock when the button is pressed on the remote!

Once inside, the thief checked the other storage compartments and hit the jackpot.

It's been a learning experience for us.

Interestingly, you can lock the trunk latch and prevent access from the interior.  So now the gun is in the trunk rather than the glovebox.  There might even be additional security measures that I am not detailing here.

A problem with the mandated disarmament is the number steps you place between the thief and your gun in the car equals the number of steps between you and your gun in the car...  Speed of access vs retention again.

It would be far better if it could stay on her at work.

She was a participant in the victim selection process, not a participant in the crime.  The criminal participated in both selection and crime.