Los Angeles/United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- The revelation that firearms were among items stolen in a recent train robbery in Los Angeles is something Second Amendment supporters should take note of. This isn’t just because it shows that bad guys will break the law to acquire guns that they misuse in the course of committing crimes. Stolen firearms should be seen as a big deal by Second Amendment supporters – it is a private-sector infringement on the right to keep and bear arms.
Why? Well, think about why you bought the firearms you own – or why you want to buy a firearm. It’s a means of personal protection, whether in your home, when you’re away from home on errands, or even when you’re out camping (for those loyal Ammoland readers who are the outdoors types). It’s a means to put food on the table for some people. A firearm can be a tool for recreation activity or even shooting competitions.
When someone steals a firearm, they’re not just taking a piece of property, they’re robbing that person of all that is described above – and possibly more.
Quality firearms are not cheap – just take a look at the latest Blue Book of Gun Values if you don’t want to take my word for it. Coming up with a replacement is hard, and in some cases, the guns in question may be irreplaceable from a sentimental standpoint.
A person whose firearms have been stolen is unable to protect himself until replacements have been secured. That inability to protect oneself can be fatal in certain instances. So a stolen firearm is a huge deal for the individual person who is the victim of a firearms theft.
For a FFL who is victimized by firearms theft, this is the same dynamic that retail stores face when confronting shoplifting. Only in this case, the stolen firearms are probably headed for people who will misuse them to commit various crimes. Either way, addressing those who would steal firearms is something that Second Amendment supporters ought to put up high on the list.
There is good news on that front. A situation like the train robbery in Los Angeles is covered by some already existing laws, 18 USC 922(i) and 18 USC 922(j). Between these two provisions, just about any conduct involving a stolen firearm is covered and can land a perp ten years in jail for each firearm. And we should insist that those provisions be used at the very least.
Second Amendment supporters rightly question the constitutionality of the bulk of the gun laws out there, but when it comes to stolen firearms, the concern should be how to make these penalties tougher. The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Federal Firearms Licensee Protection Act covers that angle for theft from FFLs, and a similar approach should be taken for thefts from gun owners.
The rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment don’t just need to be protected from government (although anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local levels should be defeated via the ballot box), they need to be protected from those who would steal the means by which people exercise their Second Amendment rights. In this case, laws to address those who would steal firearms are a good thing for us all.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.