Don't Leave Your Gun in the Car If You Live in One of These Cities
Not all car owners carry a gun, but most gun owners still use cars to get around. If you happen to have both, you may want to reconsider what you do with one when you park the other — especially depending on where you live.
Compared to your home, cars are much easier for thieves to gain access and they are infinitely easier to steal. When your car is stolen, everything inside goes with it. The Trace, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to expanding coverage of gun violence in the United States, recently reported on a study showing the number of firearms stolen from vehicles and what cities have it the worst.
The study surveyed 54 U.S. cities and found that Atlanta, Georgia, had more gun owners reporting their weapon stolen from a vehicle than any other. It also had the most firearms reported stolen from vehicles per 1,000 residents, followed by Lubbock, Texas, and Shreveport, Louisiana.
Automobiles are also the most likely source of stolen weapons in some cities. Atlanta police received 1,250 stolen gun reports last year and 69 percent of those were the direct result of vehicle break-ins. That number was 72 percent in Lubbock, 60 percent in San Francisco, and 53 percent in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Despite crime rates having plunged since the mid 1990s, firearm thefts from cars have trended upward in many cities in the United States. Most of the cities surveyed saw an increase over the last few years. It’s an incomplete list of cities, but the organization plans to flesh it out as more police departments provide statistics. The list can be found here.
As many states have eased up on the restrictions against leaving firearms in vehicles, doing so has become more commonplace. The Trace claims that many gun owners say they take their weapons with them when they travel in their car and regularly leave it there while they go about their daily business. With an estimated minimum of 300,000 guns stolen every year and the increased willingness of thieves to target vehicles, they may want to reconsider.
It’s not hard for a thief to grab your Colt 1911 from your 1991 Colt.
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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As someone who carries concealed at times, the only reason my sidearm would stay in the car is if I am forbidden to take it inside the building or area I am entering. If you don't want law abiding people leaving their guns in their cars, let them carry them. Putting up "gun free zone" signs seems to have little actual deterrent effect on people with evil intent.
It's a bizarre conversation, for us folks outside the US.