Thieves Near Azle Steal More Than A Dozen Weapons

[Paladin]

Mr. Seals left the door to his home and the door to his safe unlocked. Thieves came in quietly while he and his family were sleeping upstairs and took a serious number of guns... along with the ammo to go with them.

He and his family could have easily been killed with his own guns. He's fortunate that all he lost was property... but today, one or more BG's is on the street with all that firepower.

Let this be a lesson for us to lock our doors... and if you've got a safe... you might as well use it for its intended purpose.

I'm pleased to here that Mr. Seals has increased his security. Hopefully he had the serial numbers of his guns recorded... so there's a chance he'll get them back.

http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_sto ... 95112.html

Thieves Near Azle Steal More Than A Dozen Weapons

Mark Johnson
Reporting

(CBS 11 News) NEAR AZLE A crime of opportunity leaves a family near Azle shaken and more than a dozen guns possibly on the streets.

Police say thieves raided a utility building in the 6800-block of Silver Creek Azle Road in Northwest Tarrant County.

In all, the burglars took nine rifles, three shotguns, three handguns and dozens of boxes of ammunition.

Theft victim Robert Seals told CBS 11 News, "I haven't locked my front door in probably five years, and [now] that's changed."

In addition to the $15,000 in stolen weapons, a laptop computer was also taken.

"Its anger, quickly followed by complete rage," says Seal. "That somebody was in here and your kids were asleep upstairs… somebody invaded our place."

Seals kept the guns and ammunition in a gun safe that's primarily used to protect the weapons from fire - not thieves.

Tarrant County Sheriff's Deputies admit they have little to go on but are investigating.

The reality the culprits may never be found is something Seals says he's acutely aware of. "You're basically at the mercy of chance on recovering your property or catching the people that did it, but you certainly pray for that," he said.

Seals has beefed up security around his property, home, and office.

[stevie_d_64]

Seals has beefed up security around his property, home, and office.

Hopefully "locking" the gunsafe is now the norm...Of course there may not be much in there now...

[308nato]

Yeah like locking the barn after the horse has left

[mr surveyor]

this story is as flawed as most every other story in today's press!

the guns were taken from a utility building?

owner hasn't locked his front door in 5 years?

the guns were taken from a utility building?

the guns were taken while the kids were asleep upstairs?

the guns were taken from a utility building?

the gun safe was left unlocked?


????????????????

and this is a guy with $15k in guns, presumably an intellegent person that hasn't locked his front door in 5 years?

If I were him, and I had an insurance rider to cover the guns, I would be hesitant to make a claim!

Rather than to say something about the gene pool needing more chlorine, I'm going to give the "victim" here the benefit of the doubt and assume the media (as usual) has totally misrepresented the facts.

what am I missing here?

[phddan]

I to, am a little perplexed about the utility building-front door reporting.
And $15,000 for 15 weapons?? Must have been some serious sweet weapons.

Dan

[KD5NRH]

I to, am a little perplexed about the utility building-front door reporting.
And $15,000 for 15 weapons?? Must have been some serious sweet weapons.

Not necessarily; throw one Perazzi or a couple Shiloh Sharps in with a stack of Norincos and Mosins, and you'll hit $15k in a hurry.

OTOH, the whole thing smells fishy; I grew up 7 miles from the middle of nowhere and we still locked the doors when we went to sleep. Sometimes it was just the screen door latches, but they were the good ones that would at least make enough noise to wake us up.

[stevie_d_64]

I agree, most everything we see in the media concerning incidents like this smells to some degree...

But the fact remains...A lot of weapons have been stolen, with hardly a speedbump to slow them down...

If these were the only things stolen...Someone had to know he didn't do a lot to keep someone from walking in and taking them...And that list may be fairly long considering the media made sure to mention that the homeowner hadn't locked anything up in 5 years...

Not to take this off on a tangent, but think about this possibility...

(Y'all put your Bad Guy hats on and think like one for a minute or two...)

If I were a BeeGee (terrorist) etc etc...And I needed weapons...And I have had time to research the area were my buddies and I were waiting for our "go" signal...

Why go around and try to buy them off of people who might be part of a sting operation "fishing" for people just like us??? I'd settle for keeping my eyes and ears open for chances like this...Maybe not as easy, but knowing where I can get my hands on "stuff" is good to keep in mind, right???

I am of course not implying this is what happened, but I am illustrating a possibility...

Just something to think about I suppose...

[Venus Pax]

Why would you store your guns in a utility building?
That makes no sense, even if you don't think you'll need them for self defense.
Wouldn't they rust easier in a utilty building? I can't see letting a gun stay in an environment where it would ruin so easily, especially with $15k invested.

[phddan]

His wife probably didn't want them in the house.
I mean, what man would keep 15k dollars worth of guns in the utility bldg., unless the boss told him to?!

Dan

[TX Rancher]

I know a guy that has his reloading equipment and a gun safe in a "utility building". He also has electricity, heat, and AC installed…keeping firearms out there is just as good as keeping them in the house.

I also know of folks that keep $5,000 saddles in “utility buildings�, along with thousand of dollars worth of other tack. The buildings have climate control systems installed to keep the temp and humidity at the optimum level for leather. Their stuff is much better preserved in their utility building then it would be in their house…and you wouldn’t believe the security system they have installed. After all, they have enough silver on their saddles and tack to financially support a small country

I’m not saying this guy had anything like that installed in his building, but it’s been done by others, and the article didn’t say what he had so we don’t know.

Stevie:

Common thieves’ hearing about the guns and the unlocked doors sounds very plausible to me, but I have a hard time buying into a potential terrorist connection. It just seems to me there would be easier and more reliable ways for them to get their hands on weapons. Hitting the local gun store would be one option…no waiting period, no background check, and no paper work .

Case the place, pick out the weapons you want, hit the place, grab the identified weapons, and get out the door. They wouldn’t have to spend more then 5 min in the store and they get away clean.

There’s also the option of watching the local outdoor ranges. On most weekends you could probably walk away with several high dollar fighting rifles, and get the added bonus of getting to kill a few infidels in the process.

And of course there’s the option of bringing automatic weapons with you when you cross the border with Mexico or Canada.

Now the local, home grown terrorist that happens to hear about it, and takes advantage of the offering…I’m with ya on that. I just have a hard time accepting this sort of approach as showing up in the AQ tactics book. But hey, this wouldn't be the first time I was wrong

[phddan]

Tx Rancher,

I hear ya on making that point about some people having real nice "utility bldgs", but those type of bldgs I usually call the "Tack room, or Tack house. And I've also seen "sheds" that were really nice, and climate controlled.
But I think your typical guy with a utility bldg, has one of those small, tin ones, or those portable styles, for their mowers and garage overflow.
The first thing that popped into my mind reading that story, was one of smaller tin sheds, with the two sliding doors that you can never seem to fully shut.

Who knows.

Dan

[stevie_d_64]

Stevie:

Common thieves’ hearing about the guns and the unlocked doors sounds very plausible to me, but I have a hard time buying into a potential terrorist connection.

I know its a stretch, but its plausible...

And thinking outside the box can give you a headache if your not careful... I have a bottle of Excedrine handy at all times...

[TX Rancher]

Dan, you're right of course, and the vast majority of utility buildings are not climate controled, and this guys probably wasn't either. It's the gun nut in me having a hard time accepting an expensive collection sitting in a shed rusting...but as much as I hate the idea of that happening, it's probably what happened

Stevie, nothing wrong with thinkings out of the box! I hope our internal security folks are spending a lot of time doing the same thing...I know I do...by the way, please pass the Excedrine