Yes it can happen!

[VERT]

Recent Poll on this board asking about car/truck guns. Well these can be stolen. My buddy had a S&W 669 stolen out of his truck a couple nights ago, along with some cash. I am a guilty of leaving an old shotgun hidden in a truck myself, but this proves a point that personal weapons such as your handgun are best kept with you. Two things kind of scare me here #1) a criminal now has a loaded gun #2) I gave my friend some defense ammo to try. Heck I even loaded the mag for him. So now we have a criminal with a loaded gun and effective ammunition with my finger prints on the cases.

Other good learning point here. We do not have the serial number of the stolen gun recorded. I know I am going to double check all of me records on my firearms! So if anybody is offered a sweet deal on a S&W 669 with pachmeyer grips and a desantis paddle holster in the Seymour area, let me know.

Hard times right now, everybody be careful.

 

[seawolfxix]

Was the truck broken into?

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

A few years ago I had a .45 stolen from my truck which is why I no longer leave any thing of value in it any more .

A cold ride to work with the wind blowing in your face and having to replace a gun and window can change your mind real quick .

 

[VERT]

No broken glass. So he may have forgot to lock the door. No alarm on the truck, so it is possible the thieves unlocked the door somehow.

 

[snapping turtle]

They sell the little safe boxes for vehicles. I had one in my s-10 for a few years and sold it with the truck. I kept a 357 and 2 speed loaders in it. If you are going to keep one in the truck that is a good way to do it.

 

[trnsplntfrmohio]

Your friend can be held liable, I suggest he talk to a lawyer immediately and report the firearm stolen.

This is no different if someone were to steal your car if it was unlocked, drive away and kill someone in an accident. YOU WILL be held responsible for not taking action to prevent a criminal from turning ANYTHING into a weapon.

 

[bigcraig]

Your friend can be held liable, I suggest he talk to a lawyer immediately and report the firearm stolen.

This is no different if someone were to steal your car if it was unlocked, drive away and kill someone in an accident. YOU WILL be held responsible for not taking action to prevent a criminal from turning ANYTHING into a weapon.

Everything you just said is factually incorrect, except where you said the owner should report the gun as stolen.

I will let the fine lawyers that are members of this site explain the facts.

 

[trnsplntfrmohio]

Everything you just said is factually incorrect, except where you said the owner should report the gun as stolen.

I will let the fine lawyers that are members of this site explain the facts.

Give me a couple days, I'll find my professor from a "street law" type of class get you his number and you can consult him on it. I didn't get along with him very well. He was a cranky 65 year old man with too many years being a lawyer. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm not saying you're right. I'm just saying what I was taught in my common sense and street law classes.

 

[P-Shooter]

Other good learning point here. We do not have the serial number of the stolen gun recorded.

Earlier this year I finally got a safety deposit box. One of the first things I did was grab my digital camera and take a few pictures of each weapon I own, along with a close up of both the serial number on the gun and the receipt where you could read both the serial and the price I paid. I even took pics of a couple of the receipts from guns I have sold. I then burned these onto a CD-Rom and placed it in the box. Mainly for insurance purposes, but it would also be of help in a case such as this. The box is only $25 a year, and is plenty large enough for some CD's, documents, and a portable hard drive which contains backups of all my vacation photos and any important files from my home PC. I update it as necessary. Definitely has given me some peace of mind.

 

[kingnereli]

Car guns are fine if you have them properly stashed and secured when they you aren't with the vehicle. There isn't any better way to have a long gun around then as a car gun. You can't keep those with you all the time.

 

[eliteimagery]

better check the chicago craigslist ads...you never know!

 

[Disposable Heart]

Give me a couple days, I'll find my professor from a "street law" type of class get you his number and you can consult him on it. I didn't get along with him very well. He was a cranky 65 year old man with too many years being a lawyer. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm not saying you're right. I'm just saying what I was taught in my common sense and street law classes.

Maybe in a communist state, but not Indiana. You prof has some anti-gun views just from that concept. Bigcraig is correct, you are NOT liable for the damage the gun did unless you are pulling the trigger. There was a lawsuit against gun MANUFACTURERS to try to make them liable for damages caused by firearms, but usually they were accidental discharges as opposed to ones used in criminal behavior (they tried that route too).

Back to the OP, darn fine lesson, unfortunately for your friend however. Write the serial numbers down of all your firearms and in multiple places, all of which should be relatively secure.

 

[Josh Ward]

Your friend can be held liable, I suggest he talk to a lawyer immediately and report the firearm stolen.

This is no different if someone were to steal your car if it was unlocked, drive away and kill someone in an accident. YOU WILL be held responsible for not taking action to prevent a criminal from turning ANYTHING into a weapon.

You got to be kidding right. This IS NOT true. At least not in Indiana.....

 

[jsharmon7]

Give me a couple days, I'll find my professor from a "street law" type of class get you his number and you can consult him on it. I didn't get along with him very well. He was a cranky 65 year old man with too many years being a lawyer. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm not saying you're right. I'm just saying what I was taught in my common sense and street law classes.

I'm sure you were taught this in good faith but as others have said, it is not correct. This was the topic of one of GunLawyer's "are you liable" threads and it was shown that you are NOT liable in this situation. The situation he provided was a little different (house vs. car) but the idea was the same.