Recent gun store robberies

[BigK]

Two mom & pop gun stores were broken into recently. Looks like both happened in the early AM hours on two recent Saturday mornings. In both robberies the thieves drove stolen cars through the front of the store and cleaned out most of the guns/ammo. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same crew. The owners of  The Southern Bunker go to my church and they've only been open a little over a year. In fact, he was just getting his inventory built up and now they have no income until they get the repairs done and restock their shelves. It really sucks to see these scumbags make off with enough weapons/ammo to use in other crimes.

The Southern Buner break in 

Bullseye Gun and Range break in

Edited June 11 by BigK

[RED333]

Damn this sucks, not much lower than a thief!

[BHunted]

Couple weeks ago, Sumner Gun got broken into for the 2nd time in a couple years.

[pop pop]

Guns stores need to beef up their security, big time. Need to lock their guns in safe rooms. Theo owner of Specialty Arms did that after they robbed him and a thug burned him out. He has a safe room that is great. Concrete with rebar 2 ft thick on all sides with a big bank vault type door. He has not had any problems since he constructed that room. 

Edited to add; The Supreme Court has ruled you cannot shoot someone for stealing mere-property, not that I would want too, and the states will not do much to thief's even if they catch them. 

Edited June 11 by pop pop

[LangdoniousRex]

I get that retail space isn't always easy to come by but it continues to amaze me how many gun stores are in traditional retail spaces with large panes of glass at the front that, even with security screens, are easily compromised. Especially being in the firearms business, security should be a higher priority. Security complacency is rampant all over many sectors and all it takes is one incident and when that complacency is visually obvious, it makes you a more likely target.

[1gewehr]

You would think that putting a couple of large concrete block in front and rear to prevent this would be a reasonable expense.  Of course, a good camera system with off-site storage is critical as well!

I feel for these small business owners who are being targeted!

[Grayfox54]

The car through the glass type smash and grabs have become very common in Memphis. Barricades should be part of any commercial building now. 

[BigK]

2 hours ago, pop pop said:

Guns stores need to beef up their security, big time. Need to lock their guns in safe rooms. Theo owner of Specialty Arms did that after they robbed him and a thug burned him out. He has a safe room that is great. Concrete with rebar 2 ft thick on all sides with a big bank vault type door. He has not had any problems since he constructed that room. 

Edited to add; The Supreme Court has ruled you cannot shoot someone for stealing mere-property, not that I would want too, and the states will not do much to thief's even if they catch them. 

Considering the merchandise inside, I can't believe insurance companies don't demand a more reasonable level of security. I don't think they should all be required to have a safe room, but there's gotta be something in between. 

I am not ashamed to disagree about shooting thieves though. Anyone brazen enough to drive a car through the store front and steal guns deserves it.

[NoBanStan]

5 hours ago, 1gewehr said:

You would think that putting a couple of large concrete block in front and rear to prevent this would be a reasonable expense.  Of course, a good camera system with off-site storage is critical as well!

I feel for these small business owners who are being targeted!

Just steal some of them balls out front of the local Target

[Frog4aday]

The worst part of the theiving is it will drive some local gun stores out of business and that's bad for all of us.

As @Grayfox54 said, using cars to crash through a business is the play of the day in Memphis. Steal car/SUV, smash it into front of store, steal products, leave, repeat.

Put up barricades? Great! Who's paying for that? Not much profit margin to work with & any raising of prices drives locals to online retailers in ever greater numbers. It's a death cycle for the business. 

Too bad we can't cheaply airtag all the guns so cops could recover them & catch the bad guys immediately. That would be somewhat of a deterrent.

Claymores could help, too...(I joke! Sort of...mostly.)

 

[papa61]

On 6/11/2024 at 9:12 AM, pop pop said:

Guns stores need to beef up their security, big time. Need to lock their guns in safe rooms. Theo owner of Specialty Arms did that after they robbed him and a thug burned him out. He has a safe room that is great. Concrete with rebar 2 ft thick on all sides with a big bank vault type door. He has not had any problems since he constructed that room. 

Edited to add; The Supreme Court has ruled you cannot shoot someone for stealing mere-property, not that I would want too, and the states will not do much to thief's even if they catch them. 

Specialty Arms II in LaVergne? They were broken into in the same back through the front again not long ago. Thieves somehow got around the two large concrete planter style blocks. I think this was the 4th time. Can't find the article but wife and I were in the store the day after.

[pop pop]

Didn't know that papa61. 

[papa61]

8 hours ago, pop pop said:

Didn't know that papa61. 

I've done several searches on it. I only came up with the 2017 and 2021 break ins. But my wife and I were i the store the morning after the last one, just a couple of months ago. I did see it on their FB page at one time but looks like they have a new page now.