Yesterday I went over to our (still-being-rebuilt) apartment. Not having any room in our tiny hotel room, on Wednesday I’d taken all the Boomershoot stuff and stored it in our (locked) garage, to be loaded into the rental SUV for the trip up to Idaho on Monday (tomorrow).
On Friday night, the garage was burgled and all the guns and related stuff stolen.
Rifle #1: CZ 557 Varmint (.308 Win)
Scope #1: Vortex Viper HS-T
Rifle #2: CZ 550 American (6.5x55mm)
Scope #2: Meopta Optika6 Illuminated (4.5-30x50mm)
Revolver: Ruger Single Six (.22LR/.22Mag)
Also, a double-rifle hard case and two range bags.
And, of course, about a thousand rounds of .308 and 6.5x55mm ammo, all helpfully loaded into ammo cans, and a few dozen rounds of .45, .22 and 9mm (in the range bags). Amazingly, a pair of expensive Steiner binoculars were tossed aside (!).
Total value of the stolen goods: just under $6,000.
All our brand new replacement furniture, and electronics (TV, computer etc.) and all my tools (!) were untouched. They were after the guns. (Thank gawd I’d already moved all my other guns over to Doc Russia’s place, or else I’d be in even more trouble.)
According to the Plano PD (yeah, I have a case # and everything), there were no fingerprints left, which points to a pro job. There is a pretty substantial group of suspects — this was not a case of a couple guys walking past and deciding that this looked like a likely place to burgle — but I’ll leave that to the cops to figure out. They have the list.
What this means:
1.) I’ve had to cancel Boomershoot this year — no point in going, no guns to shoot, no ammo, nada. I’ve already canceled the rental SUV and hotel accommodation. So we’re all clear on this: I am spitting angry, but most of all I am embarrassed because many of you kind folks sent me money, not only for the drawing but to help with the costs of associated purchases for the trip — several items of which have already been bought. Aaargh. Nevertheless, if you are one of those people who specified that the money was for expenses, email me and I will refund you your money. (Almost all the paper records I have were being kept — where else? in one of the missing range bags — so I have no clue what the total amount is; but I’ll trust in your honesty.)
2.) When the insurance company reimburses me for the guns (less my $500 co-pay of course), I’ll replace the CZ 557 and scope, and hold the lottery for that rig then. I don’t know how long it will take for them to do this, most likely a few months. Please be patient with me while I speak to the insurance company over the next few days.
3.) I have no idea whether the guns will ever be recovered.
Fuck.
My sympathies, amigo. That’s the absolute pits. 🙁
Sorry for your loss. I know your insurance will cover most it but 2021 is shaping up to be as bad as its predecessor for you. 2020 Won
Are you sure you are not related to Job?
^^^^^^^^^^^^
I was JUST thinking of the Job reference.
Sorry, my friend! You are one of the most resilient people I know, though, you’ll pull through this.
You may not want them back, after the thieves and police are done with them.
The police recovered my nephew’s expensive O/U shotgun, after the burglar/drug dealer hack-sawed both the barrel and stock.
My friend got some of his guns back after rusting and pitting away for 2 years in the Police’s evidence locker.
SON-OF-A-BITCH!
I am so sorry to read about your being a victim of the assholes who steal stuff from good people and think they are entitled to make a living that way. You are right about the stuff not being recovered, the only way that would happen if they had a car wreck on their way to fence your goods. Maybe they will sell them locally and some idiot will buy the rifles and then try to pawn them without knowing that pawn shops will run the serial numbers at once and they will come up stolen. A friend of mine in Dallas some years ago was a lady detective and for a couple of years that was her job checking pawn shops for serial numbers of stolen firearms and watches and some second and third hand owners of stolen stuff think they made a great purchase until they discover the gun is stolen.
Once again what a crock of crap to have this happen just before your next great shooting adventure.
Sigh.
That just totally sucks. Nothing says “steal me” like a hard rifle case – except maybe a soft case that’s covered with straps and buckles and velcro.
After any kind of large scale weather disaster – tornado, hurricane, freeze – crimes like this seem to increase. Lots of strangers in neighborhoods and even reputable “local” contractors are so hurting for labor that they’ll hire anybody. Ask around for the local source of day labor – its usually a street corner someplace where you hire people for cash with no names given and no questions asked.
I’m into the drawing for the rifle and I’ll wait for you to get the whole mess sorted out. I know that I’m not going to win anyway so there’s no problem there.
Don’t let them wear you down brother.
Thieves are the worst… not many things take me to raging anger like steeling.
That said, you have what’s most important… loving wife, great loving children, good friends and plenty of firearms/ammo.
I know hearing it doesn’t help… been there. But the anger will pass and you can return to normal gummy self. Just like the rest of us old farts.
Kim what the fuck else is gonna happen ? Lightning bolts ? Pestilence? Jesus help this man !!!
This should serve as a warning to others these days. Crime in America is skyrocketing. Scumbags are not necessarily stupid. They can go on the interweb, so assume they know who you are and now where you live. You are a public person. You and the wife should be in condition orange for a while ! And get one of those Ring doorbells !
God Bless you Kim….
Oh, as for the raffle I will trust you will get it together sometime…
About 45 years ago I lost four pistols (.38, .357, 9mm S&W’s and a Colt Gold Cup) to a thief, who at the same time did not take a very expensive 22 target pistol in plain sight nor a hundred dollar bill lying on my dresser. There was no sign of forced entry and I concluded and police agreed it was a targeted theft by someone who knew what was in my cottage and that my landlord had a spare key.
I have some idea how violated you feel, and I’m sorry for your loss and the hurt it brings.
I have to wonder how many illegals or former felons were on your apartment rehab crew? I’m convinced someone from that crew was involved in your theft, so hopefully, the police will turn up something and someone will get busted hard.
Hang in there Kim. You have recruited a bunch of friends out in the rest of the world.
That sucks.
Waste no time on feeling embarrassed though–this is not something to be embarrassed by. Have a large pink gin and carry on.
Sorry for your troubles, Kim. Mind your health and hope for better days.
Jeebus Kim, someone has it in for you right now. Fingers crossed that the guns are recovered quickly.
But the important thing is that you are both safe. Guns can be replaced; you cannot.
Sorry for your loss Kim.
As for the firearms, most burglars, Iv’e been told, are only interested in firearms and jewelry – both easily fenced with no questions, trails, nothing. I would be shocked if you ever see the guns again or find out just who took them and where they went.
You have my sympathies, I mean that, no sarcasm, no cynicism, I’ve been there.
Now some food for thought.
ANYONE who helped move your belongings or even SAW them being moved could have easily targeted you. Hard sided gun cases, ammo ‘boxes’ even a wall gun rack are dead giveaways.
ANYONE who saw into your garage ANYTIME you were there and had the door open could have targeted you.
The possibilities and the explanations are almost endless. I’m often accused of being paranoid and
maybe I am but I have been stolen from more than once. I learned, eventually, that there are people in the world who will, without any remorse whatsoever, take from you whatever you have that they want. I know the feeling you’re having now and I started taking, precautions long ago.
One of those precautions is – when we have moved and if we move again, some of my belongings do not even get SEEN by ANYONE outside of those I trust ( not many ! ). Moving estimators have to go through closets etc but anything I don’t want them to see is already ‘elsewhere’ and I will MOVE IT MYSELF when the time comes regardless of size, weight, quantity or difficulty.
If I were a betting person, I would say that you had been watched. Perhaps not for long. I would also bet someone KNEW or strongly suspected what you had in the garage, either by seeing it or hearing from someone else who had seen inside.
I know it sounds hollow but you’re certainly not alone and you sure as hell aren’t going to be the last – especially given the way ‘current events’ are trending !
Again, my condolences. Hope this gets wrapped up quickly, you and your wife can start to put it behind you and get back to living !!
Bloody fucking hell. I would not have wanted to be around during the RCOB moment that happened when you discovered the theft. (Although, truth be told, I might have wanted to be about a block away to pick up a few choice bits of invective in Afrikaans.)
Do NOT be embarrassed. Shit happens. And when the insurance settlement comes through I wouldn’t mind if you kept the rifle until next years Boomershoot and then held the raffle.
Have a gin, or three, hug the New Wife, and take care of yourself, Kim.
Fuck! That’s a kick in the teeth. There is no punishment too severe for this kind of professional theft operation. I would include public hanging or drawing & quartering, or any combination of such.
Kim, I am very sorry to hear about the theft of your guns. Don’t be embarrassed. You were targeted.
I was on a jury once where the defendant was the leader of a burglary ring. The guy was in his mid fifties, but he didn’t do the thievery himself. He had a gang of teenagers do it for him for a percentage of the take. The number one stolen item? – Guns.
All but one of the teenagers turned states evidence and that particular bug was sent to the state dungeon for a number of years. (The teens were all juvies and are probably still running the streets.)
If you’ve got the time, peruse a few of the local pawn shops. That’s how we recovered some of my mom’s jewelry when her house got burgled.
You have my condolences.
People dismiss theft as the taking of “mere property that can be replaced”, but the simple fact is that the violation runs much deeper than that.
The concept of property safeguards the integrity of the ownership of one’s self, and of the first, essential choices we make in how we employ our creative efforts.
Theft not only takes the objects, but every moment of creative effort that went into either making them directly, or creating the value that was traded for them. Those precious moments of your life’s time is NOT replaceable. There is sort of a moral distributive property to the thing: taking an object can’t really be distinguished from taking a slice of your very life, to lay claim to your very being. It is a form of enslavement, and is not to be tolerated.
This understanding of the matter is essential, and in its light, we are right to entirely look with critical skepticism upon all who lay dubious claims against us.
All around us, we see the results of alienation between people and their property, indifference to the policies that devalue our wealth and goods, that place demands upon our time and treasure, policies that encourage us to tolerate a constant, slow bleeding away of our life’s essence.
It is not “mere property, easily replaced”. To be alienated from our property is to be alienated from our essential selves, and the choices of action we make in our finite life’s time.
The anger we feel upon such violation is not the petulant wrath of a child, but the justified fury of an ethical being.
I’m very sorry to hear about that. I fucking hate thieves. The gwa45 above put it very well.
Truly a disaster. You have my sympathy. I assume the 6.55 was the one you write about all the time. This is something we all worry about with our guns and I for one just get infuriated when thieves go unpunished or just get off with a slap on the wrist.
Couple of things to think about if you don’t get adequate compensation from the insurance company. Recovery might be possible from the landlord’s property insurance since the flood disaster put your guns in harms way in the first place. Second, I don’t know TX but many states have a fund to compensate crime victims. Any net losses you incurred from the theft and the cancellation of your trip might be eligible for this.
I’m sorry for your loss Kim.
We had a similar problem about 10 years ago. The thieves took a video game system and cash. They left hardware alone. The police thought it was kids trying to score drug money. The cost to replace two doors was almost the same as the deductible. It was an aggravating experience.
JQ
I’ve had a couple breakins over the years (2 in “bad” neighborhoods, one in Australia, and one in a middle class neighborhood) and it sucks.
Oh, and the Australian one was “hot”.
Anyway, given how long it’s going to take to replace everything, Why don’t you–if your donators concur–use it for next years Boomershoot?
Those bastards! I too hate thieves.
Good luck Kim.
Man, that just sucks.
Sorry to here that. Rented spaces are always a risk. Place that specify the lock or provide it just raise my hackles.
Hope it all works out for you.
Few weeks to months from now, some fed comes around with an arrest warrant because a gun registered to you was used in a murder…
Hope the police took the serials so you have evidence of what exactly was stolen.
Well, bugger. If I’d seen this sooner, I’d offer to bring an extra rifle to Boomershoot. Might not have as *much* 308 ready, but, a couple hundred.
This shit really makes me sympathize with the chop off a thief’s hand routine.