Robbers steal 19 handguns from Cheaper Than Dirt

[SigM4]

After knowing DeWayne (the owner), I can say that he's not one to shy away when it comes to his security measures. From what I've read the BGs spent more time in breaking thru the front door than they did actually in the store stealing stuff. In one of the news videos around here they even showed a BG trying to pull an AR off the wall, only to find that it attached by a locked cable. Either way though it sucks, and just goes to show you that legal gun transactions aren't the problem, its these idiots out here doing the smash and grabs.

[NcongruNt]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but it's hard to be rational when something terrible happens to you, or to someone you (presumably) love. Gotta feel sorry for the poor guy, ya know? If I were in his shoes, I'd probably wish the blackguard had killed me.

While I can sympathize with his plight, I refuse to accept it as a rationalization of his actions. Tragedy does not justify the infringement of the rights of others. My mother was murdered with a gun, and my family's loss was certainly a tragedy. I would also find it reprehensible if someone were to try and turn her death into a campaign to deprive people of the fundamental right of self-defense with the equalizing force provided by a firearm.

It may be difficult to act rationally in the aftermath of tragedy, but that is what is required of us as members of society.

[KD5NRH]

New article:
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/541704.html

Gun store burglary the second one this week
BY BILL MILLER

The break-in at Cheaper Than Dirt early Thursday wasn't the only Fort Worth gun shop to be robbed this week, a federal agent said Friday.

Military Gun Supply, 3815 East Loop 820, was robbed in a similar fashion early Tuesday, said Tom Crowley, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That business was also burglarized in July.

Video surveillance cameras recorded the burglary Thursday at Cheaper Than Dirt. Two masked males in hooded sweatshirts first tried to get at AR-15 rifles on a back row, but the guns were locked together with a cable strung through the trigger guards.

Realizing they wouldn't get far with the rifles, the robbers cracked open a glass case.

"They were good," said DeWayne Irwin, owner of Cheaper Than Dirt. "They had a backpack unzipped, and, with their gloved hands, they just started raking guns and broken glass into the backpack.

"It took them three minutes to get in, and once they were in, they were in the store for a minute and 20 seconds."

The haul at Cheap Than Dirt was 19 semiautomatic 1911 or XD-style semiautomatic handguns made by Springfield Armory. Irwin said the estimated loss was $11,049.

David Noble, president of Military Gun Supply, declined to describe what he lost in the latest burglary.

He noted, however, that it wasn't as bad as the hit on his store last summer when 14 guns were taken, including an AK-style pistol, three AR-style pistols, and five AR-15 rifles.

A fourth burglary was reported in November when semiautomatic rifles and other merchandise were taken from Trader Jim Pawn Shop in the 1000 block of South Handley Drive, about two miles north of Military Gun Supply.

There have been no arrests in any of the burglaries, but ATF agents are working on some leads, Crowley said.

Agents, he explained, believe some of the burglaries may have been done by the same people, but not all of them, because different break-in methods were used.

In both cases this week, the burglars pried open the front doors. In the two earlier burglaries, large vehicles were used to bash in the store fronts.

Agents also believe that the ill-gotten firepower may be ending up in the hands of various users.

"Gang members give them to each other, and drug dealers use them to trade for dope," he explained. "And, we're finding, a lot of these guns are going down to Mexico as well."

Those weapons are frequently acquired by the drug cartels and the gunmen who carry out their dirty work, Crowley said.

"We got drugs coming north," he said, "and guns going south."

[TDDude]

All gun stores I've dealt with have a number of huge gun safes and everyday before closing, all the hardware gets locked up. At least the pistols can. Apparently the cable on the rifles worked. That only means that it wasn't done by employees who would have brough along a small set of bolt cutters to get through the cable.

Just an observation.

[locknload]

All gun stores I've dealt with have a number of huge gun safes and everyday before closing, all the hardware gets locked up. At least the pistols can. Apparently the cable on the rifles worked. That only means that it wasn't done by employees who would have brough along a small set of bolt cutters to get through the cable.

Just an observation.

Now that they know, they'll bring the bolt cutters next time! A gun store near us has been robbed several times this year, too. I overheard some teens talking as they were going down the street, saying that they can make lots of money selling the guns, and it's the gangbangers in our neighborhood that want them. But, if they are, why aren't they stealing the bullets, too? Don't they need bullets?

So, if you've been robbed once, why don't you put on bars? If you're robbed twice, why don't you hire security or sleep inside, waiting for the BG's to come back, with a few well chosen, well armed "friends?"

[KD5NRH]

All gun stores I've dealt with have a number of huge gun safes and everyday before closing, all the hardware gets locked up. At least the pistols can.

The ones I deal with cable the long guns, but pulling all the pistols from the displays every night and putting them back in the morning is a pretty big task and risks damage to the guns. Scratching up a couple of hundred brand new guns every month would probably be more costly in the long run than having a couple of dozen stolen every few years.

[TDDude]

All gun stores I've dealt with have a number of huge gun safes and everyday before closing, all the hardware gets locked up. At least the pistols can.

The ones I deal with cable the long guns, but pulling all the pistols from the displays every night and putting them back in the morning is a pretty big task and risks damage to the guns. Scratching up a couple of hundred brand new guns every month would probably be more costly in the long run than having a couple of dozen stolen every few years.

I watched one day and they would lay out a row on the safe shelf, lay down some towels & then lay down another row. They went layer, by layer until the entire pistol inventory was put away and it only took them about 15 minutes to do maybe 200 pistols.