When I was a teenager, I often took my shotgun with me when I drove to school. I left it on the floorboard of the back seat along with my hunting coat and a box of shotgun shells. That’s because I would sometimes drive after school directly to a patch of woods to hunt squirrels. I rarely locked my car, and no one stole my gun.
But!
A recently approved Virginia Senate Bill 496 states that leaving a firearm in an unattended car or truck is a misdemeanor subject to a fine of $250. Fairfax Democrat David Marsden said that stealing guns left in cars is how many youth offenders get their weapons. In essence, this bill makes criminals out of crime victims whose property was stolen.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t the same logic say that it’s a crime to put your money in a bank because that only encourages bank robbers?
This is insane.
Let’s say a deer hunter puts his rifle on his gun rack in his truck after a morning chase and goes inside a diner for a midday sandwich. But his gun is left unattended! That would be a misdemeanor. What’s he supposed to do? Take his rifle in the restaurant with him? Or maybe drive back to his house, put the rifle in a gun safe, go back to the restaurant, eat his sandwich, then drive back to his house to get his rifle?
My thought would be to apprehend any gun thief – no matter the age – and toss him in jail with his fellow thugs and make the sentence for stealing guns twice as long.
But this is the philosophy of the gun control crowd. Punish the victims, not the criminals.
