Well. I'm home. And during that long drive, could only half believe it, you know. The whole way thinking, "Ah, the cops must be mistaken. Maybe it's all just a mistaken perception. Our house is so messy, just *looks* broken into. That and, I'm sure he didn't understand me when I was telling him where to look for the guns. I don't keep them all in one place. I'm very conscientious about keeping them away from our kids and their friends.
But I walked in and started shaking. Holy crap! It's that first punch about how aggressive it was. We had been made to wait till an officer came to take us inside the crime scene -- my home. Then it hit. The gun cabinet was my father's. When I saw how they'd clawed it up and torn the lock out of the wood with the claw hammer (still on the floor, brought upstairs from my basement shop)... chest tightened up and I felt tears of anger welling up.
First piece of good luck -- the Ruger Single Six of my father's, they hadn't see it. It's box was covered with dust beneath other items. It is still here!!!
My bedroom was shredded. They had ripped at the sheets and blankets to get the mattress up. My new case of infusion sets (insulin pump supplies) was torn open, and one of the boxes was opened, the reservoirs pulled out to see what they were. Pill bottles from my nightstand on the floor. My wife's jewelry drawers pulled out and tossed on the bed. We don't think they were looking for the jewelry. The Black Hills gold things are all still there. Then it hit me: Keys. They were looking for keys to cabinets and cases. They were gun hunting.
One of the bows was gone. A Matthews. My stepson's competition bow. They hadn't noticed that, but I noticed the naked spot on the wall. Each person in our family, theirs bows arranged on that wall.
My beside .357, gone. My wife's 9mm Shield and spare magazines gone. The linen closet, all the sheets and blankets yanked down.
The dresser drawers had been rummaged through, nylon stockings and underwear hanging out. The liquor cabinet in the kitchen, just as they described it. Cabinet locks distorted -- but nothing missing. Definitely looking at likely gun hiding places. Things with locks on them.
Then to the basement. All my power tools still there.
But here's where my weird-ass strategy for keeping teens eyes and hands off my guns paid off. The officer hadn't understood me. He found empty handgun boxes for our carry guns (which were with us on the trip). The guns I was telling him about were in the case behind the chimney. It was still there, untouched. Guns I had "retired" and guns I was saving to give to my son -- all still there. All still safe and undiscovered.
Ammo chest, not as lucky. But get this -- they only took ammo (my handloads) that matched the guns from upstairs. My one box of .357s is gone. Four boxes of 9mm are gone. But on the bench, two boxes of .380. They had tossed them aside on their way out of the basement because they were the wrong kind.
Who else is thinking, "teenage" burglar? Too early to say anything. But would fit, wouldn't it?
Didn't take the .38s. Obviously not aware those would work in the .357.
AND MY PIPES -- all here. How could the officer not recognize the pipes on the table? First table inside the garage, my "smoking den." He must have thought I meant somewhere else, because there were no pipes.
They did get one rifle, my stepson's twin barrel Rossi.
We kept a digital photo album of all our guns. We weren't thinking of them being stolen; we just like our guns so much that we have "professional" style photos of them posed left, right, from all perspectives. Serial numbers nicely showing. Plus we have the owner manuals and receipts in a file.
I'm outside right now. Police have not finished their investigation. Got called away and will be back in a few hours. In the meantime, I'm not to touch or move anything yet. So... nothing to do but enjoy another bowl. Wait.
Thanks, gentlemen, for the sympathetic posts. I am posting because, if you're teetering on the brink of better security at your home, no matter how humble your abode, hopefully this tips the scales for you? My mistake was thinking that I live such a modest little lifestyle that no one would think of robbing me. I just learned I can't think of every scenario or motive or possible reason someone might have for taking them. I'm not just keeping them out of the reach of curious family members -- I have to protect my home's belongings from people other members of my family trust.
Unable to "know" all the possibilities, I have to prepare against the unthinkable ones, no matter how "over the top" it might seem. We're definitely getting a gunsafe. And we're no longer thinking of our home as too unappealing to rob. If I were a thief, I think it's exactly the kind of place I *would* rob -- since there wouldn't be all that much security, as rich people might invest in.
