Originally published at: Escaped killer was shot at by resident but stole a rifle and fled — now "armed and extremely dangerous" | Boing Boing
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I wish it was easier to hold people criminally liable for this kind of reckless firearm storage. Odds are the owner probably left it loaded too.
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A violent criminal on the run in almost any other country would have a hard time getting his hands on a gun. Not so in the United States, because we have the Second Amendment to protect ourselves from violent criminals. 
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Good Guy with gun helpfully arms Bad Guy with gun.
“Honey, where did I put the keys to the army surplus Hummer?”
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Cross-post to “Responsible Gun Owners?”
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More importantly “2nd Amendment Enthusiasts” are more concerned with LARPing and fantasies of killing intruders than acting responsibly and storing their weapons in a secure location/method or using them in a sane fashion.
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…looked for a means of making himself less conspicuous. In the US, openly carrying a firearm serves that purpose.
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Wow. I knew this was in Chester Co., I didn’t expect it to be anywhere near Glenmoore (like, the middle of nowhere). I still have extended family in the area, hope they locked down the barns and such.
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Only if that title is ironic.
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Oh, it very much is. Sadly and infuriatingly ironic, but ironic still.
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He probably went shopping at this guy’s house because of an NRA sticker on his truck, or similar tribal signifier.
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And apparently they aren’t very good at it, when the moment comes.
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If the escaped convict uses the weapon in a crime, the victim of that crime (or more likely their next-of-kin 
) should be able to sue the irresponsible gun owner and have a good chance of winning.
And of course the police should investigate the person from whom the gun was stolen to determine if they had any prior connection with the convict. If they “accidentally on purpose” left the gun for their friend to get, slap the cuffs on the convict’s accomplice.
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I have a friend in the area, too. She posted this morning that apparently the guy was in her neighborhood. Scary stuff.
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Great job, gun nuts “responsible gun owners”! (“There’s an escaped killer on the loose around here - I think I’ll leave my weapons out and easily accessible, even when I’m not there. What’s the worst that can happen?”)
The thing is, this is actually an extremely common dynamic Studies I’ve read indicate that gun owners, significantly more than average, are likely to be crime victims - people steal their guns. Those guns are then, for the most part, used in committing crimes in that area (that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred, statistically). So even if gun owners don’t use the gun for a crime themselves (and owning a gun increases the chances a person will kill or injure someone in the household), owning guns increases crime rates.
Sure! Never know when you need to run into your garage and grab your gun to stop the guy who is… um… stealing your gun.
Oh, it’s always ironic.
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One of the obnoxious habits of ammosexuals I’ve experienced is their complete unwillingness to secure their deadly toys, to the extent that I’ve witnessed several handguns just dropping out of holsters or waistbands, guns and ammo just lying around the house, or in one case a car parked at a Home Despot with the windows down, long arms in an unlocked rack, and a bumper sticker with the usual advertisement that there was also a handgun in the glove box. If you must own a dick substitute, please keep it locked up and secured, thank you.
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Apparently, it was never about the self-defense but the possibility of access to firearm and killing people of their reference intruders with a thin veil of probable cause. Those “responsible gun owners/good guys with gun” don’t see themselves as half the problem.
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Here’s something I don’t understand:
From the linked NBC article:
…entered the garage while the homeowner was in it and grabbed a .22 rifle leaning in the corner, Lt. Col. George Bivens with the Pennsylvania State Police said…
And from CNN:
[Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George] Bivens later told CNN the fugitive ran into the garage while the homeowner was sitting right there. He said the gun had not been left unsecured so he did not believe the homeowner was being irresponsible.
What would “had not been left unsecured” mean? Does it mean if you’re nearby and supposedly have your eye on it, it’s supposedly secure?
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