On 15 Oct 2013 a North Carolina father and son were out target shooting. Upon their return home their guns were not secured. At least one was merely left leaning against the gun safe in their garage, because you know the extra effort of actually opening the safe and placing the gun inside is too much to ask of a responsible gun owner.
While this in itself is lazy and stupid, it gets even worse. They couldn't be bothered to lock the garage, either. So now there's a gun leaning against a gun safe instead of stored securely within it, in an unlocked garage. Most likely, they didn't even bother closing the garage door so anyone walking or driving by would be able to see the gun, which led to the inevitable. The gun was stolen that night. Surprise!
The gun in question? An AR-15. For those who don't know what that is it's a semi-automatic military-style assault weapon.
The irresponsible homeowner from whom the weapon was stolen? None other than Renee Ellmers, Tea Party Republican Congresswoman, who is heavily supported by the NRA.
As usual when bringing up a Teahadist there is comedy involved, the typical "Do as I say, not as I do" hypocrisy which flows from these people in a never ending stream. Her official House of Representatives website states her view of the Second Amendment and gun rights as “she believes that gun owners must be responsible for the use and care of their guns.” Oops. So much for responsibility.
Nobody in Rep. Ellmers's family will be charged with any crime because no crime was committed. There are no federal laws requiring secure storage of firearms, and State level laws requiring secure firearm storage are nearly non-existent. The chances are slim to none that there ever will be such laws, no matter how badly needed, because any attempt to create such a law is instantly greeted with apoplectic rabid resistance by the gun rights crowd, a crowd which wants all the rights but none of the responsibility. After all, it is their Constitutional right to leave a dangerous firearm laying around where it can easily be stolen by a criminal and used to murder large numbers of people, and how dare anyone infer otherwise. Of course not a one of them can offer a valid argument as to how the requirement of secure storage somehow impedes their right to bear arms but that's a different story.
Naturally the "liberal media" we constantly hear so much about has been all over this story, which would explain why you may not have heard about it.
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