ROCK COUNTY, WI - Thieves have their
eyes on guns and theft of those weapons is up according to a study by the Department
of Justice. That same study shows that
while 4,000 gun stores were targeted nationwide over the last three years with
more 74,000 guns being stolen from said stores, more than 230,000 guns were
stolen in home burglaries.
But gun thefts aren't
anything new says, Captain Jude Maurer, with the Rock County Sheriff's
department.
"It's not out of
the norm for us to receive burglary investigations in which firearms were
stolen," said Capt. Maurer, "but it seems to be during those situations that
the guns were taken because they were just there."
However more
criminals are targeting the actual gun itself. Two weeks ago, four people stole more than 20
guns from a home in
"In speculating, it
is possible that thieves are targeting areas in which they can find these types
of weapons under the guise that you may not be able to get these styles of
weapons because of the ban."
Maurer says the
concept is similar to an issue the county had with scrap metal theft and crooks
getting away with copper piping. He says
there was a market for the goods.
"The cost of those
materials being taken to recycling centers was too much of a temptation of
these thieves not to avoid," said Maurer.
The guns stolen in
the
Captain Maurer says
the
