A daytime burglar reportedly broke in to the Chicago home of Steve Peterson, the third highest ranking member of the Chicago police department, and stealing a .375 magnum revolver, a 50″ plasma television, and other items. The news report states that an unnamed police official said that the burglars may not have realized it was a cop’s home, and that the home owner “may have the full weight of the law behind him ready to track them down.” My thoughts on this theft, and the comment by that police official, are below:
The theft of a handgun from a ranking Chicago police officer’s home
As background information, I would note that Chicago has a handgun ban that only serves to disarm law abiding people, while utterly failing to disarm the criminals who have repeatedly made Chicago the “murder capitol” of the United States. Despite these fact, politicians such as Mayor Daley continue to make unfounded anti gun statements, suggesting that average citizens can’t be trusted with a firearm and have no right to own one. At the same time, Daley and other influential Chicago politicians have taxpayer-funded bodyguards and craft special gun laws for themselves.
I find it especially ironic that Chicago’s politicians and cops suggest that ordinary citizens shouldn’t have a gun because they are not responsible enough, yet the third highest ranking member of the Chicago police force had a gun stolen from his home. As I’ve said before, the police should be shining beacons of guns safety and responsibility, setting an example for the rest of society. Failing to secure one’s firearm in such as a way as to have it stolen by a burglar doesn’t live up that standard by a long shot. By comparison, I’m an ordinary citizen who secures his firearms in a large gun safe when not at home, and secures his home with an alarm system. I’m pretty confident that short of a Mission: Impossible-style burglar, no one is going to steal my guns while I’m at work.
Perhaps instead of focusing on telling Chicago’s ordinary citizens that they can’t be trusted with a gun, Chicago’s politicians and police officials should focus on ensuring that their own officers secure their guns against theft?
The “full weight of the law” statement
As I mentioned above, an anonymous police official stated that the burglar picked the wrong house, since it was a cop’s home, and that cop would have the “full weight of the law behind him ready to track them down.” To that I would say that the full weight of the law should certainly be brought down against criminals who break in to homes – but that should be case whether the victim is a cop or not. Each of us deserves the full protection of the law, and the mentality that crimes against cops should be treated more seriously is endemic of the corruption that plagues Chicago and its police department.
I must say that as I write this article, I am happy that I moved from Chicago to Iowa, where I may lawfully own a handgun, lawfully carry that handgun concealed on my person for self defense, and have a police department that seems to be much more focused on serving and protecting. Oh, and my taxes are 48% lower too 🙂
Hmmm … I agree with ALMOST everything you've said in your commentary, and generally almost everything you write about on this website (certainly everything about the ridiculous double standard that exists in Illinois regarding gun possession on the part of authorities versus "the average" citizen).
The only thing that troubles me is your assumption that this police officer was somehow negligent in storing his pistol (seemingly just by virtue of the fact that it was stolen).
Do you know for a fact that the pistol was improperly stored? Burglars can (and do) defeat strong boxes and other security measures.
I admit I DON'T know the circumstances of this theft, but the general "if anything bad happens involving a gun it's negligence by definition!" attitude that some folks have worries me. Sometimes people CAN be responsible and STILL have bad things happen to them.
Christopher,
Thanks for the comment, and your point is well taken about assuming negligence.
To be clear, I didn't intend to call the officer "negligent," since that is a rather loaded word. Instead, I only intended to point out that it seems the gun wasn't stored as securely as *I* (an ordinary citizen) store my guns, and that as a result it is wrong for Daley and other Chicago politicians to take the gun control stance they take.
With that said, if I had to make a bet, I would guess that the gun wasn't properly secured, since it is rare that an ordinary burglar will be able to defeat a proper gun safe. I also get the feeling that if it were in a safe or otherwise properly secured, the Chicago police department would have gone to great lengths to make that clear when speaking to the press.