Major gun heist at Ohio gun store proves background checks can't stop criminals from getting guns

by Chad D. Baus

WCMH, Columbus' NBC affiliate, is reporting that police are investigating a break-in in which approximately 80 firearms were stolen from a Central Ohio shooting range as well as boxes of ammunition.

Thieves knocked a hole through a cinder block wall to gain access to The Powder Room, which is located in Powell.

According to the report, this wasn't the first time thieves have targeted The Powder Room. In the past, a gun stolen from the shop was later used in a crime where violence against a police officer was involved.

Linda Walker is the Ohio chair of the Buckeye Firearms Association.

"To know now there's 80 guns out there being possessed by yet another criminal is very unfortunate. I mean, we never want to see that," Walker said.

NBC4 spoke with Walker about the claim some make that stolen guns can sometimes lead to more violence against police officers.

"I mean we don't know what the outcome of where these guns are going to end up at. To speculate that they're going to be used against police officers? I don't see a place for that right now," Walker said.

One thing that IS clear from this incident is that background checks are impotent at preventing criminals from obtaining firearms. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns, MSBNC's Jeff Rosen, the Brady Campaign, Senator Chuck Schumer and all the rest of the gun ban lobby can whine all they want about the supposed "gun show loophole" and "online gun sales loophole" (which are both, in truth, simply legal transactions between private citizens), but at the end of the day, making all of that illegal will only prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights, while not doing a thing to stop a motivated criminal.

It is also obvious from this incident that security cameras can't do anything other than document crimes. They also do nothing to deter a motivated criminal.

The thieves unscrewed security lights and avoided surveillance cameras, which the owner said, means they had apparently scouted the business ahead of time.

"It is on the edge of the camera arc so they knew what they were doing," said Stephen Yuszka, co-owner.

Even the close proximity of a police station wasn't a deterrent for these criminals - the Powell police station is only about 1/2 mile from The Powder Room.

According to the article, the ATF is offering a $5,000 reward for information on the person or persons responsible for the break-in. A list of the stolen firearms is expected to be released later today.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.