By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Police are encouraging people to not carry their guns in the car, as they are seeing an increase of guns being stolen from vehicles.
Interim Police Chief Dave Hart says guns being stolen from vehicles has become an issue they've seen, and it all goes back to something the department has said time and time again.
"First of all, don't leave anything of value in a car that is not secured, it's a glass box on the side of the street, and definitely don't leave a gun in the car" Hart tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "The number of guns that are getting taken out of cars and are now out on the street, it's really mind boggling at this point."
Hart says a number of stolen guns have popped up all around the nation that were stolen from St. Joseph
"We've had guns recovered in Chicago that were used in homicides, that were stolen out of vehicles in St. Joseph, Missouri," Hart says. "We've had gun recovered on the west coast, that were stolen from cars in St. Joseph, Missouri."
Hart says he's not blaming the victims of these thefts, but.
"There has to be some accountability when you have a deadly weapon like that, that you should be responsible enough to lock it up," Hart explains.
Hart says it's important to lock up your guns, saying that as much as he wishes everyone was good hearted, that's not the reality we live in.
"We have to take those steps to harden ourselves to make it more difficult for these thieves," Hart says. "Because at the end of the day the last thing you want is to get a phone call, and hey we recovered your gun but it was used in a homicide, that's not a good day."
Hart says it's important to lock your cars, especially if you keep a firearm inside it, to make it more difficult for thieves to break into the car.