Man robbed in the Centreville area
About 4:10 a.m. Sunday, July 30, officers were called to the area of Newton Patent Drive and Newton Tavern Drive. A 21-year-old Centreville-area man was robbed while walking on Newton Patent Drive. Two suspects approached the victim from behind, and placed a metal object up to the victim’s head. The suspects took the victim’s hand gun which he was openly carrying. The suspect’s then fled the area. The victim was not injured.
The suspects were described as black males wearing dark clothing.
Anyone with information about this incident or these suspects is asked to call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or the police non-emergency number at 703-691-2131.
I'm just posting the story. Situational awareness is always important. Checking your six should always be done.
Open carrying takes away the surprise and criminals choose to use more force usually. He's lucky they didn't go further with him as they weren't caught anyways.
I'm not making this an anti-open carry post. Just posting an article.
Story Link
No surprise... criminals are always looking for ways to get their hands on firearms. The latest trend is stealing weapons right out of police cars. Criminals are becoming more brazen with the tanking economy. Also, firearms are becoming harder to come by because of the panic buying that has taken place since the election. Crooks are looking to get their hands on them anyway they can!
Guns stolen from sheriff's patrol car
Rifle, ammo stolen from Calif. cop cars
Weapons stolen from N.M. cop cars
Ariz. police chief's car, badge, gun stolen
AWARENESS!! He is lucky He didn't get shot/killed. If this citizen always walked the dog in the morning, I'm wondering if the BG's watched his steps all the time so they knew what time he walked the dog; carried Open; not alert (?) which made him a good target. And why didn't the dog pick up on this??!!
(All the above are MY opinions/suggestions ONLY....AND, I like to bust ball's, it's called having a sense of humor. In other words, no intent to offend anyone, so get over it)
Well, for those of you who say that gun grabs from open carriers are a non issue, this story shows that you're dead wrong. Sure, the victim's lack of situational awareness is more responsible for this than anything else, but this would never have happened to anyone who was carrying concealed.
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Benjamin Franklin
And if he had been CC'ing at that same situational awareness level, they would have tried to rob him for his wallet I would wager (and gotten the gun anyway).
Still sucks. Main link didn't say anything about a dog, which could explain that. Wake up and pay attention (to the victim, not sambo)!
I am glad he was not injured, but now there's another firearm in the hands of the wrong people.
ETA:
One isolated case does not make OC'ers "Dead Wrong"
Now, if this were happening a lot more often, I would be more worried about it. At 4:00 am, it should be peaceful enough to notice somebody trying to sneak up on you. An ambush would be more difficult to deal with, but still...
You might argue that he was being targeted specifically because he was OC'ing, but I hardly doubt that's the case. Most muggers are opportunists, and this guy was alone and in the dark, and apparently not paying attention.
Last edited by squisher; 01-16-2009 at 05:35 PM. Reason: Ninja'd by tattedupboy
Taurus PT92
17+1 9mm
The incident happened in 2006 and since has been debunked as a false report, although, at the moment, I do not have proof of the falseness. But if the nearest incident we can come up with to say OC'ers are "dead wrong" is 2006, I would say we are doing pretty good, as OC'ers.
Let's assume for the sake of argument that this story is true. Finding stories of open carriers having their gun snatched is about as easy as finding stories of cops getting their snatched; try finding either on the Internet. Just because we hardly hear about it does not mean that it's something people don't need to make an effort to prevent.
That being said, that doesn't mean that the overwhelming of open carriers aren't responsible people, because they are, simply by virtue of the fact that they are taking responsibility for their safety into their own hands.
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Benjamin Franklin
I think the story was based on the filed police report:
Fairfax County Police Department
Public Information Office
4100 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, Va. 22030
703-246-2253. TTY 703-204-2264. Fax 703-246-4253
FCPD-PIO@fairfaxcounty.gov
Homepage*- Fairfax County, Virginia
************************************************** ***************
Now I realize that it happened in 2006, and regardless that if it was a false police report or a true one, the addressing is situational awareness for all of us.
Again sorry if this is a re-post.
Not just your six you should be aware of. But 3 and 9 o'clock too