Sometimes I wish every burglary report from the police in the media specifically had three data points:

* The home or business did/did not have an audible wired and monitored burglar alarm.
* The home or business did/did not have the alarm armed at the time of the event.
* Police did/did not immediately respond to the alarm.

I say that because you never ever seem to hear about successful break-ins at places with blaring alarms. Sure, maybe a smash and grab--take out the window, grab something right there,then run. But to have the time to ransack a place and surgically pick apart this attic space?

I mean, if you can afford antique firearms and a keypad-access controlled attic, can you afford $30/month for a centrally monitored alarm pinging the police and screaming bloody murder at the burglar?

@1 There is also the install cost, or a much higher monthly rate if you lease it. Before I cancelled mine I was paying around 65 a month which was for a system with free installation. That's nearly 800 bucks a year. Plus it was a hassle as of course I would forget to disarm it in the morning, or when I went in through the back door or opened a window.

Considering that insurance will pay for what's stolen, and the chance of getting robbed is not that high, the cost might not be worth.

Plus unless he had motion detectors aimed at the right spot or a broken glass sensor, an alarm won't matter if they don't open the door and just break the glass.

That would be interesting statistics to have though. Same with whether they have a dog or not and what size. Part of the reason I cancelled mine is that I now have a couple dogs including a nice big scary one.

1. who has bolt cutters laying out? how often do you need bolt cutters?
2. i'd like to see more criminals using single shot muzzle-loaded pistols in their nefarious deeds.

I'm sure that the gun fearing urbanites heads' will explode when they discover that these objects aren't even regulated as firearms and can be bought by mail-order without any paperwork at all. Oh the horrors, because we all know about all the drive-by shootings committed with guns that require one to create the ammunition each time one shoots.

I always keep my bolt cutters IN the gun safe.

BURGLAR STEALS THINGS FILM AT ELEVEN

@2 "Plus unless he had motion detectors aimed at the right spot or a broken glass sensor, an alarm won't matter if they don't open the door and just break the glass. "

Yeah, that's our thing. We did a fairly comprehensive ADT install--I think it ran like $300-$400? Plus $40 a month. That's some fairly strategically placed door/window sensors and glass break sensors. Let me just say that those break sensors are REALLY good. We trip them up hilariously by slamming a baby gate too loudly or closing a kitchen drawer too loudly.

I guess it's just the thought of -- the signs will deter someone first off. Unless they're totally crazy meth'd out, they'll go for the house without ADT signs. If they do break in, however, they got this loud thing chirping at them every second with a BEEP and saying every 10 seconds "disarm system now". If they smash their way in, the thing screams a horrific EEEEEEEEEEEEEE at them for 60 seconds. You can hear it multiple houses away if the door is opened. It's horrible.

At the end of either, it's a phone call to us from ADT to confirm a 911 call or a false alarm. Police response times in West Seattle are pretty good. If they decide to smash the cellular ADT box, it triggers an instant 911 "panic" call, as a sign of something being really wrong. Even if they cut the house power and phone lines, it doesn't kill the alarm, which is all battery powered. The main box has I think a 4-5 day redundant chargeable battery inside for cellular.

I guess the way I look at it is I'm paying an extra small "insurance" fee to keep assholes out. I know my actual house insurance will cover any losses, but this saves us extra headache on top of that, and helps to reduce the odds of stress.

I would love to see actual statistics, however.

The chances of these guns being loaded is extremely low, as is the chance of them being locked. Here's why: It's been about 100 years since a black powder or muzzle-loading gun has been a viable weapon. People sometimes use muzzle-loading rifles for hunting, but I don't think a single person has been shot with a black powder or muzzle-loader outside of an occasional hunting accident in the last century. Also, if this guy was planning on using these guns in self-defense he probably wouldn't have kept them in his attic behind a locked door.

While it sucks that this dude had some cool guns stolen, the chances of them ending up being used in a crime is pretty low. Even if a street criminal was dumb enough to buy them and could figure out how to load them, the process of buying the shots, wad and gun powder would probably frustrate them into just pawning them. These guns have absolutely zero value to anyone but firearms collectors.

When is it ever ok to blame the victim?

@10: The author doesn't see them as victims. Of course, the same could be said about anyone else who blames a victim, but I think that point is lost on them.

When will we ban black powder revolvers, single shot muzzle loaded percussion pistols, and a World War I era flare pistols? These are not hunting weapons. They are made for only one purpose. Killing 18th century people. Well, that and shooting flares into the air.

It's ironic that guns are one of the most valuable finds for house burglars.

Cash is king of course. Jewelry is great if you know what you're after, maybe some art. C

onsumer electronics just get cheaper and cheaper every year so are hardly worth stealing unless you're a teenager looking to outfit your room. A nice laptop might be a find.

Books and DVDs can't possibly be worth their weight. Clothing? Kitchen gadgets?

Guns on the other hand are valuable and there's a thriving market for them.

@8 The false alarms where a big reason why I ditched it, though I most certainly kept the signs up as I agree they are a big part of the deterrent.

My system still works even though it is unmonitored. I plug it in when I go out of town and the dogs are not there. The cops won't get called by the alarm company, but it should scare away the burglars and alert my neighbors.

@5: I cannot stop laughing at the image of a drive-by featuring muzzle-loader weapons. It makes me think of something along the lines of the "Player Haters" skit on Chappelle's Show.

I'm pretty sure that news intern Ansel Herz means that the burglar "rifled" through the drawers and closets. Unless he or she actually did ruffle them, which would be much cuter and frillier.

No one noticed the hilarious detail that the bolt cutter was used to BLUDGEON a hole in the door, not to cut a lock? I guess it was than closer at hand than the garden tool used on the back door, because if this is written accurately, the fact that it was a bolt cutter vs any other hard, heavy object was completely irrelevant.

@17-- Oh, yeah, I noticed it, and I just found it...well...a bizarre choice by the burglar.

That said, it is still pretty funny (and dumb) to have a bolted door with a pair of bolt cutters next to it.

@16: Thank you! I laughed at myself for that one.

@16 FTW.