...So Shall You Reap

"McBride's Guns" here in Austin boasts it has "one of the largest firearms inventories in the nation". Great, just what we need; more guns...

Yeah, uh-oh!

Anyway, as the photo above indicates, they had a little trouble yesterday...

As it was all unfolding, Cicero came to mind- "As you have sown, so shall you reap".

But actually, no instant karma happened, as no shots were fired. Whew!

Some lucky thief or thieves (still at large) had slipped into and out of "McBride's Gun's" in the wee-hours of yesterday morning, according to the security company, but motion-detectors indicated something was still moving in the store after police initially arrived, triggering a huge, 7-hour S.W.A.T. standoff at a very busy intersection, a standoff that slowly, surely, and safely yielded....well, nothing, really, except a cleared-to-enter crime scene, because the perp(s) had already split. Oh well...

But while the standoff was still unfolding, my son-the-cynic remarked that the burglar(s) had undoubtedly already split or they would have answered the bullhorn, responded when the tear gas went off, or even shot back by then, and that they may have deliberately left a stray cat or two inside to fool the alarm system!

Maybe they did, kid, because nobody's even tried to explain the apparent false-positive read on the motion-detector that caused the prolonged standoff....How embarrassing would it be to have to admit that the traffic nightmares, loss of income, etc., and whatever other collateral damage were caused by a stray cat in a gun store?!

Whatever it was in there, the Austin police and S.W.A.T. people apparently did a good, thorough job, which evidently can sometimes take all day and yield nothing but a safe-to-enter crime scene. They showed calm resolve, mature strategy, and real focus, caution, bravery, and patience, patience, patience. Good practice for anybody.....like I said it coulda been a lot worse...

The downside was massive traffic tie-ups, inconvenience, and missed revenue for nearby businesses. Who knows what collateral damage is done when people are trapped for hours...And the theft of some valuable coins from McBride's. Big woop...

But most importantly, nobody got hurt, which was kind of a surprise to me, considering all the high-powered guns and ammo inside the store and out. Turns out nobody got hurt for the simple reason that nobody was in there...but i

s it bad to feel relieved that the intruder(s) got away? I'm certainly not for burglars or anything, even of gun shops but I was relieved at the outcome because it seems like it was the most peaceful of all likely scenarios, once the store was broken into, I mean.

Picture what would have probably happened if whoever-it-was was still inside the store when S.W.A.T. arrived...it could easily have been a horrific, long-lasting siege. I mean, can you picture a thief not making a desperate, Waco-like attempt to delay inevitable arrest when cornered with a huge arsenal of "one of the largest firearms inventories in the nation"?

I don't see no white-flag-on-a-stick waving at the end of that scene...

And "McBrides" is very centrally-located in the west campus area near 29th and Lamar, near lots of residences; mostly older, smallish wood-frame houses, the walls through which many of McBride's weapons can easily penetrate at a distance.

So it could have been worse.

In fact, late-breaking news says that, supposedly, "no actual firearms or ammunition were taken", although I'm having trouble believing that since so many boxes of guns and ammo were opened and strewn all over the floor. Why'd they mess with the guns so much and then not take any?

Whatever. All I know is that closing Lamar Blvd. for all of the morning rush and most of the rest of the day was a headache usually reserved for people on IH-35 in the rain, which is Hell. People who really needed to be somewhere yesterday were screwed...

Seems reasonable to me to require that firearms dealerships such as McBride's move to the edge of town, away from homes, schools, and businesses..but I can hear the NRA squealing already at that idea...