By Tom Knighton
March 29, 2022
-Bearing Arms
Under federal law, you can’t have a gun shipped to your home unless you have the proper licensing. However, most guns have to be shipped somewhere, even if it’s not to a private residence. Your local gun store has to get firearms somehow, right?
However, while we can’t get guns shipped to us, someone has to handle those guns that get shipped to FFL holders. Sometimes, they’re not particularly law-abiding.
A 31-year-old man stole dozens of guns and a large amount of ammunition while working at a national shipping company’s Fridley facility, according to federal prosecutors.
- Jason T. Cikotte, of Isanti, Minn., was charged in U.S. District Court in St. Paul with possession of stolen firearms in connection with the theft of guns from XPO Logistics.
Cikotte was arrested last week, appeared in court, and was released on his own recognizance ahead of another hearing Friday. His attorney, Kirk Anderson, said Monday that “these are only allegations at this point, and Mr. Cikotte is entitled to the presumption of innocence.”
The criminal complaint noted that Cikotte worked overnight as a weight inspector and had “little to no supervision at work [and] would have no reason to open the pallets of firearms as part of his usual employment duties.”
Unsurprisingly, Cikotte was fired.
Now, his attorney is correct. He’s merely charged and is entitled to the presumption of innocence in a court of law. However, let’s also face the fact that there’s evidence against Cikotte, namely him removing boxes from pallets of guns. As the company says he’d have no reason to do so, that’s a big red flag.
But he’ll get his day in court to explain himself unless he elects to reach a plea deal.
However, there’s a lesson here for the anti-Second Amendment types out there. Cikotte didn’t go to a gun store and buy a gun, he allegedly stole them in transit. He caught them at a point when they were vulnerable to theft and walked out with thousands of dollars worth of firearms.
Allegedly.
Of course, the police also allegedly found 40 of those missing guns in his home, which isn’t going to look good for Mr. Cikotte but also illustrates my point with regard to gun control. Namely that those who intend to obtain guns through illegal means will find a way to obtain guns through illegal means.
Whether it’s so-called ghost guns, through straw buys, or just stealing them, they’ll find a way to get a firearm if they want one.
It’s well past time to recognize that gun control laws don’t stop this type of behavior. It can’t stop this type of behavior. At most, it can punish this type of thing, but since theft has been illegal pretty much since the dawn of time, if laws were going to cut it, they’d have already done so.
The fact that they don’t should tell you how little more laws will actually accomplish.
Theft is a huge chunk of the problem with have with crime in this country as it is. That includes gun thefts.
