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Committee raises penalties for burglaries and robberies of firearm retailers amid rising thefts
Summary
Lawmakers moved to make burglary or robbery at a firearm retail establishment a level-3 felony; senators said the change addresses organized, high-volume thefts that flood the illegal market with firearms.
The committee advanced a bill that elevates burglary or robbery at a firearm retail establishment to a third-degree felony, citing a pattern of organized break-ins that net dozens of firearms per incident.
Chair Freeman said the measure targets smaller gun retailers and gun-show vendors — not large general retailers — that can be cleaned out quickly by thieves who ram the store and steal dozens of firearms. “When they go in and can take 20, 50, 100 guns at a time, that should concern all of us,” the chair said.
Senator Clark, who supported the bill, described incidents in Avon and other communities where thieves used vehicles to force entry and remove large numbers of weapons, prompting retailers to install bollards and other hardening measures. Local chiefs and a regional gun-crime task force told the panel that thefts of this scale fuel downstream violent crime.
Senator Pohl voted no on policy grounds, questioning an approach that layers additional enumerated offenses into the criminal code. The measure passed the committee 8–1 and was recommitted to appropriations for further review.
