Las Cruces Police Say Most Guns Stolen From Cars, Not Homes, but There’s Missing Data

For quite some time, we’ve talked about guns being stolen from cars. 

I happen to think the idea of having a “car gun,” meaning a gun that is left in the car all the time, is kind of stupid unless you also have a means to keep it secured in that car. It’s one thing to have it in a safe, pull it out for the center console while you’re driving around, then lock it up again when you get out of the vehicle.

But most people with “car guns” or “truck guns” don’t do that. They just leave them in there, unsecured, and figure no one will know.

Then we have the fact that some people don’t actually do that, but are forced to leave their guns in their cars when entering gun-free zones. They’re trying, but the law is what’s screwing them up.

The big problem is that when we hear about stolen guns from cars, we don’t know which group is which.

That came to mind when I came across this report.

In Las Cruces, a concerning trend has emerged with firearms being increasingly swiped from unattended vehicles, surpassing those taken during home burglaries by a significant margin.

According to the Las Cruces Police Department, over three-quarters of all stolen guns since the start of 2022 were lifted from automotive burglaries.

With 541 firearms reported stolen between 2022 and July 15, 2025, a striking 409 of those were from vehicles, starkly contrasting with the 126 stolen in residential break-ins.

The department offers some tips for avoiding having your gun stolen from your car.

The Las Cruces Police Department offers these tips to help prevent firearm thefts:

• Remove firearms, ammunition, magazines and accessories when leaving your vehicle unattended.
• Roll up windows and lock doors when leaving a vehicle unattended.
• Remove firearms and accessories before loaning a vehicle or leaving it at a repair shop.
• Refrain from showing off your firearms to casual acquaintances, strangers or via social media.
• Avoid decals or window stickers that identify yourself as a gun owner. Someone looking to steal may see that as an advertisement for what might be inside.
• Record the make, model and serial number of all firearms you own and keep that information in a safe place if needed to file a report.
• Call police immediately at (575) 526-0795 to report a stolen firearm.

Obviously, substitute your local department’s phone number in that last bullet point, but you already know that.

However, with all the numbers flying around, there’s something that we don’t see, and that’s how many guns might have been stolen outside of gun-free zones.

Yes, you should still lock your car if you’re forced to leave a gun inside, and if you don’t, you’re part of the problem. However, we really don’t know just where these thefts occurred, and it matters.

As it stands, many places want to pass laws that punish the gun owner for being the victim of a theft, at least when it’s taken from their vehicle. Yet without actually knowing where these thefts take place, how can we accurately judge who is really at fault?

I have no doubt that some gun owners are, in fact, leaving guns in unlocked cars outside their homes overnight, making it possible for someone to steal them. Why do I have no doubt? Because we’re a large, diverse group of people, which means we’re going to have a certain percentage of absolute morons in our number. They might be a very small percentage, but with an estimated one-third of American households having at least one firearm, even just one percent being stupid is over a million people.

It’s not hard to recognize that this can happen.

However, I also know how statistics are gathered and how people can draw incorrect conclusions from those statistics when they don’t have the full picture.

I’d rather have the whole picture.