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Morro Bay police officer’s guns stolen

January 3, 2012

By KAREN VELIE

A Morro Bay police officer who left two guns in an unlocked vehicle parked in San Luis Obispo discovered early Friday morning someone had stolen the weapons.

Former San Luis Obispo City Councilman and Mothers Tavern owner Paul Brown left an unregistered 38 revolver and a loaded semi-automatic pistol in the center console of his personal car when he went home for the evening. At about 6 a.m., Brown reported the theft to police.

“I left my car unlocked,” Brown said. “I wish I could relive the moment.”

The Department of Justice recommends gun owners store their weapons in a safe and secure place and keep ammunition in a different location to prevent unauthorized use. In this case, the semi-automatic had a bullet in the chamber and the revolver had ammunition stored next to it.

In addition, according to California law, all firearms purchases and transfers must go through the Dealer Record of Sale process. Brown said the revolver was registered to his father, who passed away about two years ago, and he was in the process of getting the revolver registered.

“It wasn’t in my possession, it was in my car,” Brown said. “I had it because we were getting ready to transfer it into my name.”

California Penal Code requires that the person taking possession of a firearm report the transfer to the Department of Justice within 30 days.

A few years ago, Paso Robles Police Chief Lisa Solomon left her loaded semi-automatic gun in an unlocked car parked in front of her home. Atascadero police later confiscated the unregistered gun from a pair of burglary suspects and returned it to Solomon.


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Seems odd that no one has looked into the “were they really stolen?” theory. Suddenly 2 weapons leave a mans sphere of responsibility?


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I immediately thought of that.


Why is everyone taking his word for, a) the guns being stolen, b) when they were stolen, c) where they were stolen from, and d) who had possession of them when they were stolen?


Did we ever learn from SMPD who the guns were registered to in the shoot-ups where residences were hit? They wouldn’t even release the name of the person/people arrested for it.


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Pardon me? Brown admits he left his vehicle unlocked and that the guns were stolen. A mistake that could well end his law enforcement career and cause him other legal problems. Why would he have lied about that?


Because he wanted to get insurance money for the guns? Because he wanted to sell them on the black-market for big bucks once he reported them as being stolen? C’mon…


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Again I say, Brown should not be shielded by his badge. If he did potentally endanger children in the “gun-free school zone” then he should be held accountable just like you and I would be. No consideration as HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER!


LEOs should not get favor when they screw up; treat them just like we the peons.


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“Gun free” zones “potentally endanger children.” Such ludicrous laws do nothing to dissuade criminals. All they do is assure criminals that fewer law-abiding citizens will have the ability to counter their crimes. Stupid law crafted by politicians seeking the votes of very dim people…


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I’ve owned a gun since I was 18. My first husband was a Vietnam vet and we hadn’t been dating but a few months when he bought me a gun and taught me how to use it.


The chances of me, a civilian, having my gun with me when danger strikes are between slim and more-slim.


Right now, as I write, I am in my office, and my gun is in my bedroom, on the other side of the house, locked in the top drawer of my tall bureau, where I left it the last time I cleaned it, over a year ago. I have not touched it since then, and probably won’t touch again until it’s time to clean it again.


I am only in my bedroom at night. I seldom have the key with me. You see, to make sure that a kid doesn’t gain access to the gun, I keep the key in another place.


If a criminal wanted to commit a crime against me right now, I would not have my gun near me or even within reasonable expectation to get it. In fact, I’d probably have to run right over the top of the criminal to get the gun. If I can do that, I don’t need the gun because I’ll be half-way out the door exiting my house by then.


I don’t think my approach to the gun I own is unique.


So I don’t think ensuring guns can be owned by all Americans necessarily ensures more chance law-abiding citizens will have the ability to counter crimes.Indeed, I would bet that the number of innocent folks accidentally killed by citizen-owned guns is probably more than the number of criminals civilians shot with their own guns. I’ve not seen the statistics stating otherwise and, if there were stats like that, you know the NRA would have shoved them down our throats long ago.


I think what the right for all citizens to own guns is important because it puts our ever-overreaching government on notice that a large population of us know about guns and how to use them.


I think it is also important that we continue to have the right to own guns because it is a constitutional right, dammit, and it may be the only constitutional right we have left by the time Obama’s 8th administration is over and he transfers power to the missus.


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What your story didn’t do was address my comment. That is, “gun free zones” do absolutely nothing to deter criminals. Quite the opposite. All they do is assure (and advertise to) criminals that non-criminals within the gun-free zone will have a reduced ability to protect themselves.


These “gun-free zones” were hideous attempts by politicians to troll for votes and their actions have real consequences.


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I have not seen statistics that reflect, one way or other other, whether gun-free zones impact the safety of a region.


As I said, I don’t think most citizens pack their weapons with them so, in effect, they are already living in a “gun free zone,” at least for themselves.


I don’t like the reduction in ANY of our constitutional/BOR rights, including those in the 2nd Amendment.


If there are zones that are so precious or so dangerous that the citizens deserve extra security, then the local police force needs to take care of that. I don’t see the logic of making gun-free zones. And I see NO logic in taking away our constitutional/BOR rights.


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Mary, this topic took up too much of my time so I’m trying to stay out of it. But there are stats that I’ve provided in the past that demonstrate that there is more of a chance that your firearm will injure or kill someone by accident, used in a crime, or be used to commit a suicide then it will be used for protection. I’m not against people owning guns, just practical gun regulations. But that’s not good enough for some, they want the whole cake, they don’t want to share it.


Okay, this time I’m really done, no more posting for me in this thread, I’m going to un notify so I don’t get anymore posts, just too time consuming.


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“But that’s not good enough for some, they want the whole cake, they don’t want to share it…”


What the hell does that even mean? Is this another one of those “that gun isn’t used for hunting so it should be banned” comments?


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Geez, I un checked the box, I’m trying to get out of this thread. It’s never ending.


No it’s not that, it’s that you people aren’t willing to compromise at all. If you want it then you don’t care who objects or why, you want it and that’s all that matters. Many of us don’t feel we are being unfair by asking you to register your gun, wait through the cool off period and to please don’t carry it to the market with you. That’s call a COMPROMISE. If you want to sleep with gun under your pillow like Cindy fine but I have a human right to keep my family safe from nuts. But that’s too much to ask. You want your gun and you want to be able to go the Walmart, buy it, load it and put in your pocket to carry around with you. Guns come in very handy when you have a road rage incident.


I haven’t seen a con compromise in well over 10 years now, diplomacy, compromise,,no way, that is not the repub way. You want the whole cake, you won’t share. Your guns, no rules that might help us to feel safe. Now I’m truly done with this thread, I won’t respond anymore.


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“Compromise?” Like what? What good will registering a gun do when there are already 200M unregistered guns in the USA? All it will do is give Big Brother a shopping list to work from should the government ever choose to ban guns.


Your comment is almost as stupid as “why that gun is not used for hunting therefore it should be banned” logic that prevails among so many anti-gun individuals.


“Cooling off period”, huh? Where did you get that? I could see where a 3 day wait might make some sense for a first time ever gun-buyer. But for someone that already owns firearms? What’s the point other than to keep someone (such as someone on a holiday trip) from buying a gun? The background check is INSTANT.


What about the foolish and arbitrary list of guns that cannot be purchased in California yet they are readily available in most other states?


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JAZUZ H. CHRISTY! Mary, your mouth should have a lock on it. Are you nuts!? Whaddayou telling everybody where your friggin’ deadly weapon is! Why don’t you just draw us a map! Cripes, that pie hold should be licensed and have a safety lock on it!


Here I was, just reviewing my post to see if anyone left me a comment, and then LAND MINE! Mary’s telling the GLOBAL COMMUNITY where and how she protects herself! Where’s Cindy when we need her?!


CINDY!! SLAP THAT BEECH UP SIDE O’ HER HEAD AN’ WAKE HER UP!


Mary Malone! Get your nose out of that very interesting Stalin bio. with the great quote and talk some sense into your other half! Sheeesh!….Now where did I put that horse…..


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I for one would like to understand exactly how Brown came about getting that badge, Never heard that he had “in depth traing'” at any well known POLICE ACADAMY. Just because he’s BIG doesn’t mean he’s fit to wear the uniform,,,Hell, Atila the HUN was huge & HE wasn’t law enforcement! I suspect Brown “bought his way into this current porisiton” by being one of SLO Counties “GOOD OLD BOYS”….


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iT’S ALSO MY OPINION THAT BROWN WAS NEGLIGENT, AT BEST BY LEAVING THE LOADED GUNS IN AN UNLOCKED VEHICLE. That alone should be cesure of some kind….


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“Brown was a reserve office in Guadalupe for about a year before going to Morro Bay.”


A county as corrupt as San Luis Obispo appears to simply recycle their mistakes.

And then the people wonder why things don’t work as they should.


Of course, grumbling about it will achieve nothing. Need to find better candidates for political offices – encourage them to run, and then vote for them!


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SLOCounty uses one of the Diebold systems for voting.


As corrupt as this county is, I don’t think we can have confidence that the voting is correctly tallied.


Stalin said it best: “I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how.”


SOURCE:

Memoirs of Stalin’s Former Secretary (www.panrus.com/books/details.php?langID=1&bookID=5905)

Author: Boris Bazhanov.

Published: 1992, in Russian

Quote is toward the end of Chapter 5. (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/BAZHANOW/stalin.txt)


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Can’t sing, can’t run a bar/restaurant, can’t be married, isn’t a good politician, almost burns down his house- lets make him a cop. Get help dude and quick.


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Interesting how the story appeared in The Tribune.


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