Gun Store Owner Puts His Truck On The Line To Stop Crooks

An Arizona gun store owner has resorted to using his pickup truck as a barricade after two other gun stores in the area were broken into.

Two federally-licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) in Tucson, Arizona, had previously been hit in thefts, KVOA.com, a local TV station, reported. John Petrush, the owner of John’s Guns and Ammo in Tucson told the station that a local police officer recommended the measure since one of the shops targeted was located very near Petrush’s store.

“Knowing they didn’t use a vehicle the first time they robbed me, there’s still open areas,” Petrush told KVOA, adding that his store had been broken into several years earlier and he still carried a bullet from the incident.

 The suspects used a vehicle to ram into Elite Guns and Ammo on Oct. 5, where they stole multiple firearms, according to KVOA.com, an incident that had the store’s owner saying he was “done.”

 “I’d love to get rid of all of it and probably try to go out of business before the year’s out,” Aaron Herman told KVOA.com. The burglaries have drawn the attention of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade group for the firearms industry.

 “These crimes are especially concerning to NSSF. These criminals are determined, often stealing cars, trucks or vans to literally smash through the side of a building or rips the doors of the hinges of retail locations,” Managing Director of Public Affairs Mark Oliva told the DCNF. “They steal firearms and escape the crime scene in a matter of seconds to minutes, before law enforcement can respond to alarms. These criminals are stealing these firearms that will be used in violent crimes that victimize the communities in which we live, raise our families, send our children to school and attend church.”