Today my wife's purse was taken from our vehicle while we shopped following Sunday services. I am absolutely certain I locked the car, but somehow the thieves still found their way into my car. My 1988 Olds is an older car so perhaps that is why they targeted our vehicle as they may have been able to defeat the lock easier.

Fortunately I wrote our tithe check before I left his morning so the checkbook was at home and not in her purse. Also, we always keep our credit card locked up at home so we are not tempted to make foolish purchases. That leaves her driver's license and social security card as the only things of importance in her purse. Yes, I know, one should never carry one's SSN card, but that doesn't change the past now.

The police are involved and the vehicle make and model has been identified on the security camera tapes along with the number of individuals involved, so that is a plus. The police believe the thieves are looking only for cash for drug money since the video showed them break into several other cars around ours. The officer handling our situation informed us there has been a rash of break-ins in grocery store parking, mall parking, and retail store parking in our area. It would have been nice to know this earlier, but I do not subscribe to the local paper. A humorous part of the situation is that the thieves also took our daughter's diaper bag too since the purse was hidden underneath it! They won't find anything in there to their liking I promise you!

Please pray that the information will not be used illegally and that her purse will be recovered. I have taken all the necessary steps to protect our credit, including signing both myself and my wife up for LifeLock, which is a credit protection/monitoring system. We were fortunate that the theft did not endanger any of us and that our checking account was not affected.

I know this can be trying for you brother Nate. I will be praying for you.

As a side note, now hat you have LifeLock, would you recommend it? I have considered that here recently b/c id fraud is so prevalent nowadays.

Thank you Greektim, I appreciate your prayers.

So far I highly recommend it, though this is the 1st day. After I enrolled (and enrolled my wife of course I received confirmation by email reiterating what will be done on my behalf. This is what it looked like:
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WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

1) We will request Fraud Alerts with the three major credit reporting agencies.

Within the next two months you should receive letters from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) explaining that they have each placed a 90-day fraud alert on your credit report in their databases. This tells creditors you want them to contact you and verify your identity before issuing new cards, increasing your credit limit or issuing new lines of credit (including new loans, credit cards, cell phones, etc.). You will receive these letters every 90 days as LifeLock continues to maintain your service.

How to get the most out of your membership: If you do not receive all of these letters within this timeframe, please let us know and we will immediately investigate the delay.

2) You will receive credit reports from each of the credit reporting agencies.

Within the next two months you should receive credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus. These credit reports will show the fraud alerts we've placed. You should continue to receive credit reports on an annual basis from the credit bureaus.
How to get the most out of your membership: Look carefully at your credit reports and verify that the phone numbers listed for you in the fraud alert section of each report are correct. If they are not, please notify us and we will initiate an update to your credit file on your behalf.

3) You should see a reduction in junk mail and pre-approved credit offers.

We will request that you be removed from these mailing lists. Over time you will notice a dramatic decrease in the amount of junk mail and pre-approved credit card offers you receive in the mail.
How to get the most out of your membership: If, after three months, you continue to receive unsolicited pre-approved credit card offers and/or junk mail in quantities similar to those prior to your membership, please contact us so we can investigate on your behalf.

4) When applying for credit, you should receive a phone call from the lender asking you to confirm your identity.

LifeLock will not affect your credit score. When you apply for credit, the creditor is advised to contact you via telephone (usually using the phone number provided to us during your enrollment) or to take reasonable steps to verify your identity before making any decision with respect to your credit. This should ensure that you are personally notified before any credit or credit-related transaction is approved. If you do not receive a call, it does NOT mean that you are not covered by our $1million service guarantee. You ARE protected regardless of whether or not the lending agency chooses to call you.

How to get the most out of your membership: When applying for credit, most lending agencies will contact you very soon after submitting your application. On rare occasions, especially when you are applying for "instant" credit, the creditor's computer may respond to the fraud alert by sending a message that your credit has been declined or that your application has been placed in a pending status. If this happens, pick up the phone and call us. We'll get the creditor on the phone with you and help resolve any confusion about your identity. We make no attempt to influence the bank's decision to approve you, we only make sure that they know it is you who is applying.

5) If your wallet is ever stolen or lost, call us.

At LifeLock, we understand how overwhelming it can feel to have your identity compromised. As a member of LifeLock, if your wallet is stolen or lost, just call us - anytime, anywhere - and a WalletLock representatives will help you contact each credit card, bank or document issuing company, cancel your affected accounts and complete the paperwork and steps necessary to replace your lost documents, including your credit/debit cards, driver’s license, social security card, insurance cards, checkbook – even travelers checks (pictures, cash and other monies excluded).

How to get the most out of your membership: Keep a list of your cards and documents in a safe location. Although we can help even in the event you don’t have a list, it will ensure that all of your affected cards and documents are cancelled/re-issued correctly.
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I'll give you more details after I receive what they describe above.

Brother,

I am sorry to hear that. I will pray there is a prosecution. Did she carry any gospel tracts in her purse as well?

A lady in our church had the windows busted out of her car, and her purse taken, while we were in service. Not a good situation.

Love in Christ,

Jim

No gospel tracts unfortunately. My Bible was on the seat though. I guess they didn't want that. If we were in a concealed carry state my NRA sticker may have been more effective.

My prayers are with you and your wife concerning this situation. It is too bad they did not take the Bible. Perhaps they would have read it.

In Christ,
george

Actually, it may have made them try and possibly obtain a handgun too. But then again, it is illegal to leave a handgun in an unoccupied vehicle.

While Greek may be GT's area of expertise, mine happens to be firearms, competitive handgunning and concealed laws

Love in Christ,

Jim

This post was last modified: Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:46 PM by Jim.

Excellent! What do you currently own and use to compete? I really enjoyed my H&K USP 9mm before I had to sell it when we needed the money. Right now I only own my Mossberg 12 ga pump shotgun.

You had a USP. THat is a fun gun to shoot. Too bad you had to sell it.

Yes, it was. I was sad to let it go. Stunning gun for looks, too. Mine looked like this except for the o-ring on the front for a silencer.



From what I heard, the USP trigger guard is designed to be further out to accommodate shooting with gloves. This makes sense since the USP's big brother is the MK 23 made for SOCOM. It was very easy to disassemble and clean and I never had a jam or misfire. The German engineering is very apparent in the pistol, which makes me proud being mostly of German heritage.

My carry gun is a second generation Glock 30 in .45 ACP. I do not use this handgun in competition for obvious reasons.

My comp pistol is a G35 in .40. It is designed for tactical and comp situations.

I do not much care for H&K handguns, they're just not ergonomically efficient for me. The reliability is par none, but in comp situations, it also is not a very desirable piece (IMO).

If you enjoyed the USP, I encourage you to look at the S&W M&P 40 or 45. Obviously not the LE version, but a very nice pistol. Also very fun and nice to shoot is the Springfield XP system. Very similar to the M&P in ergonomics.

But I will always be a Glock man. It is a stock pistol that is not a "tinker toy", an affectionate appelation we give to pistols that competitors are constantly sinking money into and changing with almost no return on accuracy or draw speed.

Yes, the trigger guard, on the USP and many other LE only designed handguns, is extended for the use of tactical gloves (which are only needed for situations of extreme measure), but no reason for the civilian market. It is more of a manufacturing savings thing. No reason to have to manufacture two handgun frames just for civilian to LE transition.

Always remember though, the military will almost always exclusively finalize bids on cost first, then special interest next. Perqs are the Fed's best friend in contracting. H&K apparently gives good perqs.

I know Chris Barrett (Ronnie Barrett's son) from Barrett manufacturing in TN, and Barrett has lost their DOD contract for the civ M82A1 (DoD M107). It is insane to get a DoD contract.

This post was last modified: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:18 AM by Jim.

Thanks for the tips, Bro Jim. When I have the funds to purchase a pistol again I am consider the Springfield XD. My cousin has it in .40 and I find the ergonomics are great, fits my hand like a glove. A friend I met online also loves his Glock and another has the S&W M&P and can't stop raving about it.

You know Chris Barrett? Ever get to fire a .50?

Edit: What do you think of the .45 gap round?

This post was last modified: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:04 AM by Nate.

Ah, a subject dear to my heart. I love firing my pistols. I used to own seven of them but like was mentioned here at one point i needed the money and had to sell 4 of them. Currently I own a Ruger Blackhawk .357 magnum, a Colt .38 Police Positive and a Bersa .380 semi-auto. I have a couple of rifles also my favorite of which is a Mauser 7mm.

Unfortunately there is no open public area to shoot here any longer. There used to be a place right off the highway in the National Forest where we could go and target practice. However a couple of years ago someone shot a cow and the government closed the range. Part of the National Forest land right outside the range is leased for cattle use.

There also have been a number of fires on the range. In the summer when it gets hot it does not rain here. All of the grasses on the hills get bone dry. A few years ago there was a large group of us from the Post Office out on a holiday weekend shooting. The next thing you know a small spot fire erupted. It was so incredibly hot and moved so quickly we had to get out near the road and one of the guys drove a couple of miles to the closest ranger station to report the fire. Soon there were fire engines and helicopters galore fighting the fire we had started accidentally. Of course we stuck around and told the rangers what had happened.

So because of those things we have nowhere to shoot any longer unless we want to go and pay for an indoor range which is just not the same.

In Christ,
George

Sorry this happened to you Bro Nate. I will pray for you as well.

I have a S&W Sigma 40 cal. and an AMT 45 cal. Back up. I don't shoot them much as the price of ammo is very high. In fact I have never shot the AMT. Its a belly gun, with no sights. Its strictly an up close defensive weapon.

Ray

You know, that is funny. I have been out shooting with Chris, with LE trainers, in the military, have held these firearms, played with and everything, but everytime we schedule the Police Dept to check out the Barrett, something happens and the chief turns us down. (Price of ammo, just like Raymond said). But, I know it will be soon, and I wil ltry to get some video of us out doing it.

I have been out and shot things like a Serbu super-shorty, Springfield SOCOM 16, M249 SAW, various HS Precision Rem flavored sniper rifles and such, but the M82A1 still remains elusive to this day.

One of the things about the PD is that I get around 2-3K rounds per year of .40 cal for my comp practice, and I have a pistol berm in my backyard to do my target acquisition and sight picture practicing.

Jim

This post was last modified: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:47 AM by Jim.