Mandatory Death Penalty for guitar thieves!

[bcdon]

Call me extreme, but I'm all for executing guitar (and bicycle) thieves.



http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/machine-head-/September-2010/119961

http://www.guitarplayer.com/uploadedImages/guitarplayer/Stories/flynn%20001.jpg

Guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn of San Francisco Bay Area group Machine Head suffered a severe invasion of personal property yesterday, September 7th, as thieves broke into his home between 1:15pm and 3:15pm PST. Flynn and his family were not present during the invasion, and many priceless items were stolen from his home. These items include the guitar that Flynn recorded Machine Head's first album, Burn My Eyes, with, a gift guitar from late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and Flynn’s son Zander’s mini Flying V; a gift he received from his family for Christmas. Other items stolen include Flynn’s wife’s jewelry, laptops, wakeboards, and cash.

“I am offering a $1,000 reward for the return of the black Ibanez Strat along with many stickers, a ‘Designated Drinker’ sticker,” announces Flynn. “Additionally, I am offering a $2,000 reward for the safe return of the blue Washburn Dimebolt prototype.

“An APB has been put out to every Guitar Center in Northern California and the police were able to get several fingerprints off of the two acoustics that the thieves handled, yet bizarrely left behind. Sightings of two suspicious vehicles have been reported, one a green/teal U.S.-make pickup truck, the other a white full-size work van.

“If anyone sees or hears of anything on Craigslist, eBay, at their guitar shop... anything, anywhere, please contact us at mike@machinehead1.com immediately.”

[Tig]

Pawn shop clerk, "I've never heard of one of deez Washburn Dimebolt prototype's before, and there's not one on eBay for me to get a price check from. Tall ya' what... How 'bout $200 for it?"
Meth head seller, "Um, sure dude!"

Yep, execution would be fine by me.

[Spudman]

I get real sad when I think about my stolen 1978 Ibanez Artist. Kill, kill, kill!

[FrankenFretter]

I'm on your team, Don. Do amp thieves count too? I miss that Carvin XB100 that was stolen from me years ago.

[guitarhack]

I don't know about the death penalty, but I definitely support amputating their hands, as some middle eastern countries do.

[hubberjub]

A guy I have played several festivals with, Zach Deputy (http://www.zachdeputy.com), had his entire tour van with all of his gear in it stolen out of a Philadelphia hotel parking lot about two years ago. He is one of those looping performers (a la Keller Williams) and a ridiculously nice guy. It was amazing to see the outpouring of support for him in the form of donations of money and equipment. I can't tell you how violated I would feel if someone stole one of my guitars.

[Tig]

A guy I have played several festivals with, Zach Deputy (http://www.zachdeputy.com), had his entire tour van with all of his gear in it stolen out of a Philadelphia hotel parking lot about two years ago.

I've heard many horror stories about vans, trucks and trailers getting robbed at hotel parking lots. Hotel lots are high priority targets for theives. Most hotels have a noisy air conditioner/heater right along the window, which blocks outside noise.

Just when you lose all hope for humanity after something like that happenes, the generous outpouring of support and donations from the community quickly erases the negitive deeds of the few.

[Eric]

A guy I have played several festivals with, Zach Deputy (http://www.zachdeputy.com), had his entire tour van with all of his gear in it stolen out of a Philadelphia hotel parking lot about two years ago. He is one of those looping performers (a la Keller Williams) and a ridiculously nice guy. It was amazing to see the outpouring of support for him in the form of donations of money and equipment. I can't tell you how violated I would feel if someone stole one of my guitars.
How did you think I accrued my gear, anyway???

[bcdon]

How did you think I accrued my gear, anyway???

Get a rope! :spank
vgrGyR6EYbY

[Tig]

Get a rope! :spank


Looks like there's still some Texan left in you! I can't imaging not having Pace picante sauce around. A few local Mexican restaurants have better salsa, but for home, you can't beat Pace's Chunky Salsa.
http://www.pacefoods.com/images/products/product_shot_10836.gif
Dang, now I'm hungry!

[Eric]

Get a rope! :spank
Oddly enough though, I remember hearing of a local band that had all of their gear stolen. Maybe Philadelphia's just not the most secure place ever. I could have told you that...

[bcdon]

Looks like there's still some Texan left in you! I can't imaging not having Pace picante sauce around. A few local Mexican restaurants have better salsa, but for home, you can't beat Pace's Chunky Salsa.
http://www.pacefoods.com/images/products/product_shot_10836.gif
Dang, now I'm hungry!

You know what they say, you can take a Texan out of Texas but you can't take the Texan out of a Texan! It's bone deep, I tell you! :dude

If you want good Mexican food up here you have to make it yourself. I wish I could grow -- or smuggle -- a whole mess of New Mexico Poblano green chilis; I'd kill -- or trade someone's stolen guitar -- for a mess of chile rellenos right about now! :happy

[bcdon]

I'm on your team, Don. Do amp thieves count too? I miss that Carvin XB100 that was stolen from me years ago.

Definitely! My motto is, "if you steal, we will kill!" :-)

[6stringdrug]

In college, my house was robbed. All 3 of us that lived there were musicians and most of our gear was stolen. They took my first guitar, not that I played it any more, but it was very sentimental. It was a cheap, locally made Les Paul copy, Brainard brand, I believe my Dad paid $80 new for it. It sounded like crap and played even worse but that was what I learned to play on. My Ibanez acoustic and mim strat, even the amp and pedals they took I really could have cared less about because they are easily replaced, but Brainard stopped making guitars when the guy died almost 20 years ago. I still think about that axe even 15 years later, knowing whoever took it probably threw it out when they realized it wasn't worth anything.

All theives should be strung up by their toes in front of the local music shop and die the death of 1000 b-strings!

[MichaelE]

I hope no one ever tries stealing my Turner. But if that should ever happen, they should hope that I never find them.

Piano wire is an excrutiating death.

[kiteman]

Now you guys got me worried about my toys. :poke

[omegadot]

Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of Streetlight Manifesto’s legacy is their propensity to being robbed. While asleep in a hotel room in Orlando, Florida, the band’s van was broken into and stripped clean. As if that weren’t bad enough, the trailer that had been hitched to the van was de-hitched and hauled away in its entirety. When the group woke up the next morning they had lost all of their instruments, all of their equipment, and a lot of their money and personal belongings. All in all they were down an astounding $80,000. I’ll put that into words for more effect: Eighty thousand dollars. Luckily they were able to scrounge together enough to keep playing shows. But then, while in Paris, France during the 2005 riots – only a few months after the last robbery – the band’s rental cars were broken into and the last of their expensive equipment stolen. The saddest part was the theft of the 24-track recording device the band had been using to record their shows on the tour. Some Parisian criminal now owns the only copy of the most valuable ska recordings ever.

http://www.truepunk.com/bands/streetlight-manifesto/


It's always sad hearing about the guys playing for us getting their gear snatched.

[street music]

I read this thread and I just have to post my friend doing a song that he wrote;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm9Fne5CJmc
I think you will like it.

[deeaa]

Aww, come on guys, I know you're just joking...losing an axe to thieves is bad for sure but it's just material damage, insurance will cover it, and if they catch the thieves, some community duty will do fine for punishment.

[bcdon]

Aww, come on guys, I know you're just joking...losing an axe to thieves is bad for sure but it's just material damage, insurance will cover it, and if they catch the thieves, some community duty will do fine for punishment.
No, I'm not kidding. It's like in the old days where they would hang horse thieves. If someone invades your home then they deserve far more than a fine (think about your wife/kids being alone when these monsters break in). Like I said, I know I might be extreme but some things should never be tolerated.

[deeaa]

Hard punishments only lead to harder criminals. That's the catch. I do believe hard punishments have made the U.S.A. one the most violent and dangerous developed country to live in basically, with largest incarceration rates in the world. Seriously, I'd think more seriously about bringing my family to L.A. than taking them to see Baghdad.

There will always be criminals and people who can't help it. No criminal starts doing it for wanting it; they do it to survive and how that evolves is up to the judiciary system. If someone knows they'll face capital punishment or like 15 years in a hellhole somewhere, they'll do anything to avoid being caught. Which leads to criminals doing horrible things because they know they'll lose it all anyway if they get caught, so it's just the same to rape and murder everyone in the house while doing a burglary because the punishment won't be any worse in any real terms; they'll be rotting in jail their best years, lose a possible job or whatever anyway.

Here the maximum penalty for, say a murder of child or someting, is 12 years of imprisonment in a nice facility with single rooms and TV's and computers and swimming halls and all. And first-timers as a rule always walk after half that time if they behave well. BUT for your basic drunken murder/manslaughter you'd usually only get maybe 2-6 years and walk after half that.

For breaking and entering, in many/most cases it can be negotiated with material damages and some community service etc. For this kind of petty crime great care is put in rehabilitating the citizen, i.e. they make sure he/she gets work and a place to live, and help him to start a life where he doesn't need to do crime to survive. I know a few guys who ransacked houses around here in their late 20's and finally got caught, and they had to pay a lot of damages etc. and were sneered upon, but they're all doing fine now, businessmen and such and forgiven.

And if you for instance dare to take justice in your own hands, like defend your own house with a gun (not even shoot anyone, just scare the burglar) if someone tries to enter, well you'll most likely be punished more severely than the burglar will be. At least you'll lose the gun and have fines. If you shoot the burglar, that's murder just as well as the other way round.

And what's the result?

I don't think you can find a safer country anywhere. There is hardly any hard crime to speak of for normal people - sure, them drunkards/drug users kill each other in their circles (but they keep clear of normal folk, there's like an invisible barrier they respect) and fighting spouses may knife each other when drunk, and these days, there's a lot of talk of most crime being carried out by foreigners...but still, I don't need to lock my doors here or have to worry about walking anywhere at night basically, and I can let my 5-year-old roam the city as he pleases with no worries.

So I do believe if you help the criminals instead of throwing the book at them, you end up with not only a lot less crime, also much softer criminals who often behave downright politely towards their victims, because that can lead to extremely lenient punishments.

[Algonquin]

Folks, let's take a second and consider where this thread is going (and has been) We're treading on some pretty sensative issue's that albeit deserve consideration... it's generally taboo to discuss politics and such on a guitar forum like thefret.net.

Peace...

[bcdon]

Folks, let's take a second and consider where this thread is going (and has been) We're treading on some pretty sensative issue's that albeit deserve consideration... it's generally taboo to discuss politics and such on a guitar forum like thefret.net.

Peace...

Agreed. That's why I haven't posted a reply.. well, until this one. Thanks for looking out for us. :dude