Deter Car-Part Thieves With Blank Shotgun Shells
This Home Alone-Style Booby Trap Rigged With Blank Shotgun Shells May Be a Bit Extreme
The holiday season is a time for giving. If there’s a car lover in your life in need of some extra parts, they’ll no doubt appreciate a parts donation. Donation, however, is not what Jaireme Barrow had in mind when parts for his Jeep Wrangler kept disappearing from his doorstep. So he decided to do something about it.
The Tacoma, Washington resident is an avid wrencher and off-road aficionado. Like many of us, Barrow sends away for parts to upgrade his cherished ride. But thieves were making a habit of raiding Barrow’s doorstep for the newly-delivered parts. Barrow responded by devising a simple-but-effective theft deterrent. It fires a blank shotgun shell at anyone trying to abscond with the dummy package.
How Barrow’s Dummy Package Works
The contraption, which has already managed to scare off – and quite possibly ruin the pants of – several would-be thieves, is simple. It’s a wooden box equipped with a firing pin and a mount for a blank shotgun shell. Barrow adds bricks to the box, and places it inside a decoy cardboard package to complete the trap.
When someone attempts to leave with what they believe to be expensive car parts, the blank shell fires. At nearly point-blank range, the jolt has been sufficient enough to drive off at least four potential thieves. Barrow knows this because he set up a closed-circuit camera system. So he can watch the action when an unknown person approaches his door. Check it out:
Next Steps for the Dummy Parts Box
While the contraption is clearly effective, Barrow admits it requires a little caution. We also advise against readers constructing anything like this at home, because of potential incidents with blank shotgun rounds. Remember the untimely death of Brandon Lee on the set of The Crow? Blanks can still cause harm. Barrow even keeps a sign by his front door to warn of when the package is armed, in case guests are visiting.
With a little refinement, it seems Barrow even thinks he could resell the idea. The only issue is the question of legality. We’ve got a feeling the courts might be more inclined to allow the device if it didn’t use ammunition.
You can’t argue with results, but Barrow’s situation does raise the question of whether his persistent parts-snatchers might have learned what he’s up to yet. If they’re dumb enough to steal parts… probably not.
Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>
Via [Jalopnik]
