If you’ve seen the news in recent weeks, then you know America is dealing with repercussions involving migrant gangs due to a crisis on our southern border. Specifically in urban areas designated as sanctuary cities, the situation is growing out of control with violence and crime spilling out into surrounding suburbs, as is the case with Aurora, Colorado, where Venezuelan prison gangs are taking over apartment complexes and terrorizing residents. It seems these migrant gangs now have their sights set on arming themselves by robbing Colorado-based gun stores deploying a particularly heinous method to shield themselves from the legal fallout. They’re using children. Colorado gun store owners, however, are not impressed and are fighting back with security measures designed to thwart future attacks. 

At least eight Colorado gun stores have been robbed this far, with migrant gangs sending children, typically between the ages of 12 and 17, to do their dirty work for them. In recent Colorado Springs smash-and-grab attacks, the young thieves used stolen cars to crash into the buildings where they would then proceed to carry off any firearms they could take from the shelves.

“They rammed through the wall, climbed over the hood of the car and ran in the store,” says Steven Kinder, general manager of Spartan Defense and Training, in an interview with KDVR-TV.

At Spartan Defense and Training, the thieves were able to take several AK-47s and Glock pistols, including some ammunition. This was only the first robbery by the group that night, as they drove the same stolen car into DCF Guns in Colorado Springs. This attack did not go quite as planned, however, and the gang was unable to gain entry as the owners of the store had installed a double entry security measure with the car only able to breach the initial door.

In light of the growing crime and the targeting of gun stores, shop owners have come together to discuss how to make their stores and inventories less vulnerable to criminals. One method that seems effective thus far is to lock up firearms in large gun safes at the end of the business day rather than leaving them on shelves overnight. While this measure might seem extremely reasonable, it can be a cumbersome proposition as the amount of safe space necessary as well as the additional setup and takedown every day can be expensive and laborious. It has worked to some extent, however, as thieves have come away with far fewer firearms since this practice began.

While the nature of the crimes is enough to trouble anyone paying attention, investigators are additionally disturbed by the fact that the perpetrators of these smash-and-grab robberies are most often minors. Migrant gangs recruit these children because they know the courts will only impose short juvenile detention sentences of a few months if they are caught and then expunge the record when they turn 18.

“They know that they can’t get the book thrown at them as hard as an adult can after 18 if it’s not that bad of a crime, they’re scot-free and able to basically re-up on their resume to do whatever they want for the gang,” said Devin Perkins, a DCF Guns associate.

Nearly 30 Colorado businesses have had merchandise stolen this year after being crashed into by minors with stolen vehicles, causing the area and small business owners to suffer, according to KKTV. Timothy Arthur, veteran, and owner of the Let’s Make a Deal Pawn and Gun shop which was also a victim of a smash-and-grab in Colorado Springs last month said, “Every year it gets worse and worse. They’re putting small businesses out of business, basically. It’s hard to recover from big damages like this if you don’t have insurance,” reported KDRO-TV. Arthur is one of the shop owners who locks firearms up in a safe each night rather than leaving them on the shelves and did not lose any firearms during the robbery.

The situation has worsened exponentially during the Biden presidency, as his administration has failed to secure the border, ushering in countless undocumented migrants, many of whom belong to gangs, cartels and other criminal organizations. That crisis is compounded in many major cities such as Denver due to their sanctuary policies, making them a haven for migrant gangs. As with most cities, however, there are a great number of opportunities for criminal elements in the surrounding suburbs as well, and it was only a matter of time before the overflow would begin to negatively impact those communities, which is what we are seeing here.