Hackers steal gun owners’ data from firearm auction website

While gun owners come in all shapes and sizes there are many that are quite overt about the gun(s) they are carrying - from actual open carry to various stickers on their vehicles to this list of website users. It’s probably not difficult to track gun enthusiasts online from sites they visit and such.

I have to imagine that very few gun owners in the US actually get to defend themselves (beyond just brandishing when threatened and such) and would probably be easily defeated with a small group of individuals that “got the drop on them”.

This would probably be useful for criminals that are looking for throw away guns that aren’t associated with them.

That being said you have to go and actually get them. So maybe this makes it easier to rob owners of poorly securely firearms when they’re away from their home or just directly rob them when they’re by themself in public.

At the end of the day it probably doesn’t change the calculus that much. You should probably assume that most strangers in public are unreasonable and may be armed (in the US) so you’re better off leaving them alone.

If you want to steal someone’s gun and use it for criming then this could be useful - or just follow the guy with the NRA stickers on their truck somewhere and overpower them.

Almost certainly the former. Plenty of burglars are smart enough to watch a house for a few days, get to know the occupants' routines, and enter when they can be sure that nobody's home. For that reason, those "Protected by Glock" signs are worse than useless. They're an advertisement that you have guns, and guns are worth stealing.

Just like in computer security, home security is best done in layers.

First defense would be a sign advertising that you have a home security system. Second would be actual said security system. Third defense would be a dog with a nice loud scary bark. Fourth and final defense is a gun if someone is brazen enough to ignore and get through the previous layers.

Most gun owners consider self defense with a firearm to be a last resort to save themselves and their families from dangerous individuals. Also, they're normally not that useful for home defense from burglars because they typically wait until you're not home to break in.