It is a bad, bad thing, I can imagine this man's sense of loss. BoomLover mentioned something about these bums perhaps just abandoning the gun and carriage; you never know, the people that do these things are usually strung out on drugs, or just plain dumb, so there's always the chance that this may be what happens, and the police will then recover it. I was thinking that if these thieves saw that first episode of "Pawn Stars" where the gent sold his Hotchkiss cannon for 30 grand, that they might try this route, and get nabbed when the shop owner notifies the cops; at least one can always hope.