When I read that Mobile Police Officer Sean Tuder was gunned down with a firearm stolen from a car, I thought of Greg Holley. Greg was my boss for part of my 25-year career as a special agent as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Like Sean, Greg was dedicated to keeping the community he policed safe. Like Sean, Greg died when a criminal shot him with a gun he stole from a car.

Greg was the special agent in charge of the Detroit Field Division of the ATF. He never turned down potentially dangerous assignments that came across our desks involving catching bad guys with guns. That’s because Greg was always trying to protect everyone in our community of Detroit. After decades of service to his country, it was time for him to quietly retire and focus on a different kind of service: service to his church.

One night as Greg was walking his dog, enjoying those golden years he’d earned, he was gunned down during a robbery. While the attacker was arrested shortly after the incident, it was devastating to learn that Greg was gone just like that. Even worse, the gun used to kill my former boss was stolen from a car two blocks away from the home where he lived.

Sean and Greg were both proud to wear their badges, and that should have been all they had in common. Now they share this other unfortunate connection, one that affects many other Alabama residents every year. Just look at the worrisome trend of guns stolen from unlocked cars in Mobile alone. Alabama.com reported that 1,200 guns were stolen from unlocked vehicles in 2018. 1,200 guns in just one year and just one city. Based on my personal experience and data we have about stolen guns, those stolen guns are liable to turn up at crime scenes.

Often, like in Mobile, increases in gun thefts can be attributed to a spike in gun permit holders. As more guns are sold, there are more opportunities for them to end up in the wrong hands. When guns aren’t kept in a case for hunting or locked up by the bedside but instead end up in a truck’s center console as the owner is running around town, the options for criminals to get their hands on a gun become almost limitless.

It doesn’t take much to get into a locked vehicle and gain access to a gun inside. A coat hanger, rock, or hammer will do the trick. These latest trends are bolstered by the fact that too many gun owners are acting irresponsibly and forgetting to lock their cars.

No one wants to be a victim of theft. But if you decide to buy a gun, you should learn how to carry it responsibly. A stolen gun is nowhere near as harmless as a stolen phone or wallet. When a gun is taken from a car, one of two things will happen. It’ll either get used in a crime or sold to someone trying to use it in a crime.

When a baby is left in a car seat in the grocery store parking lot or a dog is left locked in a hot vehicle, we’re appalled.

“How could they be so careless?”

“Were they not thinking about safety?”

It’s the same with an unsecured gun. The inability to lock up a weapon designed to inflict lethal harm is just as reckless and just as dangerous. This vicious cycle is eroding public safety.

As a law enforcement officer, I carried a gun for 25 years and I still have my concealed carry permit. But owning a gun doesn’t give you the right to be irresponsible and potentially put your neighbors in harm’s way.

Stopping gun violence won’t happen in a day. But one thing every gun owner can do is make sure their guns are safely secured in their vehicle because a car is not a gun safe. Considering the price paid by people like ATF Agent Greg Holley and Officer Sean Tuder, I think taking this safety precaution is definitely worth it.

David Chipman is senior policy adviser at Giffords and former ATF special agent.