Howard County gun owner Billy Swaggerty said he learned a bitter lesson after his back door was kicked in last spring and more than a dozen firearms, some of them assault-style rifles, and the safes they were kept in were stolen.

“Be careful who you tell, keep it to yourself, don’t be bragging about how many guns you got, be careful who you let into your house and make sure you buy a quality safe,” he said. “And that’s another thing…don’t let strippers in your house.”

Swaggerty said last winter a woman he knew in passing showed up at his front door on Kokomo’s north side, shivering without a coat, and asking if he still had a spare bedroom.

Over his wife’s objections, Swaggerty let the woman move in.