Dramatic footage of thieves ransacking a gun store looks like a bad action movie

The video looks like something out of an action movie: A group of masked robbers chain a pickup truck to the doors of a store and rip the doors right off the building in a daring heist. 

Except it's real life and now Houston Police are on the hunt for the thieves who made off with several dozen weapons in the frantic robbery of an area gun store. 

The melee occurred early Tuesday morning at Carter's Country Guns and Ammo. 

Once inside the building, the thieves ransacked the business, using a hammer to smash open display counters to access the firearms stored within. 

Robert Elder, special agent in charge with the ATF Houston Field Division, whose agency is assisting Houston Police with the case, told KHOU that similar robberies are becoming "more prevalent" in Houston.

“Typically the groups that are stealing these will sell them for a profit, and they will a lot of times be sold to other criminals in the area and in surrounding areas," Elder added. "It’s a source of guns. It’s a black market source of guns for the criminal element.”

According to authorities, once the thieves fled, they abandoned the pickup truck used to open the doors a few blocks away, fleeing that scene in another vehicle.