How Many Guns are Stolen Each Year?

Re-posted for the edification of Kurt Hofmann who loves to play dumb and avoid Google when it's convenient to do so.

How Many Guns Are Stolen Each Year?

One of our favorite commenters recently expressed doubt as to the claim that a half-a-million guns are stolen each year. Of course, this is a guy known to bend the truth a bit in the name of a good argument, so it's hard to tell if he was even serious.  Furthermore, he's a guy who firmly believes in the million-plus numbers of DGUs which are based on telephone interviews with self-aggrandizing gun owners boasting about their exploits. But, with hard numbers of stolen guns reported around 200,000, even though such reports are not required and may very well reflect badly on the stupid gun owners who keep their guns under the pillow for safekeeping, this unnamed commenter finds it hard to believe the true number is up around a half-a-million.


MAIG

Guns stolen from homes: Almost 600,000 guns are stolen each year from private homes, according to poll data on gun-owning households.

Johns Hopkins University puts the number at 500,000


Governing

“I think [the report] needs to be put in context,” said Lawrence Keane, assistant secretary and general counsel at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the gun industry. The number of guns that are stolen each year is likely to be much higher, Keane said, referring to a widely cited survey by the U.S. Department of Justice that suggests it’s closer to 500,000. However, even half a million stolen guns represents a small fraction of how many guns are sold, manufactured and imported in the United States every year, he said. (The ATF estimates that about 6.5 million firearms were manufactured and another 3.2 million were imported in 2011.)

US Bureau of Statistics gives the number of REPORTED guns stolen.

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report last November with lower -- but still alarming -- numbers. According to the report, 1.4 million firearms were stolen during burglaries and other property crimes between 2005 and 2010. That's an average of 232,400 annually. 

The ATF gives us the number REPORTED, even though it's not required. One can only guess at the multiplication factor required to reach the actual number of guns stolen.

In 2012, NCIC received reports reflecting 190,342 lost and stolen firearms nationwide. Of those 
190,342 lost and stolen firearms reported, 16,667 (9% of the total reported) were the result of 
thefts/losses from FFLs. Of the 16,667 firearms reported as lost or stolen from a FFL, a total of 
10,915 firearms were reported as lost. The remaining 5,762 were reported as stolen. 

North Carolina 13-Year-old Shot and Killed - Shooter Arrested Immediately

Fifth grade photo of Nathan Clark from the 2012 Lewisville Elementary School yearbook.(Photo Courtesy: Winston-Salem Journal)

Local news reports

Police say a 13-year-old boy is dead after a gun discharged in a hotel room and the bullet went through a wall into another room, hitting the teen.

It happened around 11 p.m. Friday at the Comfort Suites hotel at 1309 Corporation Parkway.

Randall Louis Vater, 42, of Knightdale has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 

The victim has been identified as Nathan Andrew Clark, of Lewisville, N.C. 

Jail Inmate Charged in Fatal Shooting at North Houston Apartments

(Photo By HPD) Jacob Brown


Houston Chronicle

A suspect has been arrested in the shooting death of a woman and the wounding of a man last summer as the victims sat in a car in north Houston. 

Jacob Brown, 27, is charged with capital murder in the shooting, which occurred about 12:30 a.m. June 27 at 7311 Curry, according to the Houston Police Department. 

Police said Titisha Denise Williams, 22, and 33-year-old Damon McClain were in a car in the parking lot of an apartment complex when two men approached them and demanded money. The suspects then shot them more than once and ran away. 

Williams died at the scene. McClain, 33, was rushed to Ben Taub General Hospital and was in critical condition. No update on his condition was released. 

Investigators later determined Brown was a suspect in the case. At the time he was charged in the shooting he was already in the Harris County jail for an unrelated robbery case.

When asked about the gun used, Brown admitted that a few days previous to the incident, he'd broken into the home of a fat white gun owner and stole it.  The gun had been found under the pillow in the main bedroom.  The victim of the theft had no comment.

How Many Guns Are Stolen Each Year?

One of our favorite commenters recently expressed doubt as to the claim that a half-a-million guns are stolen each year. Of course, this is a guy known to bend the truth a bit in the name of a good argument, so it's hard to tell if he was even serious.  Furthermore, he's a guy who firmly believes in the million-plus numbers of DGUs which are based on telephone interviews with self-aggrandizing gun owners boasting about their exploits. But, with hard numbers of stolen guns reported around 200,000, even though such reports are not required and may very well reflect badly on the stupid gun owners who keep their guns under the pillow for safekeeping, this unnamed commenter finds it hard to believe the true number is up around a half-a-million.


MAIG

Guns stolen from homes: Almost 600,000 guns are stolen each year from private homes, according to poll data on gun-owning households.

Johns Hopkins University puts the number at 500,000


Governing

“I think [the report] needs to be put in context,” said Lawrence Keane, assistant secretary and general counsel at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the gun industry. The number of guns that are stolen each year is likely to be much higher, Keane said, referring to a widely cited survey by the U.S. Department of Justice that suggests it’s closer to 500,000. However, even half a million stolen guns represents a small fraction of how many guns are sold, manufactured and imported in the United States every year, he said. (The ATF estimates that about 6.5 million firearms were manufactured and another 3.2 million were imported in 2011.)

US Bureau of Statistics gives the number of REPORTED guns stolen.

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report last November with lower -- but still alarming -- numbers. According to the report, 1.4 million firearms were stolen during burglaries and other property crimes between 2005 and 2010. That's an average of 232,400 annually. 

The ATF gives us the number REPORTED, even though it's not required. One can only guess at the multiplication factor required to reach the actual number of guns stolen.

In 2012, NCIC received reports reflecting 190,342 lost and stolen firearms nationwide. Of those 
190,342 lost and stolen firearms reported, 16,667 (9% of the total reported) were the result of 
thefts/losses from FFLs. Of the 16,667 firearms reported as lost or stolen from a FFL, a total of 
10,915 firearms were reported as lost. The remaining 5,762 were reported as stolen. 

Houston's Stolen Guns

The Houston Chronicle reports

Cabdrivers Mohammed Elsayed and Blaise Nwokenaka, shot dead by the last passengers of their lives, were killed with a .380-caliber Cobra pistol - a gun stolen just 20 days earlier.

Nineteen-year-old Shanetria Grogan was slain by her ex-boyfriend, shot in the head with a .380-caliber Jimenez Arms semi-automatic pistol, also stolen. And 23-year-old Leroy Pierson, killed in a drug deal gone bad, suffered a fatal wound from a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol, yet one more ripped-off weapon.

At least 32,000 guns, some 4,000 every year, have been stolen from Houston-area homes, cars, pawn shops and even gun dealers since 2005, with only 7 percent of them ever recovered, a Houston Chronicle analysis shows.

And this is only Houston, and what we know about. Can you imagine the extent of the problem nation-wide?

The solution is obvious.   Safe storage laws plus a reporting of stolen guns requirement would take care of the rest.

This wouldn't be a 100% solution, nothing is, but it would go a long way towards improving things.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Stolen Guns in the U.K.

 via The BBC

Nearly 3,000 guns were lost by or stolen from people registered to hold them in the past five years, according to figures obtained by the BBC. More than half of these weapons were shotguns.

The data, which was published for the first time on Wednesday, revealed that 1,448 shotguns and 294 rifles have been stolen since 2007.

The guns lost during the period included 730 shotguns, 86 rifles and 14 revolvers. 

Chrissie Hall, spokesperson for the Gun Control Network, said public safety was being compromised "by individuals who have shown themselves to be irresponsible".

"These figures are probably the tip of the iceberg. If gun owners lose their weapons and are in breach of their registration and conditions, their licence should be revoked," she told BBC News. 

"But whether this happens is at the discretion of the chief constable and the firearms department. It's not always rigorously applied." She added: "People lose their glasses and they lose their umbrella but to lose their gun is unbelievably irresponsible.

"It's part of their conditions that the shotgun is safely stored at all times... obviously if it's lost it isn't safely stored, they're in breach of their licence, they're putting members of the public at risk."

What do you think? How does the situation in the U.K. compare to our own?

Please leave a comment.