Lost & Stolen Reporting for Us, Not Them

I find it interesting that not a single city in Pennsylvania with officials who claimed “lost & stolen” reporting criminal code was absolutely vital to fighting street gun crimes has ever charged anyone with violating the law. (They largely don’t do it because then it gives standing for us to sue.)

But it looks like any city with one of those laws on the books might want to take a closer look at any U.S. Park Police personnel working armed in their city limits. It turns out that federal government employees have a special talent for losing guns.

According to the report, investigators discovered 1,400 guns that were supposed to have been destroyed. An additional 198 handguns donated to the Park Police by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms that are not reflected in official records are being housed in a building in Southeast D.C. There is no evidence that the wayward guns have found their ways into the hands of criminals, but the report noted that the Park Police might not be aware if they had.

They are so careless that they wouldn’t even know if they lost a gun and it ended up in criminal hands. Though one might not want to call it careless since their entire system of firearms management is apparently described as “conditions that would allow for theft and misuse of firearms, and the ability to conceal the fact if weapons were missing.” The report says that the attitude of not giving a damn where guns end up isn’t just a low-level employee thing, it apparently goes all the way up to the chief.

5 thoughts on “Lost & Stolen Reporting for Us, Not Them”

  1. If you steal a firearm from work, doesnt that make you a criminal? Wouldnt they automatically end up in the hands of criminals if stolen?

  2. Odds are they were sold to street gangs. That’s why the lack of concern.

    Now, if there was evidence a Tea Partier had bought one through an FFL…

  3. Same thing w/ Chicago. Awhile back there were numerous reports of guns being lost/stolen from evidence lockers and warehouses which were later re-recovered at crime scenes.

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