Where Have All The Lost Guns Gone?

If you ran a pharmacy and lost 82 bottles of, say, Oxycontin every day do you think anyone would notice?

If you were in charge of a day care center and you misplaced 82 children every day what do you think might happen?

If your business made crucial bomb components and 82 of them went missing every day do you think there would be consequences?

It probably wouldn't be very long before some form of government agency came knocking on your door, right? You'd probably be arrested, maybe put on trial; certainly you'd be put out of business for putting the public in danger.

Well, if your business is a gun shop you needn't worry if you loose track of a chunk of your potentially deadly inventory. Chances are the grossly under funded Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives won't soon come by to check. Under law the ATF can only inspect a gun store once a year and during last year's swing through the country the ATF could only afford to visit ten thousand of the nation's 60 thousand gun shops.

What they found by talking to those gun shop owners and looking at their ledger books was chilling. Earlier this month the ATF quietly revealed that the owners admitted a substantial part of their inventory was either "missing, lost or stolen." After adding it all up the ATF concluded that, collectively, those registered gun dealers "lost" 82 firearms every single day! Take the math forward and it's a startling 30 thousand unregistered, untraceable guns in just the 2007 fiscal year.

And, realize, this is what the government found by interviewing just one-sixth of the country's gun shop owners. The actual figures could be far higher.

The ATF quietly revealed the figures because every time the Bureau comes out with such statistics, sources tell me, the National Rifle Association comes out swinging - hard - calling ATF inspectors "jackbooted thugs" and worse. (I would think "thugs" would stop by more than once a year - but I digress.) The ATF findings were noticed, analyzed and then publicized by the Brady Campaign for the Prevention of Gun Violence.

The N.R.A. sneers at the method of disclosure.

"No one in American should place any faith in any alleged study coming from the Brady Campaign," said N.R.A. spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.

Who cares who brought the news to the public's attention? Stop and think about this.

Last year our streets were flooded with at least 30 thousand more guns which cannot be traced. There is absolutely no way for authorities to know who has them and what they might be using them for. Common sense tells us it is not the law-abiding citizen who wants an unregistered, untraceable firearm.

The possibilities for those guns scare the hell out of me.

So, how do guns just disappear? Some are stolen by either employees or customers. It's been reported that John Muhammad (the older of the two D.C. Snipers) told investigators he had shoplifted the 35 inch long carbine rifle he used to kill 10 people in 2002. That store just happened to be Bull's Eye Shooter Supply in Tacoma, Washington which had already been targeted by the ATF and had a long history of sloppy records and sales. The Feds revoked the store's license in July 2003 but the owner simply transferred ownership of the store to a friend and continued business.

Experts in the field say a huge majority, like 90%, of gun shop owners are completely legit. They work hard to keep their ledger books up-to-date with every transaction and they insist on doing everything right. It's rare that the ATF moves to strip a gun shop of its federal license to sell. But the sad fact is that some shop owners deliberately divert firearms to criminals for big money.

That's what authorities feared was happening with NRA board member Sanford Abrams in Parkville, Maryland. He had been "loosing track" of guns from his Valley Gun Shop inventory for nearly a decade. An ATF inspection in 2003 revealed hundreds of guns unaccounted for during just that year. Later 483 Valley Gun Shop guns were used in the commission of crimes, including 41 assaults and 11 homicides. Abrams' license was finally yanked - in February 2006.

Look, I'm all for the constitutionally protected right to bear arms and defend ourselves. I am. But guns -like our cars, our doctors, our sex offenders and our nuclear waste - things must be kept track of in this country. We need to know who has a firearm and if they use it where we can find them to ask questions afterward.

I also think the ATF needs more funding to conduct many more of these annual inspections. ###

Diane Dimond's website is www.DianeDimond.net. You can reach her at [e-mail]

Comments

[Thirdpower]

"The ATF quietly revealed the figures because every time the Bureau comes out with such statistics, sources tell me, the National Rifle Association comes out swinging - hard - calling ATF inspectors "jackbooted thugs" and worse."

When individual agents act like thugs (as in the case of Red's Trading Post), pursuing vendettas, making threats against media, etc. , it can be deserved. There's a reason that the majority of Congress is supporting the BATFE reform act.

As for statistics, the reason that they are dismissed is because groups like the Brady Campaign (which you referenced) consistently misuse them. From a recent Brady Report that claimed:

"These data patterns show why we need to pass common sense gun measures that make it harder for dangerous people to access dangerous weapons."
AMong various statistics. Here's what the ATF had to say about it:

"But ATF and gun proponents found flaws in the Brady Center"s calculations.

ATF supervisor Todd Reichert in Washington noted that the agency"s data included some gun sales that were originally made as much as 10 years ago, which is much longer than the two-year "time to crime" ATF considers an indicator of a possible illegal gun sale."

So the anti-gun groups deliberately misuse the data to generate false statistics even thought there is a disclaimer on every single report published. There have even been instances of the Brady's falsely accusing dealers of criminal activity due to released figures.

That's why the data shouldn't be released.

[Thirdpower]

Grossly Underfunded? Perhaps then they shouldn't be spending millions of dollars on office redecorating or spending 3 million dollars to shut down one shop w/ some paperwork violations. Really. If you look at how much money they've wasted, it's a wonder they can afford field agents at all.

They are limited to one inspection/ year plus an inspection for any firearm traced back to them or involved in an investigation. This is the result of the FOPA act which was introduced because the 1968 GCA was, in several areas, vague and contradictory which led the the ATF arbitrarily changing decisions.

It's also a fact that the BATFE list of Title III firearms (machineguns) has at least a 10% error rate due to mismanagement.

But you want to give them MORE authority?

[Thirdpower]

Here is the DOJ report on BATFE money issues:

http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/s0610/final.pdf

You could also look up "always think forfeiture". The Logo that the BATFE was having engraved on its Leatherman's.

There's also the BATFE reform act which has around 200 co-sponsors in congress.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

No, ThirdPower - I want them to be able to inspect more gun shops to find missing guns. They already have the authority to do that. - DD

[Thirdpower]

You're right. They do. The reason they don't isn't because they're underfunded or because of the NRA, it's because of gross mismanagement and abuse of authority. They spent over 3 million dollars on one shop w/ clerical errors. How many thousands of FFL dealers could have been inspected w/ that money instead of them pursuing a vendetta?

[SinNombre]

It's not like any gun shop anywhere lost 82 guns a day. The math works out to 3 guns a year per gun shop. And you can't say they are all in the wrong hands. Many are lost and missing but in the right hands; it's the paperwork that is lost or missing. With thousands of gun shops nationwide, that's still too many.

So there is a problem and it needs to be fixed. More inspections, more often, and I would like to see some stricter secure storage requirements. Too many gun shops leave them in glass display cases when closed that leave them too susceptible to smash and grabs. The guns should be stored in a safe or vault, or chained to racks, etc when the shop is closed.

The problem w govt regulation and inspection is it's seldom just right and done right; they usually mess it up one way or another eventually. Even the USAF lost track of 6 nuclear weapons... so we need to watch the BATF like hawks to make sure they don't mess up by going overboard in either direction (harass gun shops).

FYI, I am an NRA Life Member, concealed handgun license holder, and retired military (USAF) investigator w degrees in Social Science and Criminal Justice.

[montestruc]

Registration of guns is not required in most states even for legal sales, and more guns are sold in such states so the vast majority of guns sold are unregistered. This has alway been true, so what.

Yes gun registration and gun controls are a bad joke and always have been. Gun control is no consistent with a free society. If you want to live in a gun controlled tyranny, please feel free to leave.

[twogunmojo]

it is true that the gun has to be registered at the point of purchase but after that the laws vary greatly from state to state on private guns sales or trades....there is no gun show loophole....if you buy a gun from a dealer with a federal firearms license at a gun show the gun must be registered and a background check down at that time....if you buy from a guy who is a just selling his personal guns.....all you do is pay your money....i would like to congratulate you on one thing....you did not repeat the myth that fully automatic machine guns are illegal in the u. s.....they may be in your state but anyone who can pass the background check and pay the requisite fees can purchase a fully automatic machine gun of his of her choice at a gunshop that has a class III license.....you just cannot buy them through the sears & roebuck like you could back in the 1900s...thanks for reading

[blueshield]

There's a very subversive implication here that missing guns is bad somehow. So they're missing. I'm sure they'll turn up sooner or later, like cats, when they want to be found. Meanwhile, they're probably serving a useful purpose, as vases, bookmarks, doorstops and occasionally as hammers, to put up pictures of puppies. I'll bet some have probably been used to make entertaining videos. Or, even, to win contests, or to help seniors in retirement centers create collections of contemporary firearms. Would you take away this small pleasure from our forgotten elders? I hope not. So, before you get your knickers in a twist about missing guns, may I remind you, guns don't lose people, people lose guns.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Very clever, Blueshield! I see you got my underlying point! DD

[45superman]

By the way, these .0082missing guns per day, per dealer--do those include those lost to burglary, such as when thieves deliberately crashed a truck through the wall of a gun shop, to steal the guns inside? Or the time thieves cut a hole in the roof of a gun shop, to steal the guns? If so, are gun dealers to be held responsible for those losses (in other words, are we to blame crime victims)? And if we are to do that, should we not hold police and other government agencies responsible for guns THEY lose?

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Superman, I think you misunderstood. It's not .0082 missing guns per day, per dealer. It's a collective 82 guns missing EACH DAY from the 10 thousand gun shop owners in America. Keep in mind there are 60 thousand gun shop dealers - but some are small and do little business.
To answer you - yes, the missing can be missing because of outside theft, badly kept paperwork, employees stealing, shoplifting, etc.
And yes, the gun shop owners are considered responsible for keeping heir wares safe, just as a pharmacist has a duty to keep their narcotics safe from theft. Just like a police officer is responsible if they allow their gun to "go missing." - DD

[OnceProudAmerican]

Heres an idea!
Since we can't legislate people to be "Responsible" why not start to hold them responsible?
We have enough Laws, We need to start making people answer for their actions!
Because what we're doing now sure is'nt working!
Let's start by holding our leaders reponsible for thier actions - or lack thereof.

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

OPA:
I'm all for enforcing the laws we have. Not sure there is one to mandate an elected official to get off their *** and work for the citizens who elected him/her. Wonder how that would work????? - DD

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

OPA:

I'm all for enforcing the laws we have. Not sure there is one to mandate an elected official to get off their *** and work for the citizens who elected him/her. Wonder how that would work????? - DD

[45superman]

Your analogy to a single pharmacy losing 82 bottles (per day) of a controlled substance, or a single day care center losing track of 82 children, or a single bomb manufacturer (?) losing 82 bomb components; to TEN THOUSAND gun dealers losing 82 guns per day is more than a bit disingenuous, don't you think?

As far as "need[ing] to know who has a firearm"--you had best assume that every patriotic American does, and that we're not going to submit to being registered like "our sex offenders and our nuclear waste."

[Diane Dimond - Huffpost Blogger]

Hello again, Superman .... I'm afraid the registration ship has already sailed....it is the law that guns must be registered.

And, my analogy to pharmacies, bomb makers, etc was to point out that guns, like other things that can do harm to citizens, are "kept track of"...... - DD

[45superman]

"Hello again, Superman .... I'm afraid the registration ship has already sailed....it is the law that guns must be registered. "

Nope--'fraid not--not in all but the least free of jurisdictions in America, anyway.