Missing M-16 Assault Rifle Has Los Angeles Sheriff's Department In A Bind (VIDEO)

Dude, where's my assault rifle?

Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department seem to have misplaced one of its M-16 assault rifles, and authorities are shame-faced over what it says about the force's carelessness.

“This shouldn’t have happened. I mean there’s no way around this,” said LASD spokesman Steve Whitmore to KCAL9. “This is an embarrassment for our entire department.”

In another interview with KTLA (video above), Whitmore emphasized that he doesn't believe the rifle was stolen. Instead, it may just be missing in someone's locker or police car trunk.

Assistant Sheriff Todd Rogers sent around an internal memo on Friday, asking supervisors to "to turn over EVERY rock to find this missing rifle," reports the Los Angeles Times.

Authorities don't know when exactly the rifle went missing, which further illustrates that changes need to take place at LASD. While the department is already trying to put safeguards in place that will prevent this from happening in the future, one thing has already changed: the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, which gave LASD the rifle in the first place, has suspended LASD from receiving any more excess federal weapons because of the incident, reports the Times.

An M-16 is a military grade assault rifle.