A review of FBI data has found that the number of guns stolen from vehicles in the U.S. has tripled over the last decade.
The review was conducted by the gun safety group Everytown, and it found that the rate of guns stolen from cars climbed nearly every year and spiked during the coronavirus pandemic. This means that more and more guns continue to fall into the hands of dangerous people.
“People don’t go to a mall and steal a firearm from a locked car to go hunting. Those guns are going straight to the street,” said Steve Dettelbach, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director, whose agency was not involved in the report. “They’re going to violent people who can’t pass a background check. They’re going to gangs. They’re going to drug dealers, and they’re going to hurt and kill the people who live in the next town, the next county or the next state.”
Surge In Gun Thefts
According to the data, nearly 112,000 guns were reported stolen in 2022. Just over half of those were stolen from cars – most often when they were parked in driveways or outside people’s homes, according to the Everytown report. That represents a significant jump from 2013, when the majority of gun thefts were from homes, and only about one-fourth were from vehicles. Based on the data, authorities noted that a firearm was stolen from a car every nine minutes in America in 2022. Authorities also mentioned that the number was most certainly a significant undercount, as there is no federal law requiring citizens to report stolen firearms and only one-third of states require a report.
Perhaps this is why Minnesota is pushing for revamped gun storage laws, as we talked about on our blog last week. The Minnesota House approved a change that would require all firearms to be stored in a locked container or equipped with a locking device. A gun lock or a locked gun safe inside a vehicle certainly seems like it would be a major deterrent for criminals looking for an easily accessible and movable piece. It would be interesting to see how the passage of the law would affect gun thefts here in Minnesota.
“Every gun stolen from a car increases the chances it’ll be used in a violent crime,” said Sarah Burd-Sharp, senior director of research at Everytown.
Gun thefts bucked the overall theft trend, as the rate of other things stolen from vehicles has dropped 11% over the last 10 years. However, gun rate thefts have surged 200% over the last decade. Hopefully citizens can start to be more proactive about how the store and secure their firearms if they plan to keep them in a vehicle, and they report any thefts that do occur.
From more criminal law news, or for help with a criminal matter of your own, reach out to Avery and the team at Appelman Law Firm today at (952) 224-2277.
