One of the greatest threats to law and order in this country is pineapple on pizza.

Another arguably is black market guns. These firearms exist outside of the current legal framework and they’re pretty much exclusively going to criminal hands. I mean, it’s not like law-abiding citizens are tripping over themselves to buy illegal guns. Granted, it happens, but usually because someone is offered a gun at a good price and assume it’s a good-faith offer rather than someone trying to unload stolen goods.

If there’s one thing we should all be united behind, it’s trying to stop the flow of guns onto the black market. Yet that becomes far more difficult when a police department spokesman of one of our larger cities blatantly misrepresents the black market itself.

As the number of stolen guns continue to climb in Charlotte, police are looking to curb those numbers by relaunching the “Lock It or Lose It” campaign.

The campaign will educate the community and bring awareness about keeping guns properly secured, police announced Wednesday during a morning press conference.

“Despite popular belief, it’s not this underground current or black market where these guns are being purchased and sold,” said Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD spokesman Rob Tufano. “Far too frequently it’s often lawful gun owners who have their cars broken into.”

Now, I support his efforts to keep firearms properly secured. I agree that gun thefts are a big problem and they should be addressed.

However, I don’t see how he figures that the black market for firearms is somehow separate from guns stolen from lawful gun owners. I mean, how does he think guns get onto the black market in the first place?

No, not all stolen guns are sold to other people. Many who steal a gun will then turn around and use that gun for some other crime like armed robbery. However, many others have no interest in that. They don’t want to point a gun at someone and possibly have to pull the trigger, so they stick to property crime. They steal stuff then sell it to someone else.

That includes guns.

The thing is, when it does include them, that becomes part of the black market. That allows those who don’t otherwise have a place to secure a gun and no interest in checking dozens of cars for one that is both unlocked and contains a firearm. Why do that when someone who is willing to do that will just sell them the gun?

Trufano’s description of how the black market works when it comes to guns is downright baffling. It sounds like he either believes no one sells stolen guns or that the black market only consists of guns obtained in some other manner. If that’s the belief of the Charlotte Police Department as a whole, then folks in Charlotte have got potentially bigger problems than stolen guns.

After all, if the department seems to think that stolen guns are neither bought nor sold, then why would they bother actually trying to look into that aspect of it?