Gun crimes, or violent offenses committed with a firearm, are a big problem. They’re a problem for all of us as well because anti-gun advocates use those to justify trying to infringe on our civil liberties. However, what we really need is a better understanding as a nation of where these guns come from.
However, so many in the media are uninterested in looking, with some notable exceptions.
Like most cities in this country, Little Rock, Arkansas has seen an increase in gun crimes, including homicides. However, the police chief there touches on part of the issue.
FOX16 Anchor Kevin Kelly sat down with Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey to discuss a growing trend of guns being stolen, where they are being stolen from and what his force is doing to get these weapons off our streets.
The number of guns being stolen across the nation is alarming. According to the FBI, between 2012 and 2017, an estimated 1.8 million guns were reported stolen. During that same time period, roughly 40,000 were reported stolen here in Arkansas.
Every two minutes, a gun is stolen from an individual. Most of them end up on the black market and in the hands of criminals.
Gun theft is a growing problem, not just nationally, but also in Little Rock.
“We’re seeing more and more guns,” Humphrey said. “The access to more and more weapons is just… it is amazing.”
The chief explained that most firearms are being stolen from cars. Last year, 679 guns were reported stolen in the City of Little Rock, and of those, 43 percent were taken during a car burglary.
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It’s a dangerous combination that the police chief is seeing played out on the streets of Little Rock.
“You make those weapons accessible to someone who does not know how to handle conflict, the first thing that they do is that they utilize that weapon… they discharge that weapon,” Humphrey said.
Now, what Humphrey is pointing out is that they’re gaining access to these firearms through theft of those firearms. He doesn’t talk about them buying them from gun stores or gun shows. He’s not mentioning straw purchases or buying from private individuals. He’s talking about them being stolen from law-abiding gun owners.
This is the fact that we need to see reported widely. If you’re going to talk about the scourge of gun violence, why not admit where the criminals are getting these guns?
Chief Humphrey went on to note that many of those found with guns are 16- and 17-year-olds; people far too young to legally purchase a firearm. Yet they have them. How did they get them without theft being involved?
Yes, Humphrey and the reported interviewing him seem inclined to support laws that punish those who improperly store a firearm–something I vehemently disagree with–but the majority of it is him touching on an important point, and that’s where these guns are coming from.
For some anti-gunners, that’s largely irrelevant. They figure if we can’t get guns, criminals won’t be able to steal them. However, many won’t admit that simply because they’d have to admit they want to disarm law-abiding citizens. They want to, but they don’t want to admit it because it would lose them tons of public support.
Yet the problem has never been with us. It’s the criminals who steal from the law-abiding. Then, those same victims get victimized again by anti-gunners who want to infringe on their right to keep and bear arms because of the actions of someone else committed with the property that was stolen in the first place.
Nothing about that is right.
Then again, anti-gunners aren’t so much worried about right and wrong. They’re only worried about your ability to resist tyranny and how they can prevent you from having any such ability.
