FILE - This undated photo provided by the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office in Paw Paw, Mich., shows stolen guns, ammunition and knives that were recovered Sept. 12, 2015, in Antwerp Township, Mich. The rate of guns stolen from cars in the U.S. has tripled over the last decade, making them the largest source of stolen guns in the country, a new analysis of FBI data by the gun-safety group Everytown found. FILE - Dozens of recovered stolen handguns are displayed during a press conference, Nov.
The alarming trend underscores the need for Americans to safely secure their firearms to prevent them from getting into the hands of dangerous people, said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Steve Dettelbach, whose agency has separately found links between stolen guns and violent crimes.
Stolen guns have also been linked to tragic accidents, such as when a 14-year-old boy in St. Petersburg, Florida, killed his 11-year-old brother after finding in an alley a gun that had been stolen from an unlocked car a few days before. “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, which advocates for gun control policies. It’s unclear what’s driving the trend. The report found higher theft rates in states with looser gun laws, which also tend to have higher rates of gun ownership.