Who Guards the Guards: South African Police Lose 12,000 Guns
There is a long standing argument from gun control types that all illegal guns once started out perfectly legal. This argument suggests that if we banned all gun sales that criminals couldn’t obtain those legal guns. But where there is a will, there tends to be a way.
Case in point, South African police have lost some 12,000 guns reports iolNews. This past weekend, the news site offered this information:
“Institutional failure has resulted in the loss of almost 12 000 police firearms over the past five years, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday. A total of 1335 SA Police Service firearms were reported lost or stolen during 2010-2011, said DA spokeswoman Diane Kohler-Barnard. Only 167 of these firearms had been recovered.”
In just two years the South African Police Service lost or had stolen more than 1300 guns, and only recovered 167 of those, just over 10 percent. We already see this type of thing happen here, and we can only assume those numbers would go up as criminals would look to steal police guns if that was the source. In turn that would leave American citizens unarmed.
Another Hip Hop Artist Faces Gun Charges
Part of the problem with the issue of gun rights in this country is that a few really, really – and we do mean – really bad apples spoil it for the bunch. This is especially true when it comes to athletes and hip hop artists. This week MTV News is reporting, “B.G. Indicted On Federal Gun and Obstruction Charges.” But that’s not, to hear this one, is enough to make every law-abiding gun owner cringe with anger:
“B.G., 30 was arrested in November 2009 for weapons possession, while driving in New Orleans. Police said two of the three guns that the rapper was caught with had been reported stolen.
“Prosecutors allege that the rapper tried to get an associate to claim ownership of the guns and because of that he now faces obstruction charges as well.”
What is also amazing is the response in other media outlets. The hip hop website Kicks and Chicks offered this thought:
“The potential prison sentence comes at a bad time for B.G. The rapper recently reconciled his differences with Birdman and Cash Records in 2010 after their financial dispute nine years before.”
The prison sentence comes at a bad time? Maybe B.G. should have thought about that before driving around with stolen guns trying to play the part of a street thug.
No doubt this case will result in all sorts of commentary from the hip hop community on how B.G. shouldn’t serve a long jail time because he is an artist, a role model to the community and basically “made a mistake.” The problem is that he’s a rich man who can hire an army of lawyers.
We say, throw the book at him. Maybe a sentence of 10 years sounds about right. That will give him time to get his story straight.
Grand Rapids Press Offerings “Findings” From Six-Month Gun Investigation
The Grand Rapids Press, via MLive.com, offered some interesting findings from a six-month investigation, titled: “Guns gone bad: Six-month investigation traces how legal firearms end up in the hands of criminals.” It should also be noted that the paper offered the disclosure that this “marks the beginning of a partnership with Silent Observer to get illegal guns off the street.”
However, it was noted in the story that a lot of “illegal” guns were actually stolen, which is a fact that is often never reported by the media. The paper offered one interesting fact that most in the mainstream media also seem to ignore:
“More importantly, there was no single person making multiple purchases — what police call a ‘straw buyer’ — for convicts needing guns.”
This is an interesting point, since it contrasts the notion that criminals go to gun shows or use straw buyers to purchase guns. Kudos to the Grand Rapids Press for setting the record straight.
Who Guards the Guards: Long Beach Officer Charged With Stealing Guns
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that veteran Long Beach Police Officer Damian Ramos has been charged with more than a dozen felony counts for allegedly stealing weapons. These guns had been turned over by a local business.
The paper noted:
“Authorities allege that Ramos took the weapons between Aug. 2 and Aug. 5. According to police officials, he handled guns that had been turned over to the department by a Long Beach business. But police officials later found that the number of weapons taken from the business did not match those catalogued in evidence. Ramos took four firearms that were supposed to be booked as property, prosecutors said. The department has recovered one, but the other three are still missing, prosecutors said.”
The result is now that three firearms could be on the streets, and thus we can thank a former lawman for putting guns on the streets. But it also makes us question the policy of handing in guns. The business that had handed in those guns could have easily kept them and said firearms wouldn’t actually be on the streets now, would they?
Firing Back: Blind Man Fighting to Get Guns Back
The Associated Press via NJ.com is reporting that Steven Hopler is in a legal fight to get his guns back, after the items were stolen during a burglary of his home last year. The reason this is an interesting case is the Mr. Hopler is actually blind.
This brings up the obvious question, why does a blind man need a gun, or more accurately guns? But let’s take a step back and consider that Mr. Hopler paid for these items, and won permission in 1994 to buy the guns and shoot them under supervision. According to reports, he has been blind from complications from diabetes, so how much sight he actually has is also debatable.
The man has lost his vision, and had his items stolen from his home. Now authorities says he’s a danger to public safety because he didn’t do a better job of protecting the weapons? Maybe the police should have done a better job of protecting a blind man!
Finally, this is about property. The items were recovered by authorities so these should be returned to Mr. Hopler. They are his items, and stolen property is generally returned. That’s the right thing to do.
Who Guards the Guards: Canadian Edition
The anti-gun zealots like to note that every “illegal gun must have been legally owned originally,” and they like to imply that a legal gun owner sold the gun to a criminal. But what about the guns stolen from the police? This happens more often that you think, and it isn’t limited to the United States. Cnews.com is reporting:
“Ottawa police are reviewing how they award contracts to private companies after a security guard became the prime suspect in the theft of a cop’s gun.”
This incident occurred at a police HQ no less.
Who Guards the Guards: Police Still Losing Guns
We regularly report on how the police lose, sell or steal guns. But we surely can’t cover all of the fobbles by the boys in blue, so we were happy to see that our good friend David Codrea at Examiner.com offered a round-up of recent examples:
Guess who is putting lots of guns ‘on the street’?
While we still thank law enforcement for the hard work they do, and we’re really not “anti-police” at all, we do think the media gives the bad apples a pass too often. We’re happy to see that this isn’t always the case. And thanks to David for compiling the list.
Daily Kos Reports on Stolen Weapons… in Afghanistan
The fact that the liberal political mindwashing blog The Daily Kos reported – from a Washington Independent story – that hundreds of AK-47s were missing in Afghanistan is not surprising. But it is curious that the same rag hardly takes notice of the various guns that are routinely lost, stolen or sold by police officers in the United States.
Of course the mainstream media – and leftist blogs – would like readers to believe that all guns in the hands of criminals were easily bought at gun shows!
Guns Stolen From Israeli Plant, Sold to Criminals
More ammunition for those who make the case that all illegal firearms must have started out legally. We have long said that guns could be stolen from law enforcement or the military, thus these were never legally owned by anyone other than government. Case in point, The Jerusalem Post is reporting that guns were stolen from the plant that makes them!
“Two residents of Rishon Lezion were arrested this week for stealing up to 170 advanced firearms from a secret Israel Weapon Industries plant and selling them to criminal organizations, police revealed on Wednesday.”
According to the story the men would take out up to 10 guns to test, but only return with around seven, selling the rest to criminals. While we honestly hate reporting that these events happen, we regret more that the anti-firearm crowd buries it head in the sand that criminals obtain guns this way.
Who Guards the Guards: Another Police Car Broken Into… Guns Stolen
In Washington County, Tennessee, a sheriff’s office unmarked car was broken into, and two firearms were stolen according to TriCities.com:
“Taken from the sheriff’s vehicle were two guns, a Remington model 870 .12 gauge shotgun and a Bush Master AR-15.”
We must ask again, why did the officer leave these firearms in his car? And what is worse is the fact, which according to the news article, the officer left these unprotected for several days:
“The burglaries took place some time between Dec. 23 and Dec. 29.”
This just seems irresponsible to us.
