Gun Theft

Ask The Trace

How Many Guns Fall Out Of Circulation Each Year In the U.S.?

A reader wants to know if loss, theft, and breakage have a significant effect on the country’s civilian gun stock.

Gun Theft

Warren’s Big Gun Bill Would Close Dealer Security Shortfalls Exposed by The Trace/The New Yorker

A sweeping new bill introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Hank Johnson would realize a slew of big-ticket gun reform policies, including universal background checks, an updated assault weapons ban, and expanded funding for federal gun violence research. It…

Gun Theft

Easy Targets

Tracking stolen firearms through the black market, from gun store thefts to crime scenes.

Missing Pieces

Law Enforcement’s Lost and Stolen Gun Problem

An investigation by The Trace shows that police departments’ uneven storage rules have put deadly weapons into the hands of criminals.

Chicago

Record Gun Theft Poses Threat to Progress Against Violence in Chicago

An analysis of lost and stolen firearms ties thousands of weapons to crimes committed on the city’s streets.

Missing Pieces

Citing The Trace’s Reporting, Top Gun Violence Scholar Calls For More Research on Threat of Stolen Firearms

For the issue of gun violence, few questions are more fundamental than how firearms go from the lawful market to the hands of a shooter who uses them to kill or maim. Spurred by recent reporting, a prominent scholar is…

Missing Pieces

Guns Stolen From UPS and Other Shipping Companies Are Turning Up at Crime Scenes

Sometimes before authorities know they’re missing.

Missing Pieces

Tennessee News Station Uses The Trace’s Data to Link More Than 100 Stolen Guns to Crimes

A television news station in Johnson City, Tennessee, used data collected by The Trace and NBC to link 105 guns stolen in the northeastern part of the state to crimes committed across the United States, including kidnapping and murder.

Missing Pieces

Watch: Stolen Guns Drive Violent Crime in Connecticut

Earl Wilson’s 10-year-old daughter Ariana was relaxing on the sofa in their Hartford, Connecticut, home when a gunman sent a barrage of bullets through the living room window. One of the rounds struck Ariana in the head, severely injuring her.

Missing Pieces

‘Lizzy’s Law’ Would Require South Carolina Gun Owners to Report Their Stolen Weapons

Thousands of weapons go missing in the state each year.

Missing Pieces

Gun Store Thefts Rise Again in 2017, Breaking ATF Record

Burglars stole a record number of firearms from gun stores and other licensed firearms dealers in 2017, according to federal statistics released on Tuesday, extending an upward trend that has spurred calls for new legislation on Capitol Hill. Burglars…

Gun Theft

Why Atlanta Police Don’t Want Fans to Drive Their Guns to the College Football Championship

Atlanta officials are undergoing extensive security preparations ahead of the College Football Playoff championship on January 8, where President Trump is expected to be among the crowd of 100,000. At a press conference this week, Police Chief Erika Shields…

Missing Pieces

Murder Highlights Risks of San Antonio’s Gun Theft Problem

Chris Ishee told local reporters that he knew something was wrong when his dogs wouldn’t stop barking one evening last week. The animals’ instincts were right: A group of thieves had hit his residential San Antonio neighborhood, systematically breaking into…

Missing Pieces

Despite Rising Gun Theft, Most American Owners Aren’t Required to Lock Up Their Firearms

More than two million guns have been reported stolen in the last decade.

Missing Pieces

The Lessons of the Kate Steinle Case Should Be About the Risks of Stolen Guns, Not Immigration

President Donald Trump vented outrage on Friday morning after a jury in San Francisco acquitted Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant, of first-degree murder in the 2015 killing of Kate Steinle. Steinle died after she was shot while…