Locked away inside your house, right this very minute, could be a key piece of crime scene evidence.
You could have possession of a lost or stolen gun and not even know it.
“One stolen gun is one too many,” Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Jacksonville bureau Resident Agent in Charge Eric Fox said. “There is a demand for these firearms on the black market.”
The goal in some cases, Fox says, is to sell the gun to you, the unsuspecting buyer.
“Some people might try to sell these guns in what they are fashioning as a legitimate [business], maybe a classified ad or on a website,” Fox said. Before purchasing any firearm in Florida, he recommends running the gun’s serial number through the Florida Department of law enforcement database. The service is free and you only need to have the gun’s serial number.
Lost and stolen guns are a big problem in Florida and Georgia. The last time National Crime Information Center (NCIC) made data on lost and stolen guns public (2012), Georgia and Florida ranked 2nd and 3rd nationally. Texas, California and North Carolina rounded out the top five.
“The guys that have stolen them want to trade them for narcotics or trade them for cash,” Fox said.
Data obtained by First Coast News through ATF shows 8,587 guns were reported lost or stolen from gun dealers in the Sunshine state and the Peach state between 2012 and 2016.
In 2016, according to ATF data, 1,260 firearms were reported lost or stolen by gun dealers in Florida. Of those firearms, 572 were reported from burglaries, 87 by larceny, 3 by robberies and 598 were reported loss by the gun dealer or reported as lost during the course of an ATF compliance inspection.
In Georgia, 1,069 were reported by burglary, 75 by larceny, and 395 were reported loss by the gun dealer or reported as lost during the course of an ATF compliance inspection.
The other danger, according to ATF, is who you might be trying to purchase your gun.
“If we have the serial number to that firearm, we can determine where it was originally purchased,” Fox said. “The guys that want these guns can’t legally buy them at a gun store.”
The bigger concern for First Coast families, according to Fox, is what you can do to keep your gun safe.
“The aspect I would be concerned about is keeping your house locked and car locked at night. Secure your firearm as a citizen and that would help us," Fox said.
Local law enforcement sources also provided these tips:
Don’t keep your gun in your car
- If you do keep your gun in your vehicle, please make sure your vehicle is locked.
- Lock your house.
- Keep good records of your sale for the buyer and the purchaser such as phone numbers and copies of driver licenses.
- If you want to have safe meeting location to buy/sell a gun, an individual can use Jacksonville Sheriff's Office station/substations as a meeting spot. (Just give JSO a heads up your trying to buy or sell a gun.)