Massive Increase in Thefts from Gun Dealers in 2016, More than Double in Colorado
ATF “Very Concerned” About Gun Theft Increase
Following a year in which gun theft from vehicles, homes, and dealers were on the rise, including several high profile car-through-the-building smash-and-grab gun store burglaries not far from us, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) has released some big numbers out of Colorado.
The numbers show a 126% increase in gun thefts from licensed dealers over 2015 numbers and a 389% increase over 2014 numbers in the state that passed several new (utterly useless) gun control laws in 2013, further illustrating what everyone already knew: criminals get guns through illegal means and gun control measures don’t stop them (even in New York).
The number of firearms stolen from Colorado gun dealers more than doubled in 2016, reaching a 10-year high of 273 guns.
In comparison, 121 guns were stolen from Colorado gun dealers in 2015 and 56 guns in 2014.
Colorado mirrors a national uptick in guns stolen from dealers. In 2016, 7,858 guns were stolen in robberies and burglaries across the country, the highest number on record.
“We are very concerned about the rise in gun thefts. These guns will not be used for hunting or sport; they are destined for future crimes and are a threat to public and officer safety,” ATF Denver Field Division Special Agent in Charge Debora Livingston said. “ATF is working closely with all the affected police departments in the Denver Metro Area to identify and arrest suspects, recover guns and prevent future thefts. We are also frequently communicating with gun dealers in the Metro Area to inform them of the rise in break-ins and help them better protect their store and inventory.” Continue reading
U.S. Attorney’s Office and ATF Announce $500,000 Project Safe Neighborhoods Federal Grant
John Parker, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, and William Temple, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Dallas Field Division, joined Ken Shetter, President of One Safe Place, and Joel Fitzgerald, Fort Worth Chief of Police, at a press conference this morning to announce a $500,000 federal grant that has been awarded to One Safe Place to implement the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative in two Fort Worth neighborhoods.
PSN is a nationwide commitment to reduce gang and gun crime in the U.S. by networking existing local programs that target gun and gang crime and providing these programs with additional tools for success. PSN’s strategic approach brings more “science” into criminal justice operations by leveraging innovative applications of analysis, technology and evidence-based practices to improve performance and effectiveness while containing costs.
The grant is one of only seven half-million dollar grants awarded by the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance and funded under the 2016 Violent Gang and Gun Crime Reduction/Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. This grant also addresses domestic violence, which, according to many statistics, is a major contributing factor for the increase in gun and violent crimes. Continue reading
HuffPo Pulls Anti-Gun Article After People Notice Them Advocating Gun Theft
It is not as if a story like this will surprise anyone who has taken any notice of the anti-gun “movement” for the past decade or so. That crowd has a rich history of having no respect or appreciation for the rule of law and for projecting their own sick personality disorders onto the rest of society. This behavior can be seen frequently when gun-grabbers spout off their sick world views, such as “nobody needs a gun unless you plan on killing someone” or when they advocate new (and useless) gun control laws which are in direct conflict with state preemption laws or, almost universally, the United States Constitution. This has been the case for decades, if not centuries, and the advent of the internet and the growth of social media has added some fun new twists into the mix.
Further evidence of the bizarre mindset of many associated with the anti-gun movement can be seen on just about any pro-gun social media page, where the talk inevitably devolves into obsessive conversation about male genitalia. Anti-gunners are so desperate to decry “lax gun laws” that they cannot be bothered to figure out what the laws are and end up committing felonies, as Katie Couric and her team did during the production of their gun control hit piece. They also take to social media to continue spreading their anti-law-and-order platform, like when the absurdly-named Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (nee National Coalition to Ban Handguns) recently for citizens to misuse the 911 system and waste police resources by sending police on an emergency run any time they notice someone carrying an open or concealed firearm. “For the children.”
But now, the anti-gun groups, their army of social media robots and astroturf trolls, and their sympathetic media puppets are sinking to even greater depths.
The latest group of social media malcontents is a small contingent (perhaps as small as one) of anti-gun trolls operating a large number of Twitter accounts whose main shtick has been violent, potty-mouthed attacks on anyone who disagrees with them (whom they have, again, strangely sexualized with the nickname “gun humpers”), sharing photos of their sex toy collections, and promoting vandalism of public spaces with anti-gun messages. As if online harassment, stickers, and spray paint were not enough, this group has now apparently graduated from cyberbullying and petty crime to promoting out-and-out felonious theft of firearms, to include breaking and entering and burglarizing of people’s homes, garages, and vehicles. Continue reading
ATF Releases U.S. Firearm Trace Data for 2015
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) released today firearm trace data for all individual U.S. states and territories for calendar year 2015. Trace information provides investigative leads to law enforcement and can link a suspect to a firearm in a criminal investigation. Firearm traces also help identify potential firearm traffickers, and detect in-state, interstate and international firearm trafficking patterns, including the sources and types of crime guns.
ATF’s Violent Crime Analysis Branch produces this annual report using trace information compiled at ATF’s National Tracing Center (NTC), the nation’s only crime gun tracing facility. The NTC provides critical information that assists domestic and international law enforcement agencies to solve firearm crimes, detect firearm trafficking patterns, and identify trends with respect to intrastate, interstate and international movement of crime guns.
In 2015, there were 190,538 firearms recovered and traced back to a purchaser in the United States, an increase of more than 20,000 firearms recovered and traced in the previous year. The majority of the traces involved 9 mm (more than 55,000) and .22 caliber (more than 35,000) firearms. The top three types of firearms traced last year were pistols (more than 150,000 traces), revolvers (more than 44,000 traces) and rifles (more than 41,000 traces).
The released firearm trace data offers a description of firearms recovered and traced in each state along with the source states of the firearms recovered.
In addition to the number of recovered and traced firearms per state, the report includes recovery location information, the average time it took from when a firearm was purchased to when it was recovered in a crime, and the criminal offense associated with the firearm.
To access the complete 2015 firearms trace report, visit ATF’s online statistics page at https://www.atf.gov/about/firearms-trace-data-2015.
More Controversy for Couric’s Anti-Gun “Documentary”
Did Crew Send a Producer to Commit a Felony?
Not long after the deceptive editing used in Katie Couric’s “Under the Gun“ was brought to light, it looks like there might be more controversy surrounding the anti-gun film masquerading as a documentary.
If you are not familiar with the situation, Couric’s film crew edited in roughly 8 seconds of silence and uneasy glances from gun owners after she asks them a question about how to prevent bad guys from obtaining firearms. To many, this made the interviewees look like “idiots.” What actually happened was that several of the interviewees immediately provided sound, cogent responses to her question.
Now, in a recent interview with LipTV’s Ondi Timoner, Under the Gun producer Stephanie Soechtig seemingly admits to sending another producer (from Colorado) to Arizona, where he “was able to buy a Bushmaster and then three other pistols.” Unfortunately, this is a federal crime – despite what Soechtig says – as interstate purchases of long guns must be performed through an FFL in that state (when allowed at all), and interstate purchases of handguns are flatly illegal.
Soechtig says:
We sent a producer out and he was from Colorado. He went to Arizona and he was able to buy a Bushmaster and then three other pistols without a background check in a matter of four hours. And that’s perfectly legal. He wasn’t doing some sort of, like, underground market.
As many readers likely already know, to legally purchase a handgun from out of state, the firearm must be shipped to an FFL in your state, and then transferred to the purchaser as usual, including a NICS background check.
A number of producers are listed on the film’s credits page, however, it appears that there are only two male names which would match up with Soechtig’s claim that the producer they sent was a “he.” Interestingly, one of the male producers named operates a twitter page listing his location as Denver, Colorado – where Soechtig claims the producer who made the illegal purchases was from.
We hope for the sake of the producer and the Arizona seller of the firearms, that what this “documentary” film maker says in the interview is just more lies from the anti-gun left, otherwise she may have just created two new felons!
Gang Members Who Shot Up Mother’s Day Parade Get Life
ATF Success Story: Brothers Sentenced Three Years After 2013 Parade Violence
Shootings, drugs, gang violence. It’s in the news a lot these days…most every day, in some fashion. What isn’t seen every day, what doesn’t usually make breaking news is when justice is delivered and the shooters are taken off the streets.
Three years ago, on a sunny afternoon in New Orleans, a Mother’s Day celebration turned violent when shots rang out leaving 20 people injured. A parade was underway in the 7th Ward in New Orleans. The gun play? It was all about control over turf, drugs, and the Frenchmen/Derbigny, also known as the FnD gang.
Last month, Travis Scott, aka “Trap,” aka “Slim,” Shawn Scott, aka “Shizzle,” Stanley Scott, aka “Stizzle,” and Akein Scott, aka “Keemy,” were sentenced in United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana for charges related to racketeering conspiracy, drug conspiracy, firearms conspiracy, and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The Scott brothers had previously pleaded guilty to these charges.
According to court documents, the FnD gang was an enterprise engaged in racketeering under federal law. The Scott brothers, as members of this gang, conspired to commit numerous overt acts in furtherance of the gang’s activities. Gang members sold illegal drugs, such as heroin and crack cocaine, and they committed acts of violence, including shootings. FnD members often sold drugs in the Frenchmen Meat Market, a convenience store located at the corner of Frenchmen and North Derbigny Streets. FnD members used intimidation, violence, and threats of violence to maintain the gang’s control over turf that extended from Elysian Fields Avenue, North Johnson Street, the I-10 Interstate Highway, St. Anthony Street, and North Claiborne Avenue. Continue reading
