Guns stolen from cars can wind up being ‘crime guns.’ The thefts are common in Lexington
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From commonwealth to crime scene
Guns legally purchased in Kentucky are being funneled to out-of-state buyers and winding up at crime scenes hundreds of miles away.
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Guns stolen from cars can wind up being ‘crime guns.’ The thefts are common in Lexington
Gun thefts from vehicles increased in Lexington between 2020 and 2021
As federal officials make efforts to prevent criminals from accessing guns, firearm theft has become an increasingly common issue. Guns left inside of cars are commonly stolen, according to Kentucky law enforcement officials.
Shawn Morrow, the special agent in charge of the Louisville Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said gun theft from vehicles is a big problem in the United States and Kentucky.
“Gun theft in vehicles is something we see often and we try to shine a spotlight on that, where individuals fail to properly secure their weapons,” Morrow said. “Stolen firearms are a significant source of crime guns. In some cities, stolen firearms account for nearly 25% of the guns taken into police custody.
“Of those, half are stolen from vehicles. Stolen firearms are used in crimes ranging from unlawful possession of the firearm to murder. Stolen firearms are a danger to the community and to law enforcement officers working to protect us.”
Since January, the automotive crimes unit with the Lexington Police Department has had 131 vehicular gun thefts reported in the city.
That equates to one gun theft from a vehicle in Lexington each day for the past four months.
According to Sgt. Thomasena Grider, who has been supervisor of the department for nearly a year, Lexington could be on track to see another increase in annual thefts which have continued to rise over the past two years.
From May 2020 to April 2021, 386 gun thefts were reported from victims’ vehicles. From 2021 to 2022, 456 firearms were reported missing.
How vehicular gun thefts happen
Grider said the increase in gun thefts can be attributed to car doors being left unlocked, and sheer luck on behalf of suspects.
“Most of what we are seeing is that a lot of victims are leaving their cars unlocked,” Grider said. “We haven’t had too many where they are breaking out the window and getting in that way. It is mostly that (victims) have left their car unlocked, or (victims) will put the car keys in the car next to it and they are getting both cars broken into and they will use the keys with that one.
“(The suspect) will get into the car, rifle through it, and get what they want.”
When a car is left unlocked with a firearm or any valuables inside, it leaves the vehicle vulnerable to some “random person who decides to come by and tries it.”
“That is essentially all it is, is luck. You will see people walking down the street, we have had someone walking down the street and we have seen a suspect related to a report and they are trying every door handle until they get lucky and they get into the vehicle, and keep on moving down the street,” Grider said.
How Lexington police investigate gun thefts
When a vehicular firearm theft is reported to the Lexington Police Department, Grider will check the reports and assign them to her four detectives who will then follow up with the victim for additional information.
“Sometimes when the report is initially taken, they don’t have their (firearm) serial number. That is very important for us because if we don’t have a serial number it cannot be put into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database,” Grider said. “It would just be listed as a Glock, or a Smith and Wesson, and that is hard to trace when you don’t have anything to link it back to the original owner.”
If the department is able to access the serial number for the gun, they can place it in the database and if that firearm is stolen, it can be recovered and returned to the victim.
Grider said the department has a great partnership with pawn shops – they have a shared database to see if stolen guns have been pawned.
Grider said there could be more gun thefts than police know about, as vehicle gun thefts can go without being reported, which leaves the auto crimes unit with a more difficult job.
“A lot of times, we will hear things on social media, but no one has reported it yet. So we are getting asked, ‘How many reports are you getting here?’ and we are like, ‘None.’ We don’t even know this is happening and if something is taken from your car, call it in and file a report because we don’t know that it is happening if we don’t have reports attached to it,” she said.
How to prevent gun theft from cars
According to Grider, the best thing people can do to prevent firearm theft from their cars is to make sure they are not left inside.
“If you are going into the car – and people forget things – it is understandable that you plan to come back out to your car, but you just never make it back out there. If you can remember, don’t leave your firearms in your car. When you go into the house, take it into the house with you and put it into a safe somewhere,” she said.
If an individual does happen to forget their gun in their car, Grider suggests to make sure the vehicle is secure with doors locked, windows rolled up and in a garage if possible.
Grider also advised that individuals don’t put their keys in another vehicle because someone could easily get access to both vehicles.
“What the suspects are doing is they are getting into the car and see the keys don’t go with that car they are in and they try to use it in the other one and see, ‘Hey, it works in this car, so I can get in this car too,’ and sometimes they will steal things out of it and sometimes they will take the whole car,” Grider said.
What to do if your gun is stolen
If a firearm is stolen, Grider said the first thing to do is report it. Once a detective follows up to begin their investigation, the sergeant suggests that gun owners have the serial number registered to the gun, so that way it can be easily traced.
Ring video footage, or other surveillance methods are also good tools to make available to investigators when they are searching for a suspect.
“If that victim has video, that is helpful to us as well so we can look for any patterns to help narrow down when this would have happened and who it could have been,” she said.
In addition, gun owners can be even more prepared by having a Federal Firearms Licensee Firearms Inventory/Firearms in Transit Theft/Loss Report issued by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau which details specifics of the crime if it does occur.
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 11:00 AM.
