In all, 243 firearms were lost in both agencies during that period, according to the January report from Inspector General Richard Skinner. Of those, 36 were lost because of circumstances beyond officers' control -- for instance, ICE lost a firearm during an assault on an officer. Another 28 were lost even though officers had stored them in lockboxes or safes.Nice work, Barney Fife.
But 74 percent, or 179 guns, were lost "because officers did not properly secure them," the report said.
Leaving your heater in a public restroom should be an automatic crash-landing. I don't care if you stopped to pee on the way to your retirement party: Leave the public's pistol lying around where any hoodlum or toddler can get their grubby paws on it, and you should exit the doors with enough velocity to bounce when you hit pavement.
This is one of many things that stems from the "Only Ones" mentality so rightly derided in parts of the blogosphere. People who don't even like guns, who have been culturally conditioned to actively dislike them, are issued one and expected to suddenly embrace it and care for it.
You know how come I don't leave my gat in the bathroom? Because I had to pay my own hard-earned dough for it, I'm packing it because I want to and not because my boss makes me, and most importantly, I don't have a powerful .gov employee's union to cover my arse from legal responsibility if I leave it lying around.
If those jokers are stupid enough to leave their gun behind, and I find it, that gun is gone!
ReplyDeleteWhat, just fired?
ReplyDeleteRiddle me this, Batman: if the mighty Tamster were to leave her heater somewhere out in public---as you said, where toddlers or muggers could get their hands on it---loaded and ready to go, would there be any charges pending? (I'm not sure on this, but I know how I'd bet.)
It's like leaving a running chainsaw lying around----only quieter.
Lewis,
ReplyDeleteIANAL, nor do I play one on the internet, but I think it would depend on if anything happened with it, and then we'd be looking more at potential civil liability than criminal charges. Depends on where you are, of course, and what happens with the lost gat.
Not only do we "Not Only Ones" not have, "...a powerful .gov employee's union to cover my arse from legal responsibility if I leave it lying around", we also don't have sovereign immunity as a dot-gov representative, which saves the entire organization from being sued for civil damages in the event of some untoward happening as result of this stupidity.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious if you're of the opinion that such a blunder on the part of a permit-holder would be grounds for instantaneous revocation of said permit, and a mandatory (6-month?) period before they could re-apply, and only after some kind of refresher training.
Permit? Training?
ReplyDeleteI think the whole nation should be like one great big Vermont, myself.
(I mean "like Vermont" when it comes to guns, not dirty hippies making ice cream.)
In olden times when unicorns roamed free and brave knights flourished, you would get a minimum of two weeks off without pay for misplacing a sword or bow.
ReplyDeleteAlas the time of brave knights draws to a tragic end to be replaced by the PC (partially competent) manager who neither sees nor hears bad news.
Gerry
Depends on the fact pattern, but if Tam were to leave her pistol where kids could get (say she went to see the big dinosaur exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's Museum) then maybe see Dangerous Control of a Firearm (scienter is reckless standard), a Class C felony in Broad Ripple (2-8, 0 to 10K fine).
ReplyDeleteYou usually see Dangerous Control Firearm or Child in the home setting. Have not seen it prosecuted for someone leaving a gun in public . . . yet.
Shootin' Buddy
I guar-on-tee you that were this to happen in the Volksrepublik of MA, you would be in a MAJOR world of hurt, up to and including felony charges.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not so sure I disagree with that, either.
(Right there with you on the "one big VT", Tam - IIRC, aren't MT and WY trying to revamp their concealed carry laws to go permitless? Sure would be nice...)
IANAL? For a sec, I thought you were oversharing with us...
ReplyDeleteRE: OP, I don't think I've ever agreed with something you've bashed out on the keyboard more.
Some of my local favorites:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kcci.com/news/22242352/detail.html
http://wcco.com/local/chief.shoots.officer.2.1078538.html
http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=47787
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/80632482.html
Yea, this is in may issue state where these boneheads are in charge of issuing carry permits.
My local Sheriff's Office has signs posted leaving the building to ask the deputies "Do you have your weapon?"
And they wonder why I want to be able to protect myself and not rely on them...other than than those pesky Supreme Court thingys that state that LE has no duty to protect anyone...
I work for an armored car company. If someone looses their gun at work, be it company issued or personal, they are immediately let go. The last guy we lost to this left his gun in the company bathroom before going on route. Fun stuff.
ReplyDelete28 were lost even though they stored them. Where did they store them? When is the trial?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what teh stats are for all the other sorts of cops.
ReplyDeleteAround NYC it seems every "authority" has it's own armed police force, transit police, train police, bridge and tunnel authourity, there's NYPD, Port Authourity, airport johnies, private security, etc... The only people not packing are ordinary decent citizens.
Me, while I think losing a gun is serious, blunders happen, both to civilians and "professionals" and I'm against crucifying people for having a crappy day. A serious but not outrageous fine ( a week's salary sound ok to me) on a first offense non egregious loss seems addequate.
Just a thought.
We need more reason not to trust the Homeland Security Agency? I am avoiding airplanes for baggage fees and TSA. Thanks for the tip on where to get an unregistered to me firearm, I will be following those guys into the restrooms - just for the children, to protect them.
ReplyDeleteWell I think the obvious solution is for the BATFE to aggressively investigate these obvious failures of weapons security and recordkeeping.
ReplyDeleteThat should keep 'em all out of our hair, while providing a significant amount of entertainment and amusement. I'll sell the popcorn.
Now, as I live in sunny Ca, I do not have a CCW, but I know that after a middle east deployment, I freak out for weeks after coming home thinking I misplaced my weapon as the familiar weight is gone.
ReplyDeleteHow can someone leave an area and not miss the weight of a loaded pistol being absent after they carry it everyday?
Grounds for dismissal.
ReplyDelete"28 were lost even though they stored them. Where did they store them?"
ReplyDeleteJay, usually in locked Pelican cases. I've seen feds lose guns during training. *warning: gun skul story, be advised*
One time pre-9/11 at a big name shooting school I had fellow students that were "high speed/low drag" Marines.
After class the Marines had to case and lock up their pistols, M9s. The Captain then misplaced the case of pistols. The Director of the school, a fellow Marine, then took them on runs through shoot houses with their finger guns until replacements could be wrangled up (I offered a spare 1911but was gruffly rebuffed, which I still don't understand because I wasn't spiking the ball in the endzone, I mean, they were O.K. . . . for Marines.
You go, Devildog. Hopefully this policy has changed since 9/11.
Shootin' Buddy
I go in to a rest room to leave behind things that no one will pay me for. That's why I go there.
ReplyDeleteI don't go there to leave behind things that I paid about a grand for, even though I take such things in there and everywhere else, too.
Even if we could flip the values of the two mentioned commodities by 180 degrees, I'd still be leaving behind what I leave behind now and bringing home the SIG.
Beind an agency armorer and LEFI, I seriously question the training these folks had. The non-gunners who are issued such tools are greatly at fault, but any agency and thus instructor or armorer that is involved with issuing such a veal-calf-brained dolt a particular tool such as these bears quite the responsibility as well.
IIRC, in S. Africa if you leave a weapon like that, it's an automatic fine, jail, and loss of gun/permit situation. Read about a guy who left his fanny pack in the grocery cart, carried his groceries to the car, realized he had not grabbed it and ran back to get it. Employee? grabbed it before he got there, and police were summoned. And away he went to the poky.
ReplyDeleteJoseph,
ReplyDeleteIANAL = I Am Not A Lawyer