We’ve Got Questions Regarding Study Saying Parked Car Biggest Source for Stolen Guns

Most of the time, when I see a study, I roll my eyes. It usually involves some kind of anti-gun nonsense that’s just masquerading as research. I touched very briefly on some of that in a post earlier today. It wasn’t explicitly about studies and so-called research, but it came up.

Anyway, there are times when I see reports from studies that I don’t really bat an eye at, either. They sure sound plausible, even if I disagree with a lot of what other researchers have found.

For example, there’s this one that says parked cars are a major source of stolen guns.

A growing number of firearms are being stolen from parked cars nationwide, especially in urban areas including Virginia Beach, Virginia, according to a new report that highlights a frequently overlooked source of illegally circulating guns.

The nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice released an analysis examining five years of gun theft data reported to law enforcement in 16 cities — both urban and rural — with populations over 250,000. The analysis found that while the overall rate of reported gun thefts remained steady between 2018 and 2022, gun thefts from motor vehicles rose sharply.

The number of guns reported stolen from vehicles increased by 31% over the five-year period, while gun thefts during burglaries of homes and businesses fell by 40%. In large urban areas, the overall gun theft rate jumped by 42% between 2018 and 2022, while rural areas saw a 22% decline.

The findings are based on data from more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies across the country that consistently submitted detailed crime reports to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System between 2018 and 2022. Together, those agencies represent about 25% of the U.S. population and 12% of all law enforcement agencies nationwide.

This fits a lot of what I’ve seen.

However, I’ve got a question that no one seems to have bothered to look at: How many were stolen from cars parked outside of gun-free zones?

I know a lot of them are stolen from cars parked at people’s homes, which is stupid because you should take your gun inside with you when you get home. We also know that a lot of the time, the cars aren’t locked, which is also stupid.

But what about the incidents outside of gun-free zones? You can’t tell me they never happen because I know better, so how many took place there?

That’s an important question to ask, too, because for many, these results are grounds to dictate mandatory storage laws in vehicles. They’re going to level regulations that tell people they have to have specific storage devices in their cars or else face punishment by the government should they become the victim of a theft.

That’s insane.

Yet let’s also recognize that sometimes, people are forced to leave guns in their cars. If I need to go to the local courthouse for some reason, I have to leave my gun in the car. That’s a gun-free zone, and since it has a metal detector, I can’t even take the approach of “what they don’t know won’t hurt me.” They’ll know.

So, how many of those guns that were stolen out of cars were stolen outside of gun-free zones? How many were stolen out of bars or restaurants that don’t allow guns? How many were stolen outside of movie theaters or other businesses that bar firearms from the premises?

How many of those guns were stolen because the lawful owner was required by law to leave the gun behind in the first place?

That’s the question I want to know the answer to, because it really does matter.

Yes, there are gun owners who, I feel, are irresponsible by leaving guns in their cars overnight. However, I don’t think they’re the majority of the victims of these thefts–and they’re still the victims of a crime. We’re not supposed to blame the victim, after all.

So how many?

The problem is that no one is ever going to answer that question. The data isn’t accumulated by the FBI or any other authority because, simply put, they don’t care.

Yet that doesn’t make the information any less important.