Over 500 Bay Area Police Firearms Unaccounted for Since 2010

An NBC Bay Area report reveals “more than 500 weapons” from Bay Area police departments have gone unaccounted for since 2010.

The weapons were either “lost or stolen.”

KSBW indicates the report on law enforcement firearms was undertaken following the July 1, 2015, death of Kathryn Steinle. She was killed by an illegal alien using a gun that had been stolen from a Bureau of Land Management agent.

The report shows that “in the Bay Area alone, six local law enforcement agencies can’t account for at least 379 firearms since 2010 because of loss or theft. The weapons unaccounted for include military grade assault rifles such as AR-15s and M16s, sniper rifles, shotguns, a gas grenade launcher and hundreds of handguns.”

The number of firearms is reported as “at least 379” because it does not reflect figures from the Oakland Police Department. The OPD refused to release numbers to NBC Bay Area, saying, “The records were exempt from disclosure as part of criminal investigations.”

NBC referenced a self-audit done by the San Jose Police Department which found approximately 324 firearms missing in 2010. While the overwhelming majority of the missing firearms were handguns, the missing weapons included “six sniper rifles, two M-16 rifles, 10 40mm launchers, and 49 shotguns.” The 2010 audit also revealed that “2,448 of the [SJPD’s] weapons were never registered with the U.S. Department of Justice.”

In addition to weapons lost or stolen from the actual departments and/or department facilities, NBC uncovered a number of weapons lost or stolen from officers’ vehicles and homes. And 35 firearms were lost or stolen from the California Highway Patrol. The figure of 35 does not include firearms lost or stolen from CHP officers’ cars while parked at various locations throughout the state.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.