20080515_SB SHOOTING2

Where’d they get the gun? That’s what gun control advocates demand each and every time there’s a crime or negligent discharge involving a “child” (a slippery category that usually includes teenage gang bangers). The clear implication: if the child didn’t have access to a firearm, the crime or ND wouldn’t have happened. All we have to do to prevent these shootings: lock-up the guns! OK, and stop “unsuitable” people from keeping and bearing them. But you gotta start somewhere. And remember: no one really needs a gun. Except the police. ‘Cause they’re trained and responsible. Well here’s a story [via mlive.com] that derails both trains of thought. And how . . .

A 15-year-old boy was poking around near a Jackson convenience store last November when he made an interesting find under some leaves.

A .45-caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatic handgun.

But this wasn’t just any pistol — this one belonged to the city of Flint Police Department.

Within a matter of days, the same gun that Flint taxpayers bought to help protect and serve the public was used by a teen robber who accidentally shot himself in the leg with it.

Another Flint officer’s gun ended up in the hands of Detroit police after it was used in a crime there, while a third Flint police gun was missing for nearly a decade before it was entered into a nationwide database that tracks stolen guns.

In all, 17 service pistols and shotguns belonging to Flint police are officially listed as stolen, while another 22 guns used by Flint police are listed as lost or missing — including a sub-machine gun and a short-barreled shotgun.

Police department records obtained by The Flint Journal through the Freedom of Information Act detail how poor record keeping, break-ins and questionable gun storage practices allowed these firearms to go missing from Flint police inventory.

Truth be told, the average American gun owner is more responsible with their firearms – in terms of storage and use against bad guys – than the average police officer. But that’s counterintuitive. So Mom Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and the rest of the civilian disarmament complex push a “common sense” misinterpretation of the facts.

As Voltaire said, common sense is not so common. Especially when it’s based on rational, intelligent thought.

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43 COMMENTS

    • oh hell no! we would have a full blown CW before that happens. bigger government is never the solution.

      we should actually cut back 50% of the fed including all duplicate programs, plus anything and everything jobs agencies appointments and yes 800k public sector jobs. start enforcing our laws would be good start.

    • Laugh! You’re right cag404.

      Looks like Flint P.D. already tried that by taking a chapter out of the ‘national’ United States Park Police (USPP) weapons inventory play book…with similar results.

  3. Wow. A kid ends up with a S&W .45! When I was in the Police Athletic League, we couldn’t even get them to give us new baseballs.

  4. The guns our public property. No skin on the officers back. They should immediately have to pay double list cost and lost guns would dramatically go down.

    • Pay for lost guns? Bull. How about police officers who “lose” their guns get fired. Period.
      There’s just no excuse.

      • I’m with you. Just trying to set realistic goals in the liberal cesspool of flint Mi. (And every other big city liberal pit) You have to start somewhere.

        • I’d venture a guess that a few these guns are ‘lost’ in the officers’ personal collections.

  5. I’d bet the sub-machine gun was lost right on to a Sergeant’s property outside of city limits.

  6. Of course the police are not as responsible with their firearms as the armed public. The police officers DO NOT have to pay out of their pocket for the firearm or the ammunition. Seeing as the rest of us do, we pay a lot more attention to where our firearms are at all times. Also if we loose our firearm we must come out of pocket to replace it. Just my two cents worth.

  7. I know where I’m going when I need to replenish our local militia’s arsenal.

    Wow, nearly 40 guns missing that they ADMIT to.

    Multiply that by however many LE agencies, departments, etc.

    And our military.

    But who do they wanna control most of all?

    • The difference with the military is that it will shut down entire installations to search for a single missing weapon.

      • Yup – It’s ok to break stuff in the military – but they take losing stuff very, very seriously.

      • Got that right. I spent 24 hours locked down on a 3d Armored Division post in Frankfurt while they hunted until they found a misplaced M16. They have zero tolerance and zero sense of humor in this regard.

        • And I’ve never understood why a lost m9 is such a big deal for the military but the police don’t even notice several guns missing from their arms room.

  8. “the same gun that Flint taxpayers bought to help protect and serve the public was used by a teen robber who accidentally shot himself in the leg with it”

    —If that’s not protecting the public, or at least the fraction of the public that deserves protection, I don’t know what is.

  10. In Chiraq guns literally grow not on, but under rocks, tree stumps, etc. Vacant lots in high crime areas have lots of trash underneath which are the hidden handguns. Also “shorties” carry the handguns for the “adult” bangers. As for subguns, those are toted around in SUV’s in case they are “needed”.

  12. And remember: no one really needs a gun. Except the police

    And when an unarmed, non-violent black man gets shot by the police, they STILL try to blame lawful gun owners.

  16. It’s not that counter intuitive. After all, I have to pay for my guns so I make damn sure that nobody else can take them.

  17. Wow that’s pathetic. My mother was from Flint. Haven’t been there since the mid 80’s when my gramma died. And it was horrible then. I can’t imagine how bad it is now(yeah I can I’ve been to Chicago’hundreds of times)…and where the cops have to purchase their OWN gun.

  18. “Truth be told, the average American gun owner is more responsible with their firearms – in terms of storage and use against bad guys – than the average police officer.*”

    *- citation needed**

    **- although maybe not in Flint

  19. i honestly have more respect for the “no one needs” guns people than the whackadoos who parrot the “only the police need/can be trusted with guns” position.

  20. Any police officer who loses their firearm for any reason should be terminated, fined, and thrown in jail.

    • If the gun is subsequently used in a crime he should be charged with “aiding and abetting” and if a murder, “felony murder.”

  21. Over the past 10 years at my local indoor pistol range there have been (last I heard) a total of 14 negligent discharges in the lobby. A couple holes are through the counter by the register, both couches were innocently gunned down as was the vending machine down the hallway, and the rest just skipped off the concrete foundation in various directions. Out of 14 ND’s, only one of them was a careless civilian. The other 13 were LEO’s from the LAPD, Harbor Police, LA Sheriffs Dept, and assorted other departments. The most recent ND was the last straw and new policies have been put in place specifically to suppress the rights of the Police and their ability to carry a loaded weapon in the lobby. hehe. There is also a sign sticking out of the hole in the counter that says “Cops:13 Civilians:1”. To my amazement, not a single one of them has been fired .

  22. Um, being a former.military cop, I have to say this. Why do civilian law enforcement officers need sub machine guns! I cannot imagine one scenario where an automatic weapon would be appropriate for law enforcement duties.

    • Seriously?

      Our heroic warrior domestic SWAT teams need them for raiding organic carrot farmers, spinsters with overdue library books, and those notorious Legion and VFW poker games.

  23. I have to say, I live about 60 miles form Flint and I’m not surprised at all. I would rather be lost in the geto of Detroit than just about anywhere in Flint.

  26. I’m pretty sure the officer on the left pulled me over for a broken headlight once.

    Nice guy.

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