Police Had 428 Guns Stolen, Go Missing

Gun group says police should follow their own advice in making sure firearms are properly stored.

Police departments across the country have had 428 guns stolen or go missing in recent years, leading the National Firearms Association to criticize police for upholding a double standard over storage of dangerous weapons. The NFA retrieved the data on stolen and missing police guns through an access-to-information request, which showed the RCMP had lost 32 guns, other police forces had lost 316 guns, and other armed, non-police agencies (not including the military) lost another 80. The NFA said there was no timeframe given on when the guns disappeared, but figured it could have been since Oct. 2008, the date that new laws came into effect requiring all police firearms to be registered. The NFA, which opposes the long-gun registry, said the staggering losses of police guns shows the thin blue line is a bit hypocritical when it says that improperly stored civillian guns are at the greatest risk of being stolen and ending up in the hands of violent criminals.