Every day over the past two and a half years, 18 guns have gone missing from firearms manufactures without any record of being sold, according to a report from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. That adds up to 16,485 “missing” guns since 2009.
The report comes after a January 2011 report from the Brady Center that showed gun retail dealers “lost” more than 62,000 guns since 2008. The Brady Center cites data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in its analysis.
“The 16,485 ‘missing’ guns are likely a vast undercount of the total number of guns that disappeared from gun manufacturers in the last two and a half years,” the report reads.
Acting president of the Brady Center Dennis Henigan said in a statement that the results are “shocking.”
“Given the lethality of its product, the gun industry has a special duty to act responsibly,” he said. “Instead, it has a scandalous record of carelessness.”
The report comes at a time of unrest at the ATF, where two top officials resigned last week in the wake of a scandal involving a controversial anti-gun trafficking program.
The report goes on to claim that “weak” gun laws in the U.S. do little to stop firearms from ending up in the wrong hands.
“Despite the serious public safety risks created when guns are obtained by criminals
and other dangerous persons, federal laws are so weak that they do not require gun
manufacturers and dealers to maintain even minimal security or inventory controls,” the report reads. Read the entire Brady Center report here.
h/t The Hill
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
Disqus Conversations
Click here to read the Disqus Commenting FAQ.