Mike Levin: “last month Americans for Gun Safety, an organization which seeks to educate Americans on existing gun laws and new…”

“last month Americans for Gun Safety, an organization which seeks to educate Americans on existing gun laws and new policy options for reducing access to guns by criminals and children, released a report entitled Stolen Firearms, Arming the Enemy. This report examines the effect of stolen guns on communities. According to the report, nearly 1.7 million firearms have been reported stolen since 1993. These stolen guns are frequently used later in committing crimes and fuel the black market for guns. Most of the estimated 170,000 guns stolen each year are never recovered. The accessibility of stolen firearms was earlier highlighted by a 1997 Department of Justice survey of 33,731 state prison inmates. The survey found that nearly 10 percent of the inmates used a stolen firearm to commit the crime that put them in prison. The Americans for Gun Safety report points to several factors that contribute to a state's firearm theft rate, such as gun ownership rates, overall crime rates, and safe storage laws. The report notes that the eighteen states with safe storage laws had firearm theft rates nearly 30 percent below that of States without safe storage gun laws. Additionally, over the last 10-year period, theft rates declined by at least 47 percent in States with safe storage laws compared to 30 percent in States without such laws. As the Americans for Gun Safety report illustrates, safe storage laws can help prevent criminals from gaining access to firearms.”