February 18, 2010, - 4:27 pm
If They Can’t Secure Their Guns, How Can They “Secure” the “Homeland”?
More Keystone Koppery at the Department of Homeland Security. On the one hand, 200 guns lost from thousands of agents is a small number. However, the 185,000 number is misleading, as a far smaller number of the 185,000 DHS employees are actually issued guns.
But one is a problem, especially if they fall into the hands of criminals. Part of the problem, also, is that Homeland Security–especially ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)–repeatedly issues guns to people who are not trained law enforcement agents and whom the regulations forbid from carrying one. Cronyism often wins out, such as friends of John Torres, former director of ICE Detention and Removal Operations.
The guns have been found in a fast-food bathroom, an idling car in a convenience store parking lot, a bowling alley, a toolbox in a truck bed, and even on a car bumper. Stupid, stupid, stupid. And on that note, I’m reminded of a story told about a retired FBI Special Agent, who worked counterterrorism in the Detroit area (incompetently so). He was allegedly cheating on his first wife with another agent, and they went to Disney World together. But then, he and his fellow FBI agent lover had their guns stolen. They’d locked them in their car trunk and other parties saw and stole them, once they left the lot. That’s how the agent’s wife found out he was cheating on her. The agents must file a report, when their guns are stolen, lest it be used in a crime and they are framed, etc.
The nation’s Homeland Security officers lost nearly 200 guns in bowling alleys, public restrooms, unlocked cars and other unsecure areas, with some ending up in the hands of felons. The problem, outlined in a new federal report, has prompted disciplinary actions and extra training.
Most of the misplaced weapons — including handguns, shotguns and military rifles — were never found. “Most losses occurred because officers did not properly secure firearms,” says the Homeland Security inspector general report.
At least 15 of the guns ended up in the hands of gang members, criminals, drug users and teenagers, inspector general Richard Skinner found. His report documented 289 missing firearms from fiscal year 2006 through 2008, although not all were lost because of negligence. Some were lost in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and others were stolen from safes.
The report is the first accounting of guns lost by Homeland Security’s 185,000 workers. . . .
Although the number of guns lost is only a small fraction of Homeland Security’s 190,000 firearms, any lost weapon “is a very serious matter,” said Hubert Williams, president of the Police Foundation, a think tank on law-enforcement issues. “It reflects the competence of the officer.”
The report does not say if any of the guns were used in crimes.
Read the full Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General report.
You can bet that they were used in crimes. Why wouldn’t they be? It’s the perfect crime. You use a fed’s gun and it gets traced back to them.
Hey, I wonder how many of Janet Napolitano’s girlfriend DHS appointees have been issued guns. How many of them will lose them?
Tags: Criminals, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, guns, Inspector General, lost guns, missing guns, Richard Skinner
Gee, and I wonder what kind of paperwork they had to complete to get their guns? You darn near have to put down how many times you farted in the 4th grade in order to get your permit in some states.
Maybe it’s a good thing I stay home with my daughter. I would have blown my aorta because of all this stupidity.
cirrus1701 on February 18, 2010 at 5:22 pm