Walnut Creek – Today, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) announced legislation to prevent incidents in which federal law enforcement officers’ service weapons are lost or stolen. Earlier this week, a loaded Glock 27 was stolen out of an FBI agent’s car in San Francisco. This is just one example of a concerning trend involving a stolen weapon from federal law enforcement in the San Francisco area.
“Locking a firearm when it is not in use should be a no-brainer. Yet, there are almost 80 federal law enforcement agencies and none are required to have standards for officers to safely store and lock their guns when they are not in use,” explained Congressman DeSaulnier.
DeSaulnier’s bill, the Federal Law Enforcement and Public Protection Act, would require standards for federal law enforcement officers to lock their guns when not in use and to institute a reporting mechanism to better understand the frequency and severity of this problem. The bill also provides officers with information about the dangers of keeping an unlocked weapon in the home.
“We need to take action before another life is lost. Federal law enforcement agencies should be accountable for officers’ weapons both on and off the job. This bill will help ensure law enforcement has standards and information on the best ways to safely and securely store firearms,” said DeSaulnier.
At least two people were murdered with a gun stolen from a federal law enforcement officer in 2015. The lives of Kathryn Steinle and Antonio Ramos were tragically cut short in separate incidents by criminals using firearms stolen from the unattended vehicles of federal law enforcement agents. In addition to incidents in San Francisco, there have recently been several reports in the media of federal law enforcement officers either having their service weapons stolen or misplacing them, including the Capitol Police and the Secret Service.
4 comments
I do believe that everyone would lock up their firearms, and should not leave them in their vehicles.
But why doesn’t Congressman Mark DeSaulnier stop putting the blame on people who lose their guns, and hold people accountable who illegally possess them on the street? Start by making it a FELONY to have a firearm, right now it is only a misdemeanor unless you are a felon or a prohibited person. I find it obscured that “Jimmy” can buy a gun on the street and if he’s caught with it only gets a misdemeanor if he’s lucky enough to get charged.
Second start making some mandated prison sentences for gun violations, how about (5) years for the first offense and (10) for the second and (25) for the third and keep some of these repeat offenders in prison where they belong.
So add to this proposed law that all bad guys must also be mandated to stop and wait until the police, FBI, or other peace officers get their weapons unlocked, released, and shouldered before the bad guys can continue shooting at the police or other victims. Yeah … this new law will stop those weapons from getting stolen. Jeez, Loueez!
Maybe change the law that says off/duty law enforcement has to abide by business owners requests to be gun free zones and allow them to carry in public buildings as well. That is why the arms are left in vehicles, gun control run amok.
Maybe Desaulnier is pandering to special interest with dumb new laws because he has nothing productive to do. You can’t expect a new law to be affective if an old related law is not enforced.
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