Juvenile shots fired incident highlights ongoing issue of stolen guns in Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia police confirmed that a stolen gun was found after a shots fired incident over the weekend that led to six juveniles being detained.

Two of the youth were released, while one was detained on suspicion of four counts of first-degree assault, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, and distribution of a controlled substance, the Columbia Police Department wrote on its social media on Monday morning.

Another juvenile was arrested on suspicion of illegal gun passion and trespassing, while a third child was accused of illegal gun possession and a fourth was accused of juvenile delinquency, police wrote.

This comes a week after six people were arrested in Jefferson City for an armed robbery that included three stolen guns, according to Jefferson City police. Another Columbia man was accused of stealing a gun at the beginning of this year.

Missouri has had issues with stolen guns in years past, but numbers have slowly begun to come down. 

From 2017 through 2021, Missouri had the ninth-most guns reported stolen among the 50 states, according to a study from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.  The same study found that 96% of guns reported stolen were owned by private citizens. Of the 29,000 guns stolen from private citizens during that span, only 39% were recovered. 

A study from the Statista Research Department, found that Missouri had 365 lost or stolen firearms in 2022, which was the 13th-highest in the country. Pennsylvania had the most at 2,806 while Delaware had the fewest with just one.

Seth Fallik, Chair and Associate Professor of UMKC's criminal justice department says that having a national registry of guns would allow law enforcement to track a serial number similar to how vehicles are registered and tracked, which would make finding stolen guns easier.

"The weapons are so mass produced in the United States that when a Ruger gets fenced at a pawn shop, there might be somebody who knows that their weapon was stolen and then somebody who doesn't because they were somewhere else outside of Kansas City and they're just not here when their home has been broken into," Fallik explained.

Former Boone County detective Tom O’Sullivan says that one of the most common mistakes people make is leaving their gun inside their car.  

“Most of the time, it's because the car was left unlocked. Now, you know, it's bad enough if you lose your parking meter change or electronics or a laptop, but, a gun stolen out of your car is probably going to be used in a crime somewhere,” O’Sullivan said. 

A Columbia man who pleaded guilty to stealing a gun from a Missouri State Highway Patrol vehicle in Ashland in 2023 was sentenced to probation in August.

An employee at a Columbia pawn shop – who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of possible retaliation -- said that every gun they purchase or sell gets entered into a gun log that law enforcement is able to access. However, the employee said that pawn shops don’t have access to the same information recorded in the gun log, making it difficult for them to tell if the gun they purchased was hot. 

According to the employee, the most common types of incidents they run into in Columbia are straw purchasers, which are difficult to track down. This occurs when someone buys a gun legally and then sells it to someone who is not allowed to own a gun a reports it as missing to avoid getting in trouble if it turns up in a crime. 

Straw purchases are difficult right now.  Many users are struggling with how to approach them because these are individuals who don't have criminal records. That's what allows them to purchase the weapon in the first place. The difficulty is when they pass them on to folks who otherwise wouldn't be able to buy a weapon," Fallik said. "One of the things that they do is they're tracking the number of weapons that these folks are purchasing. Right? So like if you purchase 40 weapons in a 60-day period, you're getting flagged.  Even if you don't have a you no criminal record."

O’Sullivan said that Missouri loosening its gun laws made things a bit more difficult for law enforcement. 

“Ever since the state legislature loosened up all the gun laws, that's when it, you know, really started,” O’Sullivan said. “When I first started as a cop, you really couldn't carry a gun in your vehicle like you can now. I mean, you had to keep the ammo and the gun separate not within proximity to one another. If you kept it in the console, all the ammo had to be in the trunk or somewhere where it wasn't readily available.  But now, everybody driving around with a gun in their car.” 

The Columbia Police Department said in August 2023 that stolen guns are frequently used in violent crimes.