Firearm thefts a growing threat

By Jenna Wilson

More than 250 guns have been reported stolen in St. Joseph during the last two years, leading to concerns the weapons could be used in violent crimes.

The thefts are a growing problem for police, who warn suspects often try breaking into cars to get their hands on a weapon.

“A majority of these cases that we see are firearms that are stolen out of vehicles,” said Capt. Jeff Wilson of the St. Joseph Police Department. “People tend to put it underneath the seat of the car, behind the seat of the truck or even in the console of the car. Once these vehicles are broken into, many times the firearm is the only thing that’s taken because that’s what criminals want to get their hands on.”

According to the police department, 147 firearms were reported stolen during 2022 and during 2023, 133 were reported stolen.

Police say when weapons are stolen, the concern becomes what they will be used for.

“Any time a weapon is stolen, that’s a criminal committing a crime, more than likely preparing to commit another crime but now armed with a firearm,” Wilson said. “We don’t need to create opportunities to arm a criminal who already has a criminal mindset.”

Commonly when a weapon is stolen it’s already been involved in the act of a crime, which police have been able to determine when working incident scenes.

“We recover a lot of them here locally when we’re inside locations that we’re serving search warrants on or while investigating any type of violent crime,” Wilson said. “Just this morning, I received a notification from St. Louis that they had recovered one of our reported firearms that was used in a crime down there.”

Officers do their best to try and locate firearms once they’ve been stolen through tracking but they remind residents to keep their guns safely secured and not locked inside a vehicle where they can be accessed. If a weapon is stolen, it needs to be reported to the police department.

“Reach out to us immediately,” Wilson said. “We understand that mistakes are made at times and we’re going to be humble with you but please try to pay attention. We try our best each year to teach the importance of firearm safety and if you’re not in your vehicle, take it in and lock it up in a secure location where you can get to it if you need it but being responsible needs to come first.”