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Stolen Guns Fuel Deadly Violence: Thousands of Arms Go Missing Every Year But Only 7% Recovered

Posted byHoumanitarian

(Yang Wang, Houston Chronicle)
Cabdrivers Mohammed Elsayed and Blaise Nwokenaka, shot dead by the last passengers of their lives, were killed with a .380-caliber Cobra pistol – a gun stolen just 20 days earlier.

Nineteen-year-old Shanetria Grogan was slain by her ex-boyfriend, shot in the head with a .380-caliber Jimenez Arms semi-automatic pistol, also stolen. And 23-year-old Leroy Pierson, killed in a drug deal gone bad, suffered a fatal wound from a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol, yet one more ripped-off weapon.

At least 32,000 guns, some 4,000 every year, have been stolen from Houston-area homes, cars, pawn shops and even gun dealers since 2005, with only 7 percent of them ever recovered, a Houston Chronicle analysis shows.

In a state where guns are as plentiful and popular as pickups, the stolen weapons further fuel violent crime across the region.

The Chronicle tracked stolen weapons to at least 19 local murder cases by linking serial numbers found on burglary reports to a database of guns that have been found at crime scenes or confiscated. There likely are many more, but records are too incomplete.

Among the most favored of stolen weapons are semi-automatic pistols, revolvers, shotguns and semi-automatic assault rifles.
(Read the full story at the Houston Chronicle)

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