Everytown Releases New Report Highlighting How Weak Gun Store Security Measures Fuel the Illegal Firearms Market

As Gun Stores Report an Average of Five Incidents of Theft or Loss Per Day, New ‘Soft Targets’ Investigation Sheds Light on the Devastating Consequences of Firearm Theft, Outlines Policy Solutions for Lawmakers to Curb This Crisis

FFLs Reported Over 17,000 Lost or Stolen Firearms in 2022, Amounting to Over 45 Guns Per Day Flooding Illegal Markets Where They Can be Trafficked or Used in Crimes 

NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund today released a new investigative report illustrating how lax gun store security can lead to the diversion of firearms to the criminal marketplace, often with devastating consequences. Unlike laws that govern other industries trading in dangerous or high-value products – including pharmacies, banks, or explosives retailers – there are no federal laws that require gun stores to undertake any measures to secure their inventory from theft. Criminals are taking advantage: gun stores are, on average, reporting five incidents a day of theft or loss of firearms. 

“The gun industry says we need guns to protect ourselves from dangerous criminals, yet its greed and indifference to preventing theft is arming criminals an average of five times a day,” said Nick Suplina, Senior Vice President for Law and Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “This troubling trend is preventable: Lawmakers must enact legislation to curb thefts from gun stores, gun makers should stop distributing to lax dealers, and the stores themselves should secure their firearms.”

Today’s report utilizes newly obtained police records, identified by reviewing publicly reported gun store burglaries, to demonstrate the consequences of poor store security across six leading firearm sellers: 

• Clyde Armory, a gun dealership owned by U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde with locations in Athens and Warner Robins, Georgia;
• American Defense Company, a gun dealer in Cleveland, Tennessee;
• Gebo’s, a Texas retail chain that sells firearms as well as hardware;
• Sportsman Emporium, a gun dealer in Morgantown, West Virginia;
• Summit Armory, a gun dealer in Bath, Ohio;
• Sportsman’s Elite, located in El Paso, Texas. 

The consequences of lax security can be tragic. According to one of the cases studied in the report, a single Glock pistol stolen from Superior Shooter’s Supply store in Wisconsin was subsequently linked to twenty-seven shootings in nineteen months before it was recovered by law enforcement. One of the victims was a 19-year-old college student walking to play basketball in Chicago. 

The report also surveys the laws across the small number of states that have taken action on this issue, creating a roadmap of policy change for lawmakers to follow in order to prevent firearm theft and cut off this source of crime guns. Namely, in the absence of federal legislation mandating basic physical security measures for federally licensed gun dealers (FFLs), stats without gun dealer security laws should enact legislation requiring that gun dealers: 

• Obtain a state license conditioned on physical security inspections by local or state law enforcement and the submission of a safe storage plan to the licensing authority;
• Maintain robust security measures, including:
  • Security cameras and alarms
  • Entryway security, including bollards or balusters, and protecting glass doors or windows by installation of pull-down gates or bars
  • Securing inventory in a safe or vault or using locking devices
• Ensure records are available for inspection by local or state authorities;
• Report all firearm thefts and losses to local and state authorities; and
• Train employees on security policies and best practices.

Gun dealers in states without dealer licensing requirements are more likely to have guns stolen. While the vast majority of states have not yet codified FFL security requirements, nine states and Washington, D.C., have successfully enacted legislation imposing a variety of security measures – and it’s working. 

In states without gun dealer licensing, ATF data shows that gun dealers lose 1.6 times more guns to burglary and nearly 9 times more guns to robberies. Additionally, gun stores in states without dealer licensing have 3.6 times more guns stolen per 100,000 people. Today’s report also emphasizes the importance of state officials properly enforcing new legislation requiring licensing and physical security, once enacted.

In 2022, over 17,000 firearms were reported lost or stolen by FFLs, which amounts to over 45 guns per day moving to illegal markets where they can be trafficked and used in crimes. The 10 FFLs – out of nearly 78,000 nationwide that sell guns – with the most firearms reported lost or stolen were associated with 4,099 missing firearms, over 20 percent of the total. In its most recent report examining thousands of gun trafficking investigations between 2017 and 2021, ATF also found that 17 percent — or 1,452 cases — involved thefts from FFLs.

In some cases, burglars were able to steal hundreds of guns in a single break-in. From 2013 to 2017, the number of gun thefts from licensed gun dealers increased more than the number from any other source, with the number of firearms stolen in gun dealer burglaries and robberies more than doubling and tripling, respectively.

This report makes clear that higher standards for gun dealers can help stop the stream of guns into our communities. Legislation like the Federal Firearm Licensee Act (FFLA), introduced by Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL) in the House of Representatives and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) in the United States Senate, would bring firearm dealer laws into the 21st century by modernizing and strengthening the federal requirements for gun shops if passed. That includes requiring “facilitators” — third parties between unlicensed gun dealers and gun buyers, such as gun shows or websites — to ensure that background checks are run on sales, increasing physical security requirements at gun shops, like video surveillance, modernizing record keeping, and requiring dealers to inform the ATF of any firearms transferred before a background check has been completed.