A man walks through a neighborhood or parking lot, tugging on vehicle door handles until he finds one unlocked.

When he opens the door, there’s a handgun in plain view on the passenger seat. The burglar takes it, along with some other unsecured valuables, and leaves the area.

Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton says that’s happening all over the city — and worse, he said, it could be one way minors, convicted felons and others legally barred from owning a firearm are getting their hands on them.

In Starkville, where the student population translates into densely-packed parking lots, the same thing is happening, Starkville Police Department’s Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady said.

“I don’t want to lock it down to the only way, but … auto burglaries are a major contributor (to stolen firearms),” Lovelady said.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been 22 reports to Columbus Police Department of stolen firearms. In Starkville, there have been 50.

CPD has recently been cracking down on stolen weapons, with officers setting up checkpoints at different locations around the city for the last four weekends. There haven’t necessarily been an unusual number of weapons reported stolen, Shelton said, but city investigators hope by cracking down — and advising gun owners on how to protect their weapons — they can reduce violent crimes through the city.

“The majority of the people we deal with who commit crimes, they are not in possession of a weapon legally,” he said.

In the case of a July 20 shooting at a Propst Park birthday party that killed 16-year-old Arykah White, the suspect is 17. Individuals under 21 cannot legally own weapons. Neither can those who have been convicted of felonies or those awaiting trial for felony domestic violence. There’s also a federal statute saying those who have been in inpatient treatment for a mental illness within the last five years must have permission from a doctor before obtaining a weapon.

Shelton thinks the weapons are being stolen out of cars or houses and being sold or traded on the streets, often for drugs or drug money.

“One thing I know for sure,” Shelton said, “they’re not going to Walmart or the pawn shop and legally buying them.”

The national numbers

A report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics released in 2012 said there had been 1.4 million firearms stolen during burglaries and other property crimes from 2005 to 2010, an average of about 232,400 per year. While the number of weapons stolen had decreased significantly since the early 1990s, (there were 283,600 firearms stolen during property crimes in 1994), about 80 percent of the stolen weapons still hadn’t been recovered when the report was released.

A more recent report from the Center of American Progress, “Stolen Guns in America: A State-by-State Analysis” released in 2017, estimated 1.2 million guns were stolen nationwide from 2012 to 2015 — 22,000 of them from gun stores.

The same report said Mississippians reported an estimated 14,284 firearms stolen in that period, which totaled to nearly $6.5 million in value. That’s fewer than all Mississippi’s bordering states, with Arkansas reporting 27,392 weapons stolen, Louisiana 31,365, Alabama 37,988 and Tennessee 61,868.

The local numbers

From Jan. 1 to Aug. 12, Columbus police have recovered five confirmed stolen firearms. In the same period, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office received 39 reports of stolen firearms, and recovered four. Starkville Police Department received 50 reports and has recovered 23 confirmed stolen weapons.

Lovelady said that about every three months, and sometimes more often, SPD issue warnings to residents and drivers throughout the city to lock their vehicles in apartment complexes or at events.

“One of the top things that get stolen is firearms, when they’re reported,” Lovelady said.

In one recent case, he said, a citizen tipped off officers that a suspicious person was going through a parking lot trying car doors. Upon arrival, officers found a weapon on the suspect.

Resources SPD officers have through working with federal and state agencies help investigators learn when weapons entered into evidence are stolen.

Lovelady also stressed that 23 is the minimum of recovered stolen weapons. As investigations unfold, officers may learn other weapons entered into evidence have also been stolen.

The four weapons LCSO has recovered are all among 39 weapons entered into evidence so far this year. Almost half are related to narcotics investigations, according to information LCSO provided The Dispatch. Capt. Archie Williams, who leads the joint narcotics task force made up of both CPD and LCSO officers, said his team comes across weapons daily.

Some of those have been bought legally, usually purchased from a private individual who bought it from a pawn shop or other dealer, he said. Most of the weapons-related charges in narcotics are either possession of a weapon by a felon or a weapons enhancement to a drug charge, meaning the sentence for the drug charge could be doubled just because the defendant possessed both a weapon and drugs.

Still, Williams believes more of the weapons his team comes across are stolen than are reported on paper.

Firearms can be identified through a unique serial number. When a gun is reported stolen, Shelton said, investigators can enter the serial number into a national database that keeps track of firearms. And while it’s possible for what he called “professional criminals” to file the serial numbers off the weapons, it’s pretty unusual and not something CPD officers come across often.

Tracking the serial numbers of stolen weapons are how he knows, for example, that a particular weapon stolen in Columbus ended up involved in a murder in Chicago. But it’s the weapons belonging to people who don’t know the serial numbers on their guns or who don’t report their weapons stolen in the first place that are hard to track down.

That’s why Williams believes more of the weapons his team come across are stolen.

“We’re thinking, ‘This gun has to be stolen,’ but there’s no way to prove it,” Williams said.

It’s legal for someone who buys a weapon from a pawn shop to later sell the weapon privately. Still, Williams said buyers should be careful. The price can sometimes be a dead giveaway.

“If it’s a $500 pistol and you’re buying it for $100, come on,” Williams said. “You know something’s not right with that.”

Responsible gun ownership

Both Shelton and Williams stressed responsible gun owners should record the make, model and serial numbers of their guns.

“We want people to be safe. If you legally own a firearm, take protective measures to make sure that weapon is safe in your home or in your vehicle,” Shelton said.

He said CPD can provide free gun locks to legal gun owners. It also provides safety classes to people who want to own firearms.

“If a person is going to legally use a firearm, get training,” Shelton added. “At the police department, we provide gun safety classes at no charge to the public.”

The most important thing is to report the theft to law enforcement quickly.

“As soon as it happens, let us know about it,” Shelton said.