Since 2012, the Department of Homeland Security has lost or reported stolen 165 guns. Yet, it has been the American people under the threat of unconstitutional gun control measures. What’s even more disturbing is that the report that uncovered the loss or theft of DHS guns also reported lost or stolen DHS credentials that present serious national security issues.
The Complete Colorado reports:
Of the 165 lost and stolen firearms on the inventory, just under half were under the responsibility of CBP [Customs and Border Protection], with most of the remainder responsible to ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], except for a small handful lost by employees of the Transportation Security Administration. 31 of the total firearms were classified as lost, and all but two of the rest were listed as stolen.
The true accounting of the number of lost versus stolen firearms may be inaccurate, however, as the government has previously indicated that law enforcement officers tend to report lost firearms as stolen “due to a common perception among officers that reporting a stolen firearm was more acceptable than reporting a lost firearm.”
The firearm tally may represent an improvement in the number of lost weapons per year by DHS. A 2010 report by the DHS Inspector General totaled 289 lost firearms for a nearly similar comparison period of three full fiscal years. That audit claimed DHS had over 188,000 firearms issued over eight component agencies, meaning the 165 lost firearms roughly represents losses of less than one-tenth of a single percent.
As I’ve previously reported, stolen arms from federal agents have been used in several murders, including the murder of Kathryn Steinle by an illegal alien in San Francisco in 2015 that made national news.
The Obama administration has vowed to make gun control its focus this year, but they don’t seem too concerned with controlling guns among their own employees in unconstitutional agencies, do they?
However, it isn’t just guns that the Complete Colorado reported on.
Homeland Security also reported 1,300 badges and other credentials as lost or stolen. These items could spell out a serious national security issue.
Michael Brown, former Undersecretary of Homeland Security and Director of FEMA told Complete Colorado that the national security risk that the loss of these items posed, warranted an investigation by the DHS inspector general.
“Law enforcement credentials, badges or ID cards can be used to access areas closed to the public, restricted access areas, and allow a person to pose as a law enforcement official where lax inspection of the credential to match it with the person carrying it allows that person entry to restricted areas,” Brown told Complete Colorado in an email. “Possession of these kinds of credentials gives terrorists or criminals the basic information needed to counterfeit other credentials.”
“For example,” Brown added, “a terrorist cell could use these credentials or counterfeited credentials to access public events posing as law enforcement officials, bypassing security measures designed to detect explosives or other contraband.”
Consider that DHS was caught with on the 72 employees terror watchlist, and I reported in June 2015 that the Transportation Security Administration, which falls under the umbrella of DHS, failed to identify 73 workers who were on the terror watchlist.
It seems to me that we should be looking for the elimination of the multiple unconstitutional agencies that have been put in place for “security,” which seem to always be used to infringe on our rights and actually make us less secure.
