By Melissa Chan
Many US cities are reporting an increase in gun thefts from vehicles, according to a new analysis of data obtained and independently verified by our sister network NBC News.
It's an alarming trend as shootings rise across the country, fueled in large part by illegally obtained firearms.
From 2019 to 2020, at least 180 cities saw an increase in gun thefts from vehicles, which now constitute the largest source of stolen guns, according to the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
The study analyzed FBI crime data between 2011 and 2020, covering up to 271 small and large cities in 38 states.
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The nonprofit organization, which advocates for the prevention of gun violence, found that in 2020 some 77,000 guns were reported stolen in these 271 cities alone.
Of those, more than half were stolen from vehicles, which is a big difference from a decade ago, when most gun thefts occurred in robberies and less than a quarter in cars, according to Everytown.
On August 3, 2021, Caroline Schollaert was at her home in Jacksonville, Florida, when she witnessed a man break into her car.
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Known by many for her fearless character, Schollaert, an off-duty US Coast Guardsman, reported the robbery over the phone to the local sheriff's office, then went outside and confronted the man at gunpoint herself. .
He ordered him to stay put until the authorities arrived.
But while she was still on the phone with a police officer, the suspect pulled out his own pistol and opened fire.
Schollaert, 26, who had just gotten engaged three days earlier, died of his injuries.
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According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the gun used to kill her had been stolen from an unlocked vehicle in the same neighborhood 11 days before the shooting.
“You feel a lot of helplessness,” said her father, Patrick Schollaert.
“Imagine what it would be like to lose a child over something as simple as locking a door?” he added.
On the night before the shooting, at least eight other carjackings were reported in Jacksonville, according to the sheriff's office.
In 2021, 661 guns were stolen from vehicles in the city, a 4% increase from 2019, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
The trend can be seen in states and cities across the country.
In South Carolina, motor vehicle gun thefts rose to more than 5,100 in 2021, from about 4,200 in 2019, according to state data provided by the South Carolina Division of Law Enforcement.
In Hampton, Virginia, the number of motor vehicle robberies in which a firearm was stolen rose to 142 incidents in 2021, up from 88 in 2019, according to Police Chief Mark Talbot.
Many of the stolen firearms have turned up at crime scenes.
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“It is exceedingly rare that we investigate a crime with a firearm, and that the weapon is in legal possession.
Very often we find out that it was stolen from a car,” Talbot explained.
Although it is too early to conclude what is driving the change, experts believe it is likely to be exacerbated by many factors, including a surge in gun purchases during the pandemic.
In 2020, the FBI conducted nearly 40 million firearms background checks, more than in any other year on record, according to agency data.
During that time, experts say, COVID-19 also kept more people at home and made unoccupied and less-used cars easier targets.
"Criminals are opportunists," recalled Everytown president John Feinblatt.
“They will go where they think they can capture weapons and flood the black market with little or less risk,” he added.
In Hampton, Talbot noted that the rise in vehicle-based gun thefts came as home burglaries declined.
And since the vast majority of stolen cars are unlocked, criminals "are in and out of a given vehicle in seconds."
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"It's not minutes.
It's seconds, ”she reiterated.
Most states do not have laws that specify how a firearm must be stored inside an unoccupied vehicle.
Among the few that do, California and Connecticut require gun owners to safely store guns in unoccupied vehicles, while Massachusetts and Oregon have laws requiring all firearms to be stored in a locked container. locked or locked when not in use in all places, including vehicles, according to Allison Anderman, senior counsel at the Giffords Law Center.
In Florida, firearm owners over the age of 18 are generally allowed to keep a concealed firearm inside a privately owned vehicle, without a license, if the firearm is “securely encased.” , such as in an unlocked glove box, or "otherwise not readily accessible for immediate use."
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And when it comes to reporting lost or stolen guns, only 15 states require gun owners to report incidents, according to Everytown.
This means the number of gun thefts across the country is likely much higher, according to the group.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee — where drivers are not required by law to store their guns in a certain way, according to city officials — the number of reported incidents of vehicle thefts grew to 347 in 2020, up from 279 in 2019. and the 264 of 2018.
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“This glut of guns, illegal guns in particular, is just adding fuel to the fire,” said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly.
Although there is no reliable data showing how often stolen guns are used in crimes, several police chiefs and public officials said they have recovered enough illegal firearms at the scenes of violent crimes to know what often happens. .
"People aren't stealing guns from cars to pick them up," Kelly said, adding that he has surveillance footage showing would-be thieves pulling on his locked vehicle door handles in his own driveway.
Meanwhile, some jurisdictions have made it harder for law enforcement to fight gun thefts, especially from cars.
Last March, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice approved a bill that makes it legal for drivers to carry loaded long guns in motor vehicles.
And until recently, gun owners in Philadelphia were required to report a stolen firearm to police within 24 hours of discovery.
In February, a court affirmed that the city ordinance was unenforceable.
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“The way that people have such a lack of concern for something so dangerous, it blows my mind,” Patrick Schollaert said.
"A simple responsibility should not be a moot point," he added.
In many areas, law enforcement has no choice but to implore residents to lock their vehicles and remove their firearms before leaving.
“We've been extremely insistent here,” said WH Holbrook, police chief of Columbia, South Carolina, where 73% of guns reported stolen this year came from carjackings and 68% from uninsured vehicles.
“Our requests to properly secure firearms often go unheeded,” Holbrook explained.
Everytown noted that cities in states with particularly weak gun laws are associated with higher rates of gun thefts from cars.
Without tighter restrictions on firearm storage and reporting of lost or stolen weapons, her researchers say these warnings will go unheeded or ignored.
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“There has never been a more urgent time to act,” said Megan O'Toole, Everytown's deputy director of research.
"With every gun stolen from a car, the chances of it being used in a violent crime increase."
senseless loss
While crying, Patrick Schollaert tries to keep the memory of his daughter alive.
For the past eight years, Caroline Schollaert served in the US Coast Guard and was often the first to arrive on base each morning.
She was a maintenance technician and worked in a special unit that intercepted high-speed boats suspected of bringing drugs into the country, according to her father.
She was also a strong advocate for women in the service.
“He made sure that when a young woman walked out of boot camp they didn't mess with her.
They treated her fairly and they knew they had friends,” her father recalled.
Caroline Schollaert was a member of the Coast Guard. Courtesy of Patrick Schollaert
Three days before his death, Patrick Schollaert was on the phone with his daughter while her boyfriend, whom she met in the Coast Guard, was proposing to her.
The proposal caught both Patrick Schollaert and his daughter off guard, but it immediately filled him with pride and joy.
"I can't walk her down the aisle," he said, breaking down in tears.
“It changed my life forever.
She stole my girl from me,” she lamented.
This year, the Schollaert family launched the Caroline Joy Schollaert Memorial Scholarship, which will award $1,000 each year to a senior who demonstrates outstanding leadership and academic excellence at Powhatan High School in Virginia, which he attended Caroline Scholaert.
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Patrick Schollaert says that helping others as his daughter would have kept him going.
But when it comes to carjackings, he's not hopeful that much will change.
“This is going to affect more than just an isolated person like me.
There will be more and more people who suffer like me, without sense, ”she pointed out.
