Steve Burns
WMAL.com
GAITHERSBURG – (WMAL) Hoping to provide a solution to the accumulating proboems the DC Metro-area has experienced with violent crime this year, Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger wants to propose new rules to track guns after they are stolen.
“We’ll track a gun back to an individual and say ‘hey, this gun is registered to you, and it was used in an armed robbery,'” Manger said. “And the individual that we talked to that wasn’t involved in the armed robbery, they’ll go ‘oh yeah, that gun was stolen.'”
He said this is a common outcome as they investigate violent crimes.
“This is one of the things that we’ve tried to pressure Congress to do. Enact a law that, if you have a gun that is lost or stolen, you’re required to report it to police.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser indicated earlier this summer that illegally-obtained guns were playing a major role in the uptick in homicides the city has seen in 2015.
“In my view, none of these common-sense gun laws ever get any traction on Capitol Hill,” Manger said. “I support the 2nd Amendment, but how does requiring someone to report a lost or stolen gun impact anything?”
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