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The U.S. Army can’t seem to find its guns.
An Associated Press investigation found that at least 1,900 military weapons were lost or stolen in the 2010s. Um…WHAT!?
In one case, a man released his pistol during a confrontation with police. The gun turned out to be the property of the U.S. Army and Army and records showed that the gun was safely stored 600 miles away in North Carolina. It clearly was not.
Rifles are the most commonly misplaced military weapon but the AP also counted 74 missing machine guns, 36 missing grenade launchers, 34 missing rocket launchers and 25 mortars. The AP estimates that these numbers are low because “some armed services have suppressed the release of basic information.”
HOW does this happen?
Apparently, lost weapon reports sometimes just close without resolution because “shoddy records lead to dead ends.” There are also reports of corruption where officers from lower ranks sell their weapons for a quick buck. The Pentagon is supposed to notify Congress of any “significant” incidents of missing weapons but because these disappear one by one, no reports have been made since 2017.
