Stolen Glock Sheds Light on Chicago’s Gun Buyback Efficacy

On a chilly day in December 2023, a large crowd assembled in the lower level of St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham to turn in myriad firearms. This event mirrored many others previously held at this Catholic church, seeing over 5,100 pieces traded for gift cards in just under 2 decades, the highest number exchanged in the city. The day, however, unfolded differently; it was shrouded in anticipation, confusion, and ultimately disorder when unusual activity was identified in a gun’s inventory.

The incident occurred when one of the commanding officers checking the weapons at a local police station realized a specific Glock firearm, which had been a subject of interest, was nowhere to be found. The tag that marked its identity was found misplaced on to another weapon. Soon, an envelope meant for it was detected discarded in the waste bin.

In an ironic turn of events, the missing Glock vanished from an office with police officers assigned to safeguard and inventory collected guns. Someone had made away with the much-admired firearm right under the officers’ noses. Disappearance of a well-identified firearm from a monitored environment lent a sense of disbelief and raised questions about security.

Police disclosed that they recovered the stolen firearm nearly a year after the incident. The individual held responsible was a 16-year-old juvenile, apprehended on suspicions of car theft attempts in South Shore, a mere 5 miles away from the scene. The boy’s mother was taken aback upon revelation the missing gun was originally turned over at a community gun buyback event.

In response to this breach of duty, a one-day suspension was issued to the police sergeant managing the officers present at the event. No further disciplinary action was taken against any other personnel. The journey of the lost Glock was reminiscent of a similar case where a firearm handed over by a Cook County judge at another gun buyback event in Chicago somehow wound up at the site of a lethal police incident in Cicero and was reported in 2017.

Following the Cicero incident, the city administration initiated an in-depth investigation that took over half a decade. However, probing everybody involved in the sizable buyback event was found to be a daunting task and was therefore deemed impractical. The unusually lax approach meant that nobody was interviewed about the lost firearm.

The mishaps cast a large shadow over the efficacy and management of Chicago’s gun buybacks. Inside the city, the buybacks serve as significant pieces of the community policing strategy and double up as an effective tool for public image building. For almost 20 years, this program has been projected as a viable solution to mitigate violent crime incidents.

Police officials assert that these buyback events play a crucial role in engaging citizens in the insurmountable issue of firearm violence. They claim that the program has helped in eliminating weapons that might otherwise be used in violent crimes. However, scholars and researchers have cast doubt on their effectiveness, arguing that these events do little in decreasing the number of firearms involved in shooting incidents.

The core proposal of these events is that the assurances of anonymity compel individuals to relinquish their guns, effectively helping in reducing the number of firearms on the streets. This, in turn, could contribute to creating safer neighborhoods. However, there lies a significant challenge.

By several measures, the number of guns in circulation in the United States far outweighs the population. Thus, even if thousands of firearms are collected via buyback events, they constitute a minuscule portion of the total guns in circulation. The challenge is compounded by the fact that the firearms relinquished during these events are often outdated or dysfunctional, and are thus less likely to be used in gang-related violence.

In the city of Chicago, weapons collected during buyback events are tallied with the total number of guns captured by the police department annually. This significantly inflates a crucial metric that the department employs to showcase its crime deterrent successes.

Since 2006, The Chicago Police Department has logged more than 199,000 firearms in its inventory. About 18% of these, approximately 35,000 guns, were obtained via gun buyback events. Therefore, it’s clear that the buybacks make a significant contribution to the department’s firearm collection operations.

However, the effectiveness of these buybacks becomes a matter of debate considering they yield firearms not typically linked to violent crime in the community. Also, the fact that one of the collected guns could get lost and then be found with a minor lays bare the vulnerabilities of such initiatives.

The cases furthermore illuminate salient issues with Chicago’s gun buyback schemes, questioning their ability to fulfill their primary purpose – reducing gun violence. Can the mere act of exchanging guns for gift cards yield tangible results in the fight against gun violence? Is the method of handling these firearms secure and reliable, considering the evident instances of mishandling?

One thing remains clear, though: guns lead highly varied lives. Even when they’re handed over to formal authorities, their subsequent path can be unpredictable, as shown in these instances. These events highlight the complex challenges in effectively managing firearms and trigger questions on the efficacy of gun buybacks in current form.