Maine gun theft rates ‘minuscule’

Nearly 1.7 million guns have been reported stolen since 1993, and many of those guns have been used in later crimes, according to a survey released Wednesday by Americans for Gun Safety Foundation.

Maine fared well in the national report, which showed firearm-theft rates are twice the national average in Alaska, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Georgia.

California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina had the biggest total number of firearm thefts over the past 10 years, the report said.

“It isn’t simply a matter of where the most guns are,” said Jim Kessler, policy and research director. “Maine, South Dakota, and Wisconsin have very high gun-ownership rates and minuscule gun-theft rates.”

During the last 10 years, 16.8 firearms were stolen per 1,000 homes nationally. In Maine, 7.6 guns per 1,000 households were reported stolen.

Maine ranked 43rd among the states in gun thefts, while neighboring New Hampshire ranked 46th.

Firearms theft rates were less than half of the national average in all six of the New England states, as well as in Hawaii, North Dakota, New York, and New Jersey.

The report pointed to several factors that contributed to a state’s firearm-theft rate: gun-ownership rates, overall crime rates, and the existence of “safe storage” laws. The report noted that the 18 states with safe-storage laws had firearm-theft rates nearly 30 percent lower than the remaining states.

Of the 1.69 million firearms stolen over the past 10 years, 687,857 have been recovered, and roughly 1 million remain missing.

These firearms represent only the number of those stolen in which the owner is able to supply a serial number to law enforcement agencies.