NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On a Sunday in January 2022, a Glock 9 mm pistol, serial number AFDN559, disappeared from a Dodge Charger parked near a midtown Nashville bank after someone smashed in the rear driver’s side window.

Ten months later, Nashville police officers arrested three teenagers suspected in a series of shootings and discovered a cache of weapons in a nearby apartment. Among them was AFDN559. Forensic analysts would later tie the Glock to three shootings, including an attack in August that wounded four youths and another that wounded a 17-year-old girl in September.

In a country awash with guns, with more firearms than people, the parked car — or in many cases, the parked pickup truck — has become a new flashpoint in the debates over how and whether to regulate gun safety.

There is little question about the scope of the problem. A report issued in May by the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety analyzed FBI crime data in 271 U.S. cities, large and small, from 2020 and found that guns stolen from vehicles have become the nation’s largest source of stolen firearms — with an estimated 40,000 guns stolen from cars in those cities alone.

In some cities, organized groups of young people have swept through neighborhoods and areas around sports arenas, looking for weapons left under car seats or in unlocked center consoles or glove compartments. Their work is occasionally made easier by motorists who advertise their right to bear arms with car window stickers promoting favored gun brands or that declare “molon labe” — a defiant message from ancient Sparta, which roughly translates as “come and take them.”

Increasingly, thieves are doing just that. The Everytown researchers found that a decade ago, less than one-quarter of all gun thefts were from cars; in 2020, more than half of them were. The researchers say more study is needed to understand the shift, which has occurred as more states have adopted permitless carry laws and messages in gun industry marketing have encouraged Americans to take their weapons with them for personal protection.

And as the problem has grown, public health officials and lawmakers, including some in Tennessee, have proposed a rather prosaic solution: encouraging or mandating that gun-toting drivers store their weapons in their vehicles inside of sturdy, lockable gun boxes.

Gun control advocates are hoping that the adoption of the boxes in cars will come to be seen as a solution that both sides of the gun debate can accept, much as both sides encourage the use of gun safes and trigger locks in the home.

“I do think that safe storage is where we find a lot of common ground,” said Christian Heyne, vice president of policy and programs at Brady, the gun violence prevention organization.

But some experts say widespread adoption of the boxes may require a dramatic cultural change akin to the revolution in seat belt use. And it may prove to be even more polarizing than seat belts ever were. The National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates believe car lockbox mandates to be an onerous burden — a reflection of how the avalanche of guns is creating new sources of conflict.

Many lockboxes are relatively cheap. Simple versions that can attach to the underside of a car seat with a cable can be found for about $40, and some cities have even begun developing programs to give them away. In Houston, where more than 4,400 guns were stolen from cars last year, the police have given away roughly 700 such boxes this year, according to Houston Police Sgt. Tracy Hicks, and have plans to give away 6,300 more.

Some skeptics doubt even widespread use of the boxes would make much of a dent in gun violence in a nation with more than 400 million firearms in circulation. “It����ap like peeing in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Peter Scharf, a criminologist at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, which had one of the nation’s highest homicide rates in 2022.

In Nashville, the number of guns reported stolen from cars there increased nearly tenfold over the last decade, to a record 1,378 in 2022 from 152 in 2012, according to police data. The city’s rate of gun thefts from cars was the 15th highest in the country in 2020, based on FBI figures. The situation was even worse in Memphis, Tennessee’s second-largest city, which had the highest rate of gun thefts from cars in the nation that year, according to the Everytown analysis.

It is difficult to know how many stolen guns are used in crimes, in part because only 15 states have laws requiring the reporting of lost or stolen guns. “We don’t ask enough where guns used in crime come from,” Heyne said.

Tennessee’s Republican-dominated state legislature is considering a pair of bills with bipartisan support that would explicitly outlaw leaving a firearm in a motor vehicle or boat unless it is “locked within the trunk, utility or glove box, or a locked container securely affixed.”

The only allowable punishment, under the bill, would be enrollment in a court-approved firearm safety course. It is a purposely mild approach engineered to help create buy-in, rather than another culture war battle, said Rep. Caleb Hemmer, a Nashville-area Democrat who sponsored the House bill.

“We’re likening it to a speeding ticket,” Hemmer said. “We know we’re in a conservative state, and we’re trying to convince people to be responsible gun owners.”

Hemmer believes there is a relationship between the spike in the number of guns stolen from cars in Nashville and the loosening of state gun laws, including a 2021 permitless carry law.

Hemmer’s bill is supported by John Drake, the Nashville police chief, who Tuesday wrote a letter to legislative leaders in which he mentioned that the high-profile robbery and killing of a local country musician, Kyle Yorlets, in 2019 was carried out by youths using a pistol stolen from a vehicle.

“With gun ownership comes serious responsibility on several fronts, including securing guns, particularly in motor vehicles, so that they do not come into the hands of thieves/violent criminals,” Drake wrote.

The Tennessee lockbox legislation is already generating controversy, an indication of how steadfastly gun rights advocates oppose nearly any laws that might restrict gun owners.

The legislation is opposed by the NRA. Amy Hunter, an NRA spokesperson, called Hemmer’s bill “feckless” in a statement and said it would discourage theft victims from reporting the stolen guns to the police.

“This law can only be enforced if someone’s gun is stolen, the victim then reports the theft and admits the gun was unsecured — at which point the theft victim is charged with a crime,” she said.

In Chapel Hill, Tennessee, a small town about 50 miles south of Nashville, David Henley, 51, the owner of the gun store Tennessee Armory and Outdoor Supply, had a similar view.

It would be better, he said, to increase penalties for the thieves. “If you’re at your house, and a package is sitting on your porch, and a criminal comes and steals it, it����ap the same thing,” he said. “Who’s the criminal?”

Rep. John Gillespie, a Memphis Republican who co-sponsored Hemmer’s bill, was frustrated by such arguments.

“I’m more than willing to increase the penalties for people stealing a gun,” he said. “But are we really that burdened by asking someone to properly lock up their gun in a vehicle so it can’t be stolen?”

Laws mandating that guns in cars be locked away are already on the books in some states, including California, Oregon, New York and New Jersey.

A number of similarly themed bills are under consideration in other states, including Hawaii and Florida. A Virginia bill, introduced by a Democratic senator in that state’s Democratic-controlled upper chamber, did not survive the 2023 legislative session, which ended in late February.

Cities are also taking action. In January, the Atlanta City Council passed an ordinance seeking to create a lockbox giveaway program. In New Orleans, Tulane University’s Violence Prevention Institute has begun giving away gun boxes with biometric thumbprint locks at a local hospital.

“The hard thing is, when you talk to people about why they carry guns in cars, it����ap about safety and protection. And when you talk about lockboxes, the rebuttal is, ‘Well, I don’t have quick access to my gun,’” said Julia Fleckman, co-director of the Tulane institute.

In St. Louis, police have recently begun actively enforcing a five-year-old law that mandates that guns be stored in locked containers. Nick Dunne, a spokesperson for Mayor Tishaura Jones, noted that judges are giving people the opportunity to have their cases dismissed if they show the court that they have purchased a lockbox.

Dunne said that of 192 citations written last year, roughly three-quarters of them were issued to people who did not live in St. Louis — an indication of how the political and cultural differences between cities and rural and suburban areas help fuel the problem.

Hicks said that part of his job involves trying to get the word out to people who come to town for big sporting events.

Hicks said that it is not just out-of-town visitors who are targeted by gun thieves, although he said that they know to look for clues that suggest a gun is more likely to be in a car.

“You’ve got a Prius with a unicorn sticker or a big F250 with a Glock sticker,” he said, referring to the popular Ford pickup truck. “Which one is more likely to get broken into?”

This article originally appeared in .

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Two officers, working traffic patrol, stopped the vehicle, which had expired tags (April of 2022), in the area of Interstate 70 and Kipling Street, the said in a news release.

The driver has a suspended license and a container with methamphetamine crystals was in plain sight in the vehicle, . A further search of the vehicle found 1,000 fentanyl pills and a handgun, which was reported stolen in Loveland in 2020.

The 42-year-old suspect, who police said has a criminal record for drugs, was arrested on investigation of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, as well as firearm and weapons violations. He was taken to the Jefferson County Jail.

Traffic stop last night leads to big drug bust— a pound of Methamphetamine, 1,000 Fentanyl pills, and a stolen handgun seized. Details on our FB page. It all started with expired tabs. Well done, officers.

— Wheat Ridge Police (@WheatRidgePD)

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Weinberg, the Loveland Republican chosen by a vacancy committee in November, had stayed a couple of days in Denver for legislative training and parked his work truck in his designated parking spot at the state Capitol building. When he was leaving Friday morning, he noticed his car had been ransacked and multiple items were taken out of it.

He thinks it occurred between Thursday night and Friday morning. Weinberg reported it to Colorado State Patrol and Denver police at about 9 a.m. He then found out that some of his work and personal property — including two unloaded pistols, house keys and a photo album — were stolen, Weinberg told The Denver Post.

Only one magazine was in the vehicle, separated from the gun, Weinberg said. One of the guns was in his center console and the other was stored behind the back seat. He provided the guns’ serial numbers to police.

Nothing was stolen from the truck bed, which held thousands of dollars of tools and a generator, he said.

Denver police confirmed that officers had received a report about stolen firearms at the Capitol, but a spokesperson would not provide an incident report or additional information, citing the ongoing investigation. Police are still investigating whether the vehicle was locked at the time of the theft or if someone could have used a “bump key” to get in, according to Weinberg.

Weinberg said he is typically very careful about locking his vehicle and “if I know myself, I’m always overlocking.” Police are reviewing available footage and Weinberg said he’s cooperating with the investigation.

“What I think I would have been thinking (is) that it would be the most secure location in the whole state,” Weinberg said of where he parked at the Capitol.

According to the Denver Police Department’s online crime data collection, between Jan. 6, 2022, and Jan. 5, 2023, there were 467 reports of theft from a motor vehicle in Capitol Hill.

There was damage inside the vehicle, but Weinberg said he hasn’t noticed damage to the exterior. He drove it back to Loveland after making the report.

He said he hasn’t been able to sleep, and “I just couldn’t imagine ever hearing that something that belongs to me could do ill will to anybody. It hurts me sincerely.”

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, Weinberg said, as he tries to figure out what to do with his business and start his new role at the Capitol, and normally, he doesn’t leave guns in his vehicle. But Weinberg had gone shooting with his 7-year-old son to teach him gun safety at a range, he said, and “it was an oversight.”

The representative reported the theft to GOP House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, but Lynch declined to comment, saying it was not a caucus issue.

Colorado House Speaker-designate Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, called the incident in a written statement extremely serious and added that “we are deeply concerned that Representative-elect Weinberg’s irresponsible actions have allowed dangerous weapons into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.

“This is exactly why we have pursued legislation to promote responsible gun ownership, and why we will introduce life-saving measures this session to reduce gun violence and improve safety in our communities,” she said.

Weinberg, who served as the Larimer County GOP chair and on the Loveland Planning Commission, was chosen to serve in the House District 51 seat after the sudden death in October of former Rep. Hugh McKean. The late representative was set to be reelected for the 2023 term as the only candidate on the ballot for House District 51.

McKean was first elected to the House in 2016 and elected as the House minority leader in 2020. Amy Parks, McKean’s partner, was selected by the vacancy committee to serve in McKean’s seat until January.

The new legislative session begins Monday.

Re: “City wants firearms locked up at night,” Feb. 8 news story

Littleton city leaders get it right: Criminals commit crimes. In their memo explaining crippling storage mandates on lawful firearm businesses, they wrote stolen firearms are used by criminals to further victimize communities.

Proposals for one-size-fits-all storage mandates are as unworkable as they are punitive to small business owners. These are well-intentioned but saddle small businesses with overburdensome costs.

In Colorado, statewide firearm storage mandates would cripple more than 6,000 jobs that contribute $950 million to the economy. Colorado ranks among the top 10 states where firearm businesses are both the fastest growing and the top contributors for excise taxes supported by the industry.

There’s a better way forward to protect businesses and communities. That is why NSSF, the firearm industry trade association, partnered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to prevent these crimes from occurring and matches ATF rewards to recover firearms and prosecute the criminals.

ATF and NSSF work with firearm retailers through the Operation Secure Store (OSS) program. It is a partnership to provide firearm retailers with education and resources to enhance security, mitigate risks, protect their stores and communities. These voluntary solutions deter criminals through cost-effective and tailor-made answers.

Lawrence G. Keane, Washington, DC

Editor’s note: Keane is senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Why do we have increasing burglaries at gun shops? Consider this, every illegal gun was once a legal gun. A gun becomes illegal when it is stolen or purchased by a felon. When those avenues are cut off, the supply of illegal guns steadily shrinks. Why? I shoot my Glocks fairly often; if one malfunctions I send it to the factory for repairs. Criminals can’t do that. They also lose guns and throw murder weapons in the river. The black market stockpile can only be replenished if legal owners sell guns to criminals or the criminals steal them. Colorado cut off one source for illegal- weapons when the legislature passed universal background checks in 2013. That forced criminals to take the riskier route of smash and grab. Some people say that criminals can always get guns, which was once true, but we are on the road to making it very difficult. The Littleton City Council has the right idea, but they need to be more creative. Instead of requiring that guns be moved, they should require protection in place, such as heavy steel covers on glass display cases and locking bars on racks that are bolted to the floor.

Ray Harlan, Aurora

Bird oasis will help save the birds

Re: “Future of bird oasis … ?” Feb. 5 news story. “Bird oasis won’t be … ,” Feb. 11 news story

The question raised about the Chico Basin prairie in Friday’s paper has a very simple answer. It should be left alone. Birds are disappearing at an alarming rate. I can’t remember the last time I saw a common sparrow in my yard. Last summer I heard a Robin and realized it was just one of a very few I had heard, or seen, all summer. Sadly, bird loss is happening on a large scale and seems to be escalating. Turning this, and other similar property, into a wildlife preserve seems like a win-win solution to the question of what to do with the land. Being on protected property, birds and wildlife can thrive and the state gets an income from fees.

Carl Christensen, Arvada

Editor’s note: State land commissioners voted Wednesday not to break up the prairie.

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City leaders last week unanimously passed an ordinance in response to increasingly aggressive burglaries of businesses that sell firearms, a problem that has affected numerous towns and cities in the state.

Colorado’s gun stores and pawnshops saw a total of 1,143 guns stolen from 2015 through 2019, according to data kept by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That����ap an annual average of nearly 230 guns stolen in the state during that period, ranging from a high of 460 in 2017 to a low of 121 in 2015.

Over the last four years, burglars have targeted gun shops 10 times in Littleton, a suburb of nearly 50,000 south of Denver. They made off with 144 firearms in that time.

In a recent memo, the city said pilfered guns can be “safely assumed” to land in “the hands of other criminals who use them in the commission of further crimes against our community.”

“Despite best efforts (to stop burglaries), the criminals are able to enter and they’re so fast that the last time they were able to grab 52 weapons before we could get there,” Littleton Police Chief Doug Stephens said.

That heist, which included the theft of two machine guns, . The thieves smashed a window shortly after 5 a.m. to gain entry and then did the same to gun display cases inside the store.

Burglars targeted the store three times in 2016 and 2017, ramming a vehicle past a concrete barrier and into the store on one occasion. Triple J’s owner declined to speak to The Denver Post for this story.

Most gun store thefts occur in under three minutes, Stephens said.

“Anything we can do to prevent or delay these criminals from grabbing these weapons gives us time to get to the scene,” the chief said.

But mandating after-hours storage of firearms is a bridge too far for gun rights advocacy group Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. Executive Director Taylor Rhodes told the Post that the measure is “just another example of government overreach to the nth degree.”

Littleton’s ordinance, Rhodes said, means that gun shop employees will have to spend time after closing — and again at the start of the day — to stow and then display their inventory.

The measure is onerous, he said, and flies in the face of a 2003 state law that bars a local government from prohibiting “the sale, purchase, or possession of a firearm” that is otherwise legal under state and federal law.

“This is gun control because this ordinance infringes on that dealer’s rights,” Rhodes said. “I’m pretty sure if this went to court it would be struck down.”

He said RMGO is considering whether to file a legal challenge to Littleton’s law, which won’t take effect until August. But Littleton City Attorney Reid Betzing thinks the ordinance will stand up to legal scrutiny.

“The city’s ordinance does not prohibit the sale or purchase of firearms,” he said. “The city’s ordinance places reasonable requirements for the safe storage and security of those firearms for the protection of public health, safety and welfare.”

Dubbed the Safe Storage and Security Plan, Littleton’s new law also calls for proper exterior fortification of retail gun shops, including the installation of bollards, break-resistant windows, security bars on windows, metal reinforced doors and reinforced walls.

Only eight states require firearms dealers to use security measures to reduce theft, said Allison Anderman, senior counsel for gun control group Giffords. And fewer still, including California, Minnesota, New Jersey and Illinois, have in place some form of safe storage mandate.

“Gun dealers who are responsible for large numbers of firearms being stolen and entering the criminal market should bear some of the cost of fixing this problem,” she said.

But at what cost, asked Giovanni Galeano, owner of Old Steel Historical Firearms in Littleton. His store has a vast inventory of antique and historic pistols, rifles, muskets, daggers and bayonets, which he largely sells to collectors.

During last week’s City Council meeting, Galeano told council members that it was “not going to be possible” for him to move more than 1,000 items in and out of storage every day. He said having to comply would likely force him to close up shop and leave town.

“It����ap almost a museum,” Galeano said of his shop just south of downtown. “If I have to put 1,100 guns in a safe every night, I don’t have a physical way to do it.”

He said buying safes or vaults to store so much inventory would cost him upward of $50,000, and moving them in and out would risk damaging one-of-a-kind weapons that span from the Civil War to World War II.

“If you have a $20,000 musket or a $5,000 Winchester, the damage you can do to your inventory is significant,” Galeano said.

He said his building, a concrete structure in front of which he parks two Humvees to protect the entry, is effectively one big safe room.

“In order to break through my door, you’d have to come with a tank,” he said.

Several Littleton council members expressed sympathy for Galeano and Old Steel, which they acknowledged is not a conventional gun shop and not a top target for thieves. But Councilwoman Kelly Milliman said many of the guns there still function and could be used in a crime.

“To me, a gun is a gun is a gun, whether it was manufactured in the 1940s or ’50s versus 2020 or 2021,” she said. “It����ap still a weapon that can be used to harm another individual.”

Betzing, Littleton’s city attorney, said as long as smash-and-grab gun shop thefts continue to occur in Colorado, city leaders will feel a need to respond.

“I would be happy if other jurisdictions used this as a template and improved on it,” he said.

Ridge Johnaton Mased, 31, is being held at the Adams County Jail on suspicion of two counts of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, menacing and illegal discharge of a firearm, according to a police department news release.

The shooting happened at about 4:30 a.m. Friday at the IMT Hyland Hills apartment complex, 4901 W. 93rd Ave., police said.

Mased showed up uninvited at a party which was shared on social media, police said. A “disturbance” developed when he was asked to leave. A 17-year-old girl was shot in the shoulder and a 19-year-old man was shot in the legs. Both victims have been treated and released from a local hospital.

Updated information to New Year's Day shooting

— Westminster Police (@WestminsterPD)

Mased attempted to elude officers in a vehicle, but it high centered on a median, the release said. The suspect ran from the car and broke into a nearby, occupied apartment. Officers forced their way into the apartment and arrested Mased after a brief struggle.

The gun used in the double shooting was recovered from the car, police said. It had earlier been reported stolen in Westminster from a vehicle that was broken into. Police are investigating how Mased came to possess the gun. Investigators suspect that alcohol was a contributing factor in the shooting.

Justin Vigil, 31, was sentenced to 39 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, news release.

On January 18, 2018, Vigil and five others, burglarized Murdoch’s gun store after throwing a rock through a glass window to gain entry, the release said. The burglars spent three minutes in the store. That same evening investigators served a search warrant at the Denver home of Jonathan Estrada.

Estrada, a co-defendant in the case, was sentenced in February to eight years in federal prison.

“Prosecuting gun crimes is a top priority for my office and the Department of Justice,” said U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn, in the release. “The theft of 13 AR-15 style rifles causes a substantial community safety concern because they likely end up in the hands of violent criminals, gangs, and drug trafficking organizations.”

In 2019 there were 135 firearms stolen in nine separate burglaries in Colorado, according to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives statistics. In 2018, there were 64 firearms stolen in eight separate burglaries; and in 2017, there were 427 firearms stolen in 28 separate burglaries.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn. Multiple local  law enforcement agencies assisted the ATF in the investigation.

Jonathan Estrada, and others, carried out “smash-and-grab” burglaries of two gun stores stealing at least 30 firearms, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, news release. Estrada was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison term.

Estrada and an accomplice, on September 19, 2017, burglarized an Arvada gun store after throwing a rock through a glass window, the release said. Seventeen guns were stolen and the burglars fled in a stolen vehicle.

On Dec. 26, 2017, Estrada committed an armed carjacking in Arvada, firing a shot at a victim and stealing a 2008 BMW.

On January 18, 2018, Estrada and five others burglarized a Littleton gun store, entering after throwing a rock through a window. The burglars spent three minutes in the store, stealing 13 AR-15 style firearms. That evening, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed a search warrant at Estrada’s residence. Agents found evidence related to the two smash-and-grab incidents as well as the armed carjacking.

“Gun crime is a top priority for the Department of Justice and our office,” U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn said in the release. “Seizing these weapons and putting this defendant in prison for eight years will unquestionably make our communities safer.”

Aaron Michael Kendall, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez to 95 months in prison, according to a U.S. Attorney, District of Colorado, news release. He’ll serve three years on supervised released after completing the prison sentence.

Kendall appeared at the sentencing and was remanded into custody.

On Jan. 31, 2017, Wheat Ridge police stopped Kendall on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle, the release said. Officers found 15 grams of heroin and a 9 mm pistol in the vehicle. A digital scale, seven cell phones, baggies and a counterfeit $20 bill were also seized.

Kendall has been convicted of multiple felonies, according to the release.

“The federal felon-in-possession statute is a significant tool in allowing us to help local law enforcement get bad actors out of their communities,” said U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn, in the release. “Mr. Kendall apparently didn’t learn his lesson from his previous convictions. He’ll pay for that with nearly eight more years in federal prison.”

Prosecutors describe Kendall as a member of the 211 Crew Colorado prison gang. The gun seized was stolen out of Westminster, Colorado in July 2016, according to the release.

Kendall was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 12, 2017.  He pleaded guilty on April 15.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Wheat Ridge police investigated the case.

Isaiah Medina and Jonathan Melton, both 19-year-olds from Aurora, were booked into Mesa County Detention Facility on five counts of aggravated robbery, felony menacing and other criminal offenses, the Grand Junction Police Department said in a news release.

Antonio Mack, also 19, from Clifton, was also arrested on similar charges.

Around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, police received reports of an armed robbery at a convenience store at 2847 North Avenue in which three male suspects allegedly robbed the store at gunpoint, leaving with cash from the register, police said.

Twenty minutes later, police received another call about an armed robbery with matching descriptions of the suspects at a gas station at 599 29 ½ Road. The three men — all of them carrying weapons, police said — allegedly fled the scene with cash, merchandise, a wallet and multiple cell phones taken from victims in the store. No one was injured during the robbery, police said.

Just before 3 a.m., a deputy with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office attempted to contact people in a car parked outside a gas station, before the driver sped away, eventually getting stuck on railroad tracks. Three men, matching description of the robbery suspects, attempted to flee on foot before police were able to arrest them, authorities said.

Police found cash, two handguns and an automatic firearm during the arrest, the news release said.