The Springfield Police Department is joining a national campaign by the International Association for Chiefs of Police to urge people to secure their guns. They’re doing so in partnership with the Community Partnership of the Ozarks’ Gun Safety and Violence Collaborative, which brings together several public safety and community agencies to address gun violence in Springfield.
The campaign’s spokesperson is Shaquille O’Neal, and he has this message for gun owners in a new PSA: "You may have the right to carry, but you have a duty to secure your firearms.”
SPD is asking all legal gun owners to commit to the campaign’s message of “Right to Carry, Duty to Secure.”
Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams said more people have been carrying guns in Missouri since 2016 when the state legislature passed a bill expanding citizens’ gun rights. That included legalizing the carrying of concealed weapons by a legal gun owner anywhere they can openly carry a gun. Previously, a person had to have a permit to do so.
And, since 2020, 876 handguns have been stolen from vehicles in Springfield, including 88 so far this year.
"More people have guns with them, but not everybody wants to keep carrying them or they're someplace they can't take them," Williams said. "So what we've found is people then stick them it the glove box and the console under the front seat in their car or their truck because — either they can't take it in somewhere or it's uncomfortable and then they forget about it. And then that gun is then discovered by a criminal who breaks into their car or their truck and then is used in a crime elsewhere."
He said they’ve been able to reduce the number of guns stolen from vehicles. But he tells people that, unless they’re carrying a gun, there’s no reason for it to leave their house. And when that gun isn’t on them, it needs to be secured in a gun safe, in a lock box or with a gun lock, which makes it inoperable.
He encourages legal gun owners to record descriptions and serial numbers of their firearms so they can be entered into a national database if those guns are stolen. He said that also increases the chances that the guns will make it back to the legal owner.
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