An Associated Press investigation has found that at least 1,900 U.S. military firearms were lost or stolen over the last decade. These weapons are intended for war -- but some have ended up on America’s streets.
Army pistols, for example, were used in violent crimes including shootings and robbery. Pistols, machine guns and automatic assault rifles vanished from military armories, supply warehouses, Navy warships and elsewhere.
Phil Holm/AP
Phil Holm/AP
Security lapses included unlocked doors, sleeping troops and a surveillance system that didn’t record. The Pentagon and armed services say that missing firearms are a tiny fraction of the military’s stockpile, and note that some weapons are recovered.
