Video: Gun Trafficking

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – It all starts with a stolen gun. Gun traffickers are giving the local law a run for their money.

More and more firearms are being confiscated around our area. Still other guns may end up seven hundred miles away.

Law enforcement officers that we spoke with say offenders are getting personal… stealing firearms from homes and cars, and then, selling them on the street for profit.

Rifles. Shot guns. And hand guns. Many weapons are falling into the wrong hands. Authorities tell us these traveling guns are a serious safety issue.

“We’re actually had some of our firearms wound up in Chicago and I think St Louis, some of them wound up you know as close to some different counties in Alabama… Most of them are convicted felons, the ones we’re dealing with a lot of them are in fact juveniles, people that are under 18 years old, that’s buying and selling and trading firearms,” said Detective Travis Robertson with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department.

It’s a problem they say they’re trying to get under control. Detective Robertson says the Sheriff’s department has confiscated over 3 hundred firearms just in the last month.

“It’s real serious, I think and it’s not something we’re over coming very easy, it’s a problem and we got to figure out what means we’re going to utilize to combat it,” adds Detective Robertson.

Local lawmen are telling residents to be more cautious. Keeping guns safely locked up, using security systems and cameras within your homes.

“A lot of guns that’s on NCIC have been stolen in burglaries, either from vehicles or from peoples homes… Once those guns leave your house and you do not have the serial number recorded then there’s no way we can track it,” says Assistant Chief Joe Johnson at the Columbus Police Department.

We’re told by authorities to write down your serial number of your guns and make sure to keep them in a secure place were no one can access them.