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US military guns keep vanishing, some used in street crimes
In the first public accounting of its kind in decades, an Associated Press investigation has found that at least 1,900 U.S. military firearms were lost or stolen during the 2010s, with some resurfacing in violent crimes. And that's certainly an undercount.
Government records covering the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force show pistols, machine guns, shotguns and automatic assault rifles have vanished from armories, supply warehouses, Navy warships and elsewhere. These weapons of war disappeared because of security failures that, until now, have not been publicly reported, including sleeping troops and a surveillance system that didnât record.
In one case, authorities linked an Army pistol stolen from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to four shootings in New York before it was recovered. Another stolen Army pistol was used in a Boston street robbery.
Weapon theft or loss spanned the militaryâs global footprint. In Afghanistan, someone cut the padlock on an Army container and stole 65 Beretta M9s â the same type of gun recovered in New York. The war zone theft went undetected for weeks, when empty pistol boxes were discovered in the compound. The weapons were not recovered.
While APâs focus was firearms, military explosives also have been lost or stolen, including armor-piercing grenades that ended up in an Atlanta backyard. In that incident and many others, military investigators closed the case without finding the person responsible.
The Pentagon used to share annual updates about stolen weapons with Congress, but that requirement ended years ago and public accountability has slipped. The Army and the Air Force couldnât readily tell AP how many weapons were lost or stolen from 2010 through 2019.
On Tuesday, in the wake of the AP investigation, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee she would be open to new oversight over weapons accountability.
For this reporting, the AP built its own database by reviewing records including hundreds of military criminal case files and data from registries of small arms, as well as internal military analysis. In its accounting, whenever possible AP eliminated cases in which firearms were lost in combat, during accidents such as aircraft crashes and similar incidents where a weaponâs fate was known.
From the start of this reporting 10 years ago, armed services have been reluctant to share information. For years, the Army suppressed the release of information. Unlike the other branches, the Air Force has released no data at all.
Military weapons are especially vulnerable to corrupt insiders responsible for securing them. They know how to exploit weak points within armories or the militaryâs enormous supply chains. Often from the lower ranks, they may see a chance to make a buck from a military that can afford it.
âItâs about the money, right?â said Brig. Gen. Duane Miller, the Armyâs No. 2 law enforcement official.
Theft or loss happens more often than the Army has publicly acknowledged. During an initial interview, Miller significantly understated the extent to which weapons disappear, citing records that report only a few hundred missing rifles and handguns. An internal Army analysis that AP obtained tallied 1,303 firearms.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-military-guns-keep-vanishing-some-used-in-street-crimes/ar-AAL39bk?li=BBnb7Kz
In a second interview, Miller said he hadnât been aware of the memos, which had been distributed throughout the Army, until AP pointed them out. Army officials later said the total is imperfect because it includes some recovered guns and may include some duplicates.
Like Miller, top officials within the Marines and Secretary of Defenseâs office said weapon accountability is a high priority â and when the military knows a weapon is missing, it does trigger a concerted response to recover it. The officials also said missing weapons are not a widespread problem.
âWe have a very large inventory of several million of these weapons,â Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in an interview. âWe take this very seriously and we think we do a very good job. That doesnât mean that there arenât losses. It doesnât mean that there arenât mistakes made.â
Weapons accountability is part of military routine. Armorers are supposed to check weapons when they open each day. Sight counts, a visual total of weapons on hand, are drilled into troops whether they are in the field, on patrol, or in the arms room. But as long as there have been armories, people have been stealing from them.
In the absence of a regular reporting requirement, the Pentagon is responsible for informing Congress of any âsignificantâ incidents of missing weapons. That hasnât happened since at least 2017.
Stolen military guns have been sold to street gang members, recovered on felons and used in violent crimes.
The AP identified eight instances in which five different stolen military firearms were used in a civilian shooting or other violent crime, and others in which felons were caught possessing weapons. Federal restrictions on sharing firearms information publicly mean the case total is certainly an undercount.
The military requires itself to inform civilian law enforcement when a gun is unaccounted for, and the services help in subsequent investigations. The Pentagon does not track crime guns, and spokesman Kirby said his office was unaware of any stolen firearms used in civilian crimes.
The closest AP could find to an independent tally was done by the FBIâs Criminal Justice Information Services. It said 22 guns issued by the U.S. military were used in a felony during the 2010s. That total could include surplus weapons the military sells to the public or loans to civilian law enforcement.
Those FBI records also appear to be an undercount. They say that no military-issue gun was used in a felony in 2018, but the AP found that at least one was.
Back in June 2018, police in Albany, New York, were searching for a young man theyâd placed at an April shooting that involved the Beretta M9 stolen from the Army. By the time authorities found him two months later, bullet casing analysis would link the gun to two other shootings, plus a fourth in 2017.
The Army still doesnât know who stole the gun, or when.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-military-guns-keep-vanishing-some-used-in-street-crimes/ar-AAL39bk?li=BBnb7Kz
Hunter Bidenâs Weird Artwork To Get NYC Exhibition, Expected To Fetch $1Â Million
Hunter Biden, the scandal-plagued son of President Biden, has embraced a new life as a full-time artist and will get his paintings shown this fall in Los Angeles and New York City, where they are expected to fetch upwards of $1 million.
The younger Bidenâs abstract paintings and collages, which sometimes resemble bacteria under a microscope, sometimes depict human body parts, will receive a private showing in Los Angeles this fall and later an exhibition in New York.
âI donât paint from emotion or feeling, which I think are both very ephemeral,â Biden said in an interview with artnet.com published Monday. âFor me, painting is much more about kind of trying to bring forth what is, I think, the universal truth.â
His works of art sell for $75,000 for works on paper and $500,000 for large paintings, Bidenâs Soho art dealer, Georges Berges told artnet.com.
Experts praised his pieces and predicted that some would sell for eye-popping amounts.
âIâm not impressed with modern art at all. But I was floored by that guy,ââ Alex Acevedo, 75, who owns the Alexander Gallery in Manhattan, told the New York Post, saying he has been in the art business since 1956.
âAnybody who buys it would be guaranteed instant profit,â Acevedo said. âHeâs the presidentâs son. Everybody would want a piece of that. The provenance is impeccable.ââ
Acevedo said he expects some of Bidenâs pieces to sell for $1 million or higher, but he acknowledged that the pieces would probably go for around $25,000 to $100,000 if the Biden name were not attached to them.
One of Bidenâs works, a green and pink abstract painting that resembles bacteria under a microscope, prompted the response from art consultant Martin Galindo that, âOh, my God, that looks like Covid.â
âHonestly, I mean, from an aesthetic perspective, I donât like it. But Iâm sure heâs gonna do really well,â Galindo told the Post.
The presidentâs son, 51, has no formal art training but has been reportedly creating art since he was very young.
The lawyer, former lobbyist, and former drug addict has been dogged by high-profile political and personal scandals, some of them salacious.
In leaked emails from 2014 reported by the New York Post, Biden appears to try to leverage his influence with his father, who was vice president at the time and heavily involved in U.S. policy on Ukraine. Biden referenced his father in negotiations regarding his lucrative position on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma.
In April, Biden released his new memoir, âBeautiful Things: A Memoir,â published by Simon and Schuster. The title is a reference to a phrase Bidenâs late brother Beau used to say to him, which he said was also a testament âto the beautiful things that he thought my art was.â
Asked what his father thinks of his art, Biden responded, âMy dad loves everything that I do, and so Iâll leave it at that.â
https://www.dailywire.com/news/hunter-bidens-weird-artwork-to-get-nyc-exhibition-expected-to-fetch-1-million
Revealed: Epstein and Maxwell implicated in multiple UK abuse claims over a decade
Serious questions raised about why Met Police chose not to investigate alleged offences. Police said today they will âreview the informationâ reported by this programme.
A Channel 4 News investigation has found more than half a dozen claims that young women and girls are alleged to have been targeted, trafficked, groomed, or abused in the UK by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, over a period spanning more than a decade.
Some of those victims have provided detailed accounts of their experiences. The evidence comes from a combination of publicly available documentation (including court papers), witness accounts, and interviews. The alleged offences detailed in the accounts include serious sexual assault and rape.
The Channel 4 News investigation reveals that despite this, the Met Police chose not to carry out a full criminal investigation into these alleged offences despite many of these claims being in the public domain, a direct approach from at least one victim, and widespread evidence that Epstein had abused young women through a global criminal enterprise.
Serious questions have been raised about why the force failed to carry out a full criminal investigation, including whether Prince Andrewâs involvement with Maxwell and Epstein had any bearing on their decision not to fully investigate; and whether the Metropolitan Police faces a conflict of interest due the role of its officers serving in proximity as Royal protection officers. Prince Andrew denies any wrongdoing.
Legal experts who reviewed the claims for Channel 4 News said the allegations provide clear grounds for an investigation and accused the Met Police of failing in their legal duty to launch a full criminal inquiry.
Nazir Afzal OBE, the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for NW England at the CPS, who led landmark cases against grooming gangs in northern England, said: âFrom what Iâve seen, there is clearly enough evidence for the police to investigate more thoroughly than they have done up to now.
âItâs concerning, because weâve got potentially victims here. And maybe other victims or alleged victims, who may if an investigation follows its course, be identified.â
A spokesperson for the Met Police told this programme it would âreviewâ the information put to them by Channel 4 News.
When asked if Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were treated differently by the MPS because of their connection with Prince Andrew, Afzal warned: âThe perception here is a different approach was taken in relation to these alleged offences, then there would be than if it was some brown guy in Rochdale, or some sex offender in London who didnât have any standing at all.â
Channel 4 News was also able to identify potential witnesses by tracing name and telephone numbers from a publicly available contacts directory, known as the âBlack Bookâ, which openly details associates and workers (including drivers, pilots, and masseuses) in the UK, in a similar pattern to those seen in other countries that have launched investigations, including the US and France. None of the people we called told us they had received any contact from the UK police.
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https://youtu.be/cezsFJKPwrk
Publicly available flight records from this period show Epstein and Maxwell were frequent visitors to the UK. Our analysis shows Epsteinâs private planes â a Gulfstream jet and the luxury Boeing 727 dubbed âThe Lolita Expressâ â flew in and out of UK airports at least 51 times, including into RAF Marham in Norfolk. The pair were also visitors at Royal residences including Balmoral, Windsor and Sandringham.
In 2015 the Met Police chose not to open a full criminal investigation into an incident involving Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew in 2001, despite a complaint from a third party who passed on evidence of serious criminal activity involving the exploitation of a vulnerable young woman. In 2019 the Met Police carried out a review of that decision and concluded that no further action was required.
One of the alleged UK victims and her legal team spoke directly with Met Police officers in 2016 and urged them to investigate. When Channel 4 News has previously asked questions about this direct approach, the Met Police has not provided any answers and ignored the questions. The Met Police has never publicly acknowledged this direct approach, instead providing public statements referring only to the third-party complaint in 2015.
A spokesperson for the Met Police told Channel 4 News it would âreviewâ the information put to them by this programme. However, they said they stand by their decision not to open a full investigation.
In a statement the force said: âThe MPS always takes allegations of sexual offences and exploitation seriously.
âAll officers no matter what their role are duty bound to uphold the law and conduct themselves with integrity.
âThe MPS is clear that it will investigate allegations where there is sufficient evidence of an offence having taken place, where it is the appropriate authority to do so and where those against whom the allegation are made are alive.
âThe MPS stands by the statement by Commander Alex Murray issued at the end of 2019.
âThis confirmed that the MPS had received an allegation of non-recent trafficking for sexual exploitation against a US national, Jeffrey Epstein, and a British woman in 2015 relating to events outside of the UK and an allegation of trafficking to central London in March 2001.
âOfficers assessed the available evidence, interviewed the complainant and obtained early investigative advice from the Crown Prosecution Service. However, following the legal advice, it was clear that any investigation into human trafficking would be largely focused on activities and relationships outside the UK.
âOfficers therefore concluded that the MPS was not the appropriate authority to conduct enquiries in these circumstances and, in November 2016, a decision was made that this matter would not proceed to a full criminal investigation.
âIn August 2019, following the death of Jeffrey Epstein, officers reviewed the decision making from 2016 and concluded that the position should remain unchanged.
âThe MPS has continued to liaise and offer assistance with other law enforcement agencies who lead the investigation into matters related to Jeffrey Epstein but is unable to comment on individuals with whom they may or may not have interacted with regard any allegations of crime.
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https://www.channel4.com/news/revealed-epstein-and-maxwell-implicated-in-multiple-uk-abuse-claims-over-a-decade
https://youtu.be/cezsFJKPwrk