Cities rarely pursue lost or stolen gun reporting charges

Lose a gun in Cleveland and fail to report it to police and you could face a $250 fine and 30 days in jail. But in the 12 years that ordinance has been on Cleveland's books, only two people have been taken to court for failing to report a lost or stolen gun.That experience, and those of other cities, suggests that Pittsburgh's proposed ordinance on reporting lost or stolen guns and others cropping up all over the state and nation warrant neither the fear they are engendering in foes, nor the hope they inspire in advocates.The target for anti-violence advocates is the so-called straw purchaser -- someone with no criminal record who can therefore pass a background check and buy a gun, but then sell it or let it fall into the hands of someone who uses it for crime. When police trace that gun back to the original purchaser, that person often gets off the hook by claiming it was stolen or lost."Without a lost-and-stolen gun provision, (investigators) are kind of powerless when they trace the gun back to someone who says it was lost or stolen," said Jana Finder, Western Pennsylvania coordinator of Ceasefire PA, which is pushing the measures. She said they're "targeting the people who (sell guns to criminals) regularly."Neither Ceasefire PA nor other anti-violence or gun control groups contacted could name a city that has aggressively enforced a lost or stolen gun reporting law."It doesn't work anywhere it has been tried," said Rachel Parsons, a Washington, D.C.-based spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association. The group objects to the reporting laws because, she said, those whose guns were stolen "were already victimized, but we are going to criminalize (them) anyway."Still, the NRA could not point to anyone who was unfairly victimized by existing lost or stolen gun reporting laws.Cleveland certainly hasn't gone overboard."We've had two documented instances in which people have been brought before the court for violating the ordinance," said Martin L. Flask, Cleveland's public safety director. One was in 1996, the other five years later. In four other cases, police charged someone with failing to report, but prosecutors dropped it.He maintained that the ordinance is "well crafted" and "has value" for the message it sends."Most citizens who lose (a gun), or have a firearm stolen, report the loss to law enforcement," he said.In Columbus, Ohio, it is a misdemeanor to "knowingly fail to report to law enforcement authorities forthwith the loss or theft of any firearm." Last revised in 1996, that provision and related rules "appear to be rarely if ever enforced," wrote Jeffrey S. Furbee, Columbus' assistant city attorney and police legal adviser, in response to questions"The lack of enforcement is likely, at least in part, due to the difficulty in enforcing these sections," he wrote, noting the burden it puts on prosecutors to prove that the owner knew the gun was gone.Several other cities with similar laws said they aren't tracking charges or prosecutions, if indeed they are occurring.Last year, Hartford, Conn., tried a different approach: requiring owners to report the loss or theft of a gun within 72 hours, or, if the gun is later used in a felony, face a lawsuit from the city seeking to recover the costs of investigating and prosecuting the crime. Though the city has had that power since May 2007, it has yet to file such a lawsuit, according to police public information officer Nancy M. Mulroy.Philadelphia's City Council passed its ordinance the same month Hartford did, and it hasn't been used in part because it has been tied up in court.Commonwealth Court ruled in September that Philadelphia's gun control ordinances ran afoul of a state ban on local rules that "regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms." The majority of judges agreed that a 1996 state Supreme Court decision confirmed that "the General Assembly, not city councils, is the proper forum" for writing gun rules.One judge dissented, finding no legal reason to bar local rules on gun theft reporting. The case is headed for the state Supreme Court.E-mail Rich Lord of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at rlord(at)post-gazette.com.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)