IMPD working to take illegal guns off city streets

INDIANAPOLIS — Since the beginning of the year, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's downtown district has taken more than 50 illegal guns off the streets.

IMPD Detective Corey Shaffer of the violent crime taskforce said most were taken from either convicted felons or serious violent felons.

“Most of these people are already convicted felons for serious violent felonies," Shaffer said. "They should have never had a gun in the first place."

However, according to IMPD, 59 guns have been stolen from cars downtown this year alone.

“You have to take the measures to protect that gun," Shaffer said. "You can't just put it under the front seat, put it in their console (or) the glove box and expect it is going to be there when you come back."

Shaffer recommends if you do plan on going out make sure to invest in a gun vault that will securely lock your legal firearm.

“It comes with a steel cable that actually locks in and it can be wrapped around a vehicle seat,” Mark Heitzman, with Indy Arms Company said.

Heitzman said Indy Arms Company is a mom-and-pop gun store that sells gun vaults.

Joel Sparks is the owner of www.stolengunz.com.

“It’s a database where regular folks can just go plug in a serial number to quickly check if a gun has been listed as stolen or not,” Sparks said.

Sparks said he has thousands of subscribers in the community-based forum where gun owners will know if a gun they have purchased is stolen or not.

“You can just go right out to the site and plugin a serial number for a gun that you own or that you are considering purchasing," Sparks said. "It will immediately tell you if that gun is stolen our not with photos."