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Officers Lose 243 Homeland Security Guns
In a screw up so big it could only be brought to you by the government or a famous athlete, 243 guns were lost by Homeland Security agencies between 2006 and 2008. 179 guns, were lost "because officers did not properly secure them," an inspector general report said. One of the worst examples of carelessness cites a customs officer who left a firearm in an idling vehicle in the parking lot of a convenience store. The vehicle was stolen while the officer was inside. "A local law enforcement officer later recovered the firearm from a suspected gang member and drug smuggler," the report said.
by the government of a famous athlete
I'm sure you had a joke in there that you were dying to get out, but this makes less than no sense.
The vehicle was stolen while the officer was inside.
Sleeping in the back seat again?
So, over 3 years, 179 / 188,500 weapons went missing, 0.09%, only slightly higher than the percentage eaten by beavers or flattened by steam rollers.
What a travesty. How could they have been so careless with our tax dollars. Let's impeach Obama.
=^P
I understand your point regarding incompetence, but the only reason we know about this is because this is a government agency. If it was private company the public would have no idea. You could make an argument regarding hiring standards between the government and private companies, but based on my experience private companies hire lazy and incompnent employees as well. Where is the public report from a Health Care company where mistakes cost hundreds of premium paying customers money or time to recoupe money due to sloppiness on the insurance company? Or worse, where are the reports where people were delayed necessary procedures? You won't see it because it is a private company. I agree the government may not do a great job managing heathcare, but this is not a valid example.
You'll have to explain to me how losing a statistically insiginficant number of weapons constitutes proof of government incompetence. Not that I necessarily assume the government is competent, mind you, but losing 250 out of a total number of guns that must be in the hundreds of thousands doesn't constitute 'proof' of anything.
Only America has famous athletes (Look at David Beckham--came to the US to become famous). Only the US Goverment can make mistakes this hillariously collosal. Thus, only famous athletes' government (the US) can do this.
QED
You must have a personal problem with the Canadian health care. The Canadian government does not directly control the health care. What they do have is a Canadian Health Act, which stipulates the minimum required coverage per province. The individual provinces then create their own modifications to the Canadian Health Act to utilize the tax money allocated for that purpose. The provinces have to give at least the minimum care required.
What's interesting is Canada has an average increased life expectancy of ~2 years more than the U.S..
In addition, the individual tax burden for Canada, as a whole is lower than the cost for health care in the US paying piece meal.
I appreciate your cynical view of Canadian health care, however, I would still rather get seriously sick (or be seriously injured) in Canada as a Canadian citizen than in the US as a US citizen.
...because the alternative is a ravenous beast that feeds on the sick to generate monstrous profits. Socialized medicine has been shown to work* in countries all over the world. I (a non-American) don't have to worry that changing jobs will mean a loss of health insurance, nor that a catastrophic illness/injury will make my family paupers.
*work in the sense that decent healthcare is enjoyed by all residents of a country, instead of having superb care for the rich, generally adequate for the middle class, little or none for the working poor.
Well, we all also do illegal things, but you best be extra perfect in front of a cop. All you need to do is one illegal thing in front of a cop, and he will gladly do his job and process you into the system for punishment. Why should hey get a break when he gets caught slipping?
-Steve
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
The Dems don't understand business and the private sector; they don't understand what actually generates wealth in this country because they themselves are destroyers, not creators, of wealth
Interesting idea when you consider the largest destroyers of wealth are in New York City on Wall Street, rather than in Washington DC. But those of us in the know, know that the Dems and Reps all have their campaigns paid by Goldman Sachs anyway.
To understand power in the United States, don't follow government. Follow the money.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
...Because a 0.09% rate of failure isn't as bad as you make it out to be.
It is hard to say if it makes them look stupid or hypocritical, without knowing the punishment for losing your gun. Apparently, since one officer at least recovered his from a gang member, it is not termination of employment.
If people in that agency were fired for incompetence, there wouldn't be anybody left by now. So presumably the punishment is having to figure out a new way to annoy the general public.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
Actually, this is very common.
Yes, but law enforcement vehicles which need to be left running are equipped with a lockout switch which keeps the engine running and the accessories energized without allowing the vehicle to be driven
You start the car normally, turn on the lockout switch, and then remove the ignition key. The car can be shut off by turning the lockout switch off, but it cannot be restarted or driven without the ignition key.
There's never a good reason to leave the keys in a running and unattended vehicle. This is what the officer in question did.
Putting moderation advice in your
The goal here is an irrational rant. Preferably in wall-of-text format. Why bother actually forming an informed opinion when we can spume and froth at the mouth and work up a good outrage?
So please, quit confusing the issue with stuff like "facts" and "details" like the following.
Infant Mortality Rate and Life Expectancy, by Sex: Canada
Year: 2010
IMR Both Sexes: 4.99
IMR Male: 5.34
IMR Female: 4.63
Life expectancy both sexes: 81.29
Life expectancy male: 78.72
Life expectancy female: 84.00
Infant Mortality Rate and Life Expectancy, by Sex: United States
Year: 2010
IMR Both Sexes: 6.14
IMR Male: 6.81
IMR Female: 5.44
Life expectancy both sexes: 78.24
Life expectancy male: 75.78
Life expectancy female: 80.81
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.
United States - Latest Data Used in the Estimates and Projections
Reference years: 2007
Data source: vital registration
Data collection years: 2007
Notes: Preliminary data on total registered deaths.
Citation: National Center for Health Statistics. 2008. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_21.pdf.
Canada - Latest Data Used in the Estimates and Projections
Reference years: 2004
Data source: vital registration
Data collection years: 2004
Notes: Registered deaths by age and sex.
Citation: Statistics Canada. 2006. Annual Demographic Statistics: 2005. Ottawa.
Note: Infant deaths are approximated as IMR times births in the year and may not add to totals due to rounding.
U.S. data are based on official estimates and projections. Population estimates for 1950-1999 are based on the resident population plus the armed forces overseas. Population estimates for 2000-2008 are for the resident population and are based on Census 2000. Population data in the IDB for 2009-2050 are projections of the resident population. The U.S. population components shown in the IDB for 2000-2050 may not match the official population components for the United States, due to differences in how they are displayed (calendar year versus midyear estimates). Revised official population estimates are released each year (see http://www.census.gov/popest/). Therefore, the U.S. population estimates (official compared with IDB) may not match due to differences in the timing of their releases.
I've lost all my marbles except one & It's fun to test angular & centripetal acceleration in my skull
No one else has proven capable.
Next question?
Oh, but when it comes to a cop, they better be more than perfect.
Yes. Exactly.
We're talking about *cops*. We entrust them with our lives, and give them power over us, so yes, I think it's reasonable to expect them to be a little less careless than the average slashbot such as yourself. If they can't handle those expections, they should #gtfo, because they don't deserve the responsibility they've been given.
We're also not talking about a set of keys, here. We're talking about a *firearm*. Last I checked, most people aren't dumb enough to lose their 38 special between the seat cushions of their couch.
Frankly, I'm shocked this even surprises you.
The DHS has a total of around 200,000 employees. The number of those who are actually armed (as opposed to sitting on their butts in an air conditioned office in D.C.) is significantly less. In a cursory search, I couldn't turn up any concrete numbers, but I imagine it's safe to say that probably 10% of DHS employees are actually "agents" of some type (Border Patrol, ATF, Air Marshals, etc). So that's 20,000 armed employees.
I don't see a 1% loss rate as "statistically insignificant" when you're talking about firearms lost through negligence.
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Yes, most people are. Try carrying a firearm 24/7 for a few decades. There's a significant chance you will lose one (or more) over the course of a career, no matter how careful you like to think you'll be.
We're human beings. We're flawed. We do that sort of thing. Some leave their coffees, their groceries, or even their CHILDREN on top of their cars when they drive off. Some forget to take the iron off the board when they leave and their house burns down. Some forget to put the bar in the window and their child falls out when the screen gives way. Some turn around to talk to their kid about some detail of the day and drift in front of a semi. And none of us are immune to this sort of thing. Some are a little better than others, but no one is perfect.
It's unfortunate, but there is no way any human being can remain utterly alert to a specific danger for days, much less decades. A moment of inattention when we are paying attention to something seemingly important, and something truly important gets missed. Fortunately, in most of these cases, nothing terribly bad happens. We miss a meeting, or drop our cell phone in the toilet, and we deal with it.
Most gun owners have the option of securing their firearms in a locked cabinet and only pulling them out when heading to the shooting range or to bag a critter for supper. Law enforcement doesn't have that option - they HAVE to have their firearm handy all the time. It's usually a job requirement. And that means some of them will get lost from time to time.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
We're human beings. We're flawed. We do that sort of thing. Some leave their coffees, their groceries, or even their CHILDREN on top of their cars when they drive off. Some forget to take the iron off the board when they leave and their house burns down. Some forget to put the bar in the window and their child falls out when the screen gives way. Some turn around to talk to their kid about some detail of the day and drift in front of a semi. And none of us are immune to this sort of thing.
No. But you also don't have dumbasses excusing this behaviour, saying moronic things like "Yup, we all do stupid things. Lose our car keys, forget to lock up our guns, dont wear a condom...", as if any of those things is even remotely equivalent to losing a firearm or leaving their child on the top of their car.
Just like idiot parents should be reprimanded severely for leaving their kid on the top of their car and driving off (an action which, I'm certain, would wind you up in court for charges of negligence), cops should be reprimanded severely for losing their firearms. Period. No if's, and's, or but's. It's inexcusable behaviour from someone entrusted with my life, not to mention a dangerous weapon.
but based on my experience private companies hire lazy and incompnent employees as well.
This is true, but there is one key difference between private businesses and the government. If a private business hires bad employees and operates inefficiently it goes out of business (or at least it should, provided that the government doesn't bail them out). The government, on the other hand, cannot go out of business or disappear; it usually takes a very protracted period of bad performance for governments to be finally shown the door. Also, we can choose not to patronize bad businesses, but taxes are not optional. These are a few of the key differences between private businesses and government.
To understand power in the United States, don't follow government. Follow the money.
and where does all of that money lead? It says "federal reserve note" right on each bill. The government ultimately controls the money supply and the fact that Wall Street went to Washington for their bailouts demonstrates that the government is still master of the money supply; the source from which all credit flows.