The Council on Criminal Justice published its five-year report on gun thefts in 16 areas across the county. At first glance, it might seem like good news: gun thefts haven’t increased noticeably over the years. But digging into the data reveals the way criminals are stealing guns has shifted dramatically.

Here’s what the CCJ had to say: “In 2018, 5% of all vehicle break-ins resulted in gun thefts; by 2022, this share had increased to 9%.” In urban areas, vehicle break-ins that resulted in firearm thefts did truly double. It went from 37 per 100k residents to 65/100k. But that’s not all.

In 2018, just 31% of all gun thefts involved a vehicle. By 2022, that number had rocketed to 40%. Put another way: break-ins at homes and businesses dropped by 40%, but gun thefts from cars jumped 31%. Thieves are stealing guns in cars parked outside homes, but increasingly targeting other locations.
Guns stolen from parking lots and garages jumped 76% from 2018 to 2022.

According to the FBI, the national rate of motor vehicle theft rose from 199.4 to 283.5 incidents per 100k people between 2019 and 2023. This may be because over the past five years, car thieves have been taking to platforms such as TikTok to share vulnerabilities with unique makes and models. Various types of car thefts “trend” and criminals learn how to get in and out of an increasing number of makes and models. One byproduct may be that parked vehicles have become a much more common target for property thieves.

Susan Parker, research assistant professor at Northwestern University, was one of the study’s authors. “Where you store your gun really matters. We see that so many of the guns that are stolen are increasingly from vehicles…That kind of shift in how we’re carrying guns should also maybe be accompanied by shifts in how we’re thinking about keeping them safe and out of the risk of being misused.”

It’s important you’re careful where you park your vehicle–with any valuable stolen inside. An in-car gun safe can stop some thieves, some of the time. So states such as Colorado and Delaware are requiring guns stored in cars be in these secure, locked containers.