LYNN — First Division officers from the Lynn Police Department recovered an illegally-possessed Sig Sauer handgun this week, while they were responding to a domestic disturbance.
Wednesday’s firearm recovery, police said, marks the 42nd illegally possessed handgun recovered in Lynn, surpassing the city’s 13-year average of 41 recovered firearms per year.
Last year, police took 54 illegal firearms off the streets, a 13-year high tied with 2016, when police seized the same amount of illegal guns. Lt. Michael Kmiec, of the Lynn Police Department, said that the frequent gun seizures typically arise out of drug or gang investigations.
“If you look at it in perspective, that’s over one illegal firearm being taken off the streets per week, it’s a lot,” Kmiec said. “Our gang unit, as well as our drug task force, and, obviously, the patrol unit, I think the focus of some of their investigations have revolved around gang violence. The fact is, a lot of times gang violence comes from firearms and the result of their work […] the bottom line is taking some dangerous individuals off the streets.”
Alongside the pistol, police also recovered drugs from the scene, Kmiec said. He said that illegal guns and drugs often go hand-in-hand during police searches and investigations.
“We’re seeing a lot of [gun] seizures, not just with the gangs, but also with the drugs, they kind of go hand-in-hand. A lot of times when our drug task force will execute a search warrant on a house, it will be for drugs as the main focus of the investigation; however, many times they’ll also locate and seize illegally possessed firearms while executing those warrants,” Kmiec said.
Sources for illegally procured firearms, Kmiec said, range from homemade “ghost guns,” in which the owner buys a variety of gun parts and assembles the weapon himself, to black market sales and second-hand purchases, in which licensed gun owners purchase weapons to resell or gift to unlicensed individuals.
“ We’ve seen those ghost guns, where people are getting the parts mailed to them, and then kind of assemble the gun themselves. A lot of the ones that we see have obliterated serial numbers, so it’s difficult for us to track where they’re coming from,” Kmiec said. “There’s also the idea where one individual who does have a license to carry can purchase firearms and then sell them to somebody else or give them to somebody else.”
Even though 2021 saw the highest number of illegally-owned guns since 2017, reports of gang-related incidents involving firearms in 2021, hit their lowest drop since 2008. Kmiec said that police are combating illicit gun possessions in an attempt to keep residents safe.
“We know that if somebody’s illegally possessing a firearm, the dangers that it possesses, where that person will use it in a manner that could bring harm to somebody else. The goal is to save lives. If we can take guns off the streets and out of the hands of people that shouldn’t have them, the end result is a safer city,” Kmiec said.
