At least 45 firearms have been stolen from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police since 2014, including 33 handguns, seven rifles, four shotguns and a grenade launcher.
The data, which was obtained through an access to information request, shows that nearly half of these firearms were reported stolen from the RCMP in 2016, when the grenade launcher plus 18 handguns, two shotguns and a rifle were taken. Four Mountie handguns were also reported stolen last year in 2024.
“If the RCMP has truly lost these weapons, the matter should be fully investigated and the public should be worried,” former RCMP major crime investigator Bruce Pitt-Payne told CTVNews.ca. “I don’t know what the situation is or why so many are unaccounted for; however, the RCMP must be absolutely forthright about this with the public if they want to retain the trust of Canadians.”
Very concerning, to say the least. It has to be a series of inside jobs. I especially want to know if there’s a pattern in who those arms are going to.
Have I missed past coverage? I haven’t heard about it before this.
*edit - Based on the article, a bunch of these are probably incompetence or complacency about handling weapons in the field, but with that many missing or stolen guns I still have to wonder if there are patterns in where they’re going.