ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Local leaders are warning that too many kids in the community are getting their hands on unsecured guns and are urging legal gun owners to do a better job securing their firearms.
“This past year we’ve had many young people in the city of Rochester who have had self-inflicted gunshot wounds, thankfully none of them have died but a couple of inches to the right or left and things could have been different,” says Rochester Mayor Malik Evans. These are young people who were able to access unlocked firearms and ammunition in the home.
Another major concern is guns left behind in cars. “I manage almost 800 people who carry firearms on a daily basis, it is very easy to get a little complacent, if you’re going out and you’re carrying a firearm and you can’t take it into an establishment, don’t leave it in your car unless you have a gun safe that is bolted down in your car,” warns Rochester Police Chief Dave Smith.
In Monroe County alone, an average of 43 guns are stolen from vehicles every year and from 2016-2024, more than 80% were taken from unlocked cars.
Another 58 guns are stolen annually, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s office, from homes during burglaries. More than 85% of the time, those guns weren’t being stored in a safe at the time, “we can do better, we need to do better, we need to be smart,” says Deputy Eric Perkins.
“Unfortunately, a crime gun can be a gun that used to belong to a legal gun owner and then it was taken from their residence, their car because it wasn’t secured and then it’s used in the city, in the county to commit crimes and usually more than one crime,” Chief Smith added.
So, are there repercussions for those who don’t properly secure their guns? “There can be, if a legal gun owner is reporting to us the loss of their weapon and we find that they were a little lax in securing it, we can submit their permit for review and the judge who issued the permit does have the option to revoke it,” Chief Smith says.
About 3,800 new handguns were registered and added to valid pistol permits issued by Monroe County in 2025. So far this year, the clerk has received more than 1,100 new applications for pistol permits which is about a 19% increase from last year.
For more information about secure storage and the laws associated with it, click here.
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