He ordered a revolver, but UPS lost it. How many guns go missing in the mail each year?
After 75-year-old Bay View, Wisconsin, resident Paul Bailey won a gun auction through GunBroker.com in August, he received a UPS tracking number for the package and awaited his new gun's arrival.
But it never made it to the gun store a couple of hours away in Mequon where Bailey was scheduled to pick it up.
The package, containing a Smith and Wesson Model 686 Plus revolver, had become stalled at the UPS shipping center in Elm Grove.
More than a week after Bailey contacted UPS to check on the package's status, the company said it could not be found.
"There is now another handgun on the street that was acquired without a background check. As a responsible firearm owner, this bothers me — a lot," Bailey told the Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, in an email several weeks after the incident.
Bailey received a full refund from the seller, Four Seasons Sports in North Carolina, but said he remains concerned about the security measures at the UPS facility in Elm Grove and is unsure what steps the company took to investigate the firearm's disappearance.
Across the country, thousands of firearms disappear while in transit every year. According to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, 1,074,022 firearms were reported stolen from 2017 to 2021 in incidents of burglaries, robberies and larcenies. More than 13,000 of those thefts occurred in interstate shipments.
The greatest proportion of reported theft or loss incidents during that period involved FedEx (39%), UPS (39%), and the U.S. Postal Service (13%).
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Sellers are not required to report lost or stolen firearms to the federal government, so the true numbers are likely higher.
When the Journal Sentinel contacted UPS to ask about the mechanisms in place to prevent incidents similar to Bailey's, the company provided documentation detailing its firearm shipment rules but did not provide specific answers about security practices for gun loss prevention at their facilities nationwide or in Elm Grove.
In a written statement, UPS spokesperson Karen Tomaszewski said the company was unable to locate Bailey's package despite a "thorough investigation." She said UPS does not disclose the specific steps of its investigative process in order to protect its effectiveness.
"UPS takes our responsibility to our customers seriously and regrets this package was lost," Tomaszewski said.
Bailey still hopes the company and other mail carriers can provide better answers to the persistent problem.
"I think UPS has to be held accountable," Bailey said. "I don't know how you can lose a firearm. There are instructions that packages can't disclose there is a firearm inside, but the address is a gun store, so people can draw their own conclusions."
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Gun store employee says UPS customer service was 'a nightmare'
Initially, UPS recommended waiting seven to 10 days to see if the package would arrive to the store, according to Bailey. In addition, UPS said only the shipper — Four Seasons Sports — could file a lost items complaint and request an investigation into the gun's whereabouts, Bailey said.
Joe Sauls, an employee at Four Seasons Sports, handled Bailey's case. He described UPS' customer service as "a nightmare."
"You cannot just call UPS and talk to a human being," said Sauls. "You have to go to their claim department online to file the claim, which more often than not, does not work."
Sauls said he called the UPS customer service line repeatedly before discussing the situation with a company representative on Sept. 5, nearly two weeks after the gun's disappearance.
Though Four Seasons Sports gave Bailey a full refund of $730 for the gun, UPS only reimbursed the gun store $650.
Tomaszewski, the UPS spokesperson, said Four Seasons Sports did not declare the value of the package or pay for insurance. "We provided a courtesy credit for the loss and shipping costs to our customer, the company that shipped the package," she said.
Four Seasons Sports said they made a report to ATF and local police detailing that the firearm was lost in shipment. The Journal Sentinel filed an open records request for the police report, but it was not fulfilled by publication.
Of the gun loss incidents reported to the ATF, 45% are recovered within 90 days, according to the National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment.
Despite rules for shipping guns, thousands disappear in the mail each year
According to federal rules, a firearm can be sent through mail only if the sender has a federal firearms license. A federal firearms license allows an individual or company to manufacture or sell firearms and mail unloaded handguns to other licensees.
In Bailey's case, sites like GunBroker.com facilitate gun sales by allowing consumers to participate in gun auctions. The purchase and shipment of guns are handled entirely by gun stores with federal firearms licenses. When someone like Bailey wins an auction, the seller of the gun does a background check, then sends the gun directly to the purchaser's preferred local gun store. Only then can the buyer can pick it up.
According to UPS' firearm shipment rules, only federal firearms licensees can mail guns. Labeling and outer box markings cannot identify the contents as containing firearm products, and the packages, in most cases, look like any other package. In addition, UPS requires expedited shipping service for handguns because faster shipping lessens the chance of loss or theft.
Other shipping companies like FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service employ similar rules. Under their rules, the gun being shipped must be properly and securely packaged and mailed using a tracking number. A signature is required at delivery.
Despite these precautions, firearms continue to be lost or stolen during shipment.
In July 2022, the Traverse City Record Eagle reported a gun shop in Michigan contacted police about a missing Colt 1911 pistol that it tried to ship to a customer in Texas. UPS was unable to identify its whereabouts.
In February, a Nashville UPS worker was accused of stealing a gun after he was captured on video emptying a package and slipping its contents into his waistband, Fox 17 Nashville reported. The man faces two felony charges for theft of a firearm.
"That's completely unacceptable, right? Especially when we know like traffic firearms are being moved into communities that are then disproportionately impacted by gun violence," said Tanya Schardt, an attorney at the gun control nonprofit Brady.
Lawmakers have tried and failed to tighten rules on tracking lost guns
When guns go missing in transit, stores like Four Seasons Sports are encouraged, but not required, to complete Interstate Firearms Shipment Theft/Loss reports. The two-page document tracks the gun sender, receiver, carrier, shipment tracking number and gun manufacturing details like serial number and model.
Stores are also encouraged to contact their local law enforcement agency.
According to the ATF, it's gun shippers who should report lost and stolen firearms because they are more likely than buyers to have the precise information about the gun's departure date and time, what packages looked like and if there were any challenges during the shipment process.
In its annual report, the ATF emphasized the importance of completing these reports, saying "every stolen or lost firearm is a loss in revenue for the FFL (federal firearms licensee) and a potential crime gun on the street."
Though the gun presumably went missing in Wisconsin, there is no requirement for its disappearance to be reported to law enforcement here.
Jason Wagner, senior director of investigations of the nonprofit group Everytown for Gun Safety, said the ATF's chronic underfunding is a reason gun sellers and manufacturers are not required to report missing guns.
Limited staff and regulatory resources result in "cracks in the system," Wagner said. In the worst-case scenario, gun sellers who don't fear a regulator may become noncompliant, evading gun loss reporting and accountability.
Over the years, several attempts have been made to require gun manufacturers and licensed dealers to notify law enforcement and the ATF when guns go missing during shipping.
In 2000, a proposed ATF rule would have required gun shippers to establish systems that verified the gun's successful arrival to its destination. Additionally, they would have been required to report the gun's disappearance to the ATF within 48 hours of learning of the gun's loss or theft.
Many firearm industry leaders opposed the proposal, stating that it would be too challenging to enforce and would lead to over-regulation. The contentious battle over the regulation led to the ATF withdrawing its proposal to study the issue further.
In 2013, then-President Barack Obama's gun violence reduction plan included 23 executive orders, including one requiring the Department of Justice to track gun loss and theft, which led to the creation of ATF's annual theft and loss reporting process. The final rule encouraging reports of lost and stolen firearms came into effect on February 11, 2016, including the request that reports be made within 48 hours after discovery.
Only Congress can mandate that gun sellers report missing firearms to the ATF.
What now?
Since Bailey's first gun shipment went missing, he's ordered another that he won through an auction on GunBroker.com.
It's the same model as the one that went missing, but he said he snagged it for 31 cents cheaper. He asked the shipper of this order to send the package through FedEx, but they told him they forgot that detail.
UPS delivered the package to Bear Arms in Mequon last week.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UPS lost a gun during shipping. Many firearms go missing in the mail.
