Although Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal claims that all confiscated firearms, for which her department is responsible, are accounted for, it would seem 185 of them have mysteriously slipped through the cracks.
Acting City Controller Charles Edacheril investigated through his office and wrote a review, indicating that nearly 200 firearms that should have been accounted for have gone missing or unaccountable. This is according to inquirer.com. Mr. Edacheril indicated that this was due to former Sheriff Jewell Williams’ “haphazard recordkeeping practices and unclear procedures around handling guns.”
In a statement entitled “In the Bilal Administration, we have not lost or misplaced any weapons” on the Sheriff’s Department’s website, Bilal blames the previous administration for any mishandling of firearms.
According to reports, Sheriff Bilal also claimed that all but 20 firearms from the 2020 report have been accounted for. At that point, all would seem to put Sheriff Bilal’s department in the clear of any mishandling or wrongdoing, but Charles Edacheril has recently come out with another statement that seems to put Bilal’s Sheriff’s Department back in the hot seat.
Due to insufficient evidence, Edacheril claims that 76 Firearms and 109 weapons are still being considered unaccounted for and recommended that the department report them as “missing.”
46 guns that were reported as “found” had supposedly been traded or burned. However, the only documentation offered for 36 of them was that they were on a list of weapons in a folder labeled “Weapons Burn List.” The list did not include details such as when or where they were disposed of. The Sheriff’s Office also considered 20 guns “presumptively found.” For 15 of those guns, the office said there was documentation that other guns that were registered on the same date had been disposed of — but they did not provide a record that those actual guns were destroyed. the report stated.
Bilal refuted this claim in a press conference on September 21, 2023, and continued to blame the previous administration when she said, “Simply put, we cannot answer inconsistencies that derive as a result of that recordkeeping in the past.”
Bilal’s Office claimed that 18 of the “unaccounted-for” guns left the department with retired officers, which under previous administrations, was legal, yet none of those have since been accounted for. One of which may be of particular concern is the firearm that was allegedly in the possession of former Sheriff John Green, who was sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2019 after pleading guilty to public corruption charges. As a side note, before the former Sheriff was taken to jail, Bilal threw him a going away party.
Since Bilal Took office in 2020, she has been:
- Sued by top staffers for rampant abuse and retaliation.
- One of her deputies was arrested for allegedly selling weapons that were used in crimes.
- One of her top legal advisors was working illegally as a defense lawyer.
- According to inquirer, $500,000 that was earmarked for new hires, got redirected to Bilal and some of her top executives in the form of raises. Bilal claimed that her aids tried doubling her salary without her knowing about it. She then said the mayor indicated the redirect of funds was approved.
Bilal took office in 2020 after campaigning on a pledge to reform the Sheriff’s Office after years of documented dysfunction. How’s she doing?
About Dan Wos, Author – Good Gun Bad Guy
Dan Wos is available for Press Commentary. For more information contact PR HERE
Dan Wos is a nationally recognized 2nd Amendment advocate, Host of The Loaded Mic and Author of the “GOOD GUN BAD GUY” book series. He speaks at events, is a contributing writer for many publications, and can be found on radio stations across the country. Dan has been a guest on Newsmax, the Sean Hannity Show, Real America’s Voice, and several others. Speaking on behalf of gun-rights, Dan exposes the strategies of the anti-gun crowd and explains their mission to disarm law-abiding American gun-owners.
Come on ATF, get in there and do your job. Who is going to jail for this, who is losing their job for this. Isn’t ATF going to enforce laws against another government agency like it does against We the People FFL’s?
The Subjects of Killadelphia are getting exactly what they voted for and are allowing to happen. No sympathy,
I don’t know why you got a thumbs down. Your comment is accurate and true.
These politicians, their lackeys and other bureaucrats have shown repeatedly that they cannot handle their jobs. They all should be forced out of office and into jail for negligence.
If the ATF would check these cops houses the guns would no longer be missing
This is pretty common practice among agencies and they are aren’t lost or stolen. They are taken by the officer or in many cases “given” to them at the end of their service. She’s can’t admit it and is taking a beating
To an anti, this article is an argument FOR gun contol. In their minds, if “the only ones” cannot keep track of firearms in their possession – no one else can either.
Of course having seen how “the only ones” manage to shoot themselves and each other, along with far too many members of the general public – we have low expectations that they can control anything entrusted to them. In other words this is even more evidence of the need for the 2nd – and exercise thereof.
Check her and the other officers houses and you will most likely find the missing guns and expose a criminal gun confiscating ring that benefits these clowns gun inventory at thier houses
i mean, i know where all of my firearms are, do you?
shouldn’t they be subject to the same penalties as ffl’s for not accounting for firearms? seems like there just might be a double standard on display here.
yeah, yeah, these are the only ones that should be able to possess firearms.
They know where they are , they are just not telling anyone that all the officers divided the guns and took them home most likely .
That would imply you know how many firearms you own – which is another way of saying you don’t own enough. 😉
To “refute” is to argue with a conclusive result against a point. To deny is simply to argue against a point or to decline to accept its validity, but not necessarily with a conclusive effect. The idea that the world is flat has been refuted. The idea that the world is round has been denied by some, but it cannot be refuted.
Graft and corruption in Pennsylvania? That’s unheard of.
The real story in two pictures –
https://phillysheriff.com/about-us/
https://whyy.org/articles/ex-philadelphia-sheriff-gets-5-years-for-675k-bribery-case/
Philadelphia – the “Seat of (not Liberty) of Corruption ! And of course it is run by ……. let’s hear it ! Not Republicans – but Democrat/Communists !