It seems its former name, Fort Benning, isn’t the only thing Georgia’s current Fort Moore has lost. The Army has also had 31 SIG M17s go missing and they have no idea how or by whom. But the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (DACID) is on the case and offering up to $5,000 for information leading to the recovery of the guns or leading to the arrests of the person or persons responsible for the theft.
What’s worse, is it sounds like they don’t know exactly when they went missing. On a flyer distributed by DACID seeking information, it says only that they were taken somewhere between March and May 2024. That’s a pretty big window. In some Democrat-controlled states where reporting laws require lost or stolen guns to be reported within 24-48 hours of the discovery the firearm is missing, such a wide window of “not” reporting it could result in a verbal or legal beatdown by Big Brother.
Here’s what the flyer says:
The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (DACID) is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for credible information leading to the recovery of the 31 missing M17 Pistols or for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for the theft. The pistols were reported missing from the Cresenez Consolidated Equipment Pool located on Fort Moore, GA 31905, between March and May 2024.
On May 16th, 2024, the Southern Field Office received notification that 31 M17 Pistols were reported missing from the Cresenez Consolidated Equipment Pool, located on Fort Moore, GA 31905. The pistols are believed to have gone missing between the months of March and May 2024. DACID is actively seeking any information relevant to the theft of these M17 pistols.
Any person having credible information regarding this incident should contact the Army CID Souther Field Office at (706) 577-4074 or the Army CID website at https://www.cid.army.mil/Submit-a-Tip.
Thirty-one missing handguns are a lot of guns that could wreak a lot of havoc in the wrong hands, and $5,000 doesn’t sound much reward for firearms that have an approximate MSRP of $650 (31 would total $20,150) and probably carry a higher street value on the black market.
Military.com had this to say about the case:
The M17 is a 9 mm Sig Sauer pistol with a 17-round magazine capacity. The handgun was adopted by the Defense Department in 2017 to eventually replace the M9 Beretta pistol.
The civilian version of the M17, the P320-M17, retails for around $650.
According to the Army’s regulation governing the physical security of weapons, they must be accounted for by serial number each month, except for those that are “boxed and banded,” meaning they are sealed in a container for longer periods. Weapons sent to other locations for repairs or transfer also must be accounted for.
In 2021, an investigation by The Associated Press found that at least 1,900 military firearms were lost or stolen during the 2010s, and some were later used in violent crimes within the U.S.
If you come across a great buy on a brand-new military-issue M17, might want to check the source of the purchase and clue the boys in over at DACID just to be safe. Reward or no reward, you don’t want to get caught up in that mess.
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