DELTONA — Sheriff Mike Chitwood kicked off his first public crime trends meeting this week with a gun theft statistic he described as "staggering."

Since the beginning of 2016, more than 300 guns have been stolen out of unlocked cars in Volusia County, Sheriff's Office statistics show.

Chitwood shared his concerns Thursday morning with at least 60 residents of Deltona gathered at City Hall along with other law enforcement officials for the launch of the first Sheriff's Office CompStat, a public crime trends meeting that encourages public participation to combat crime.

Chitwood also said Deltona has seen a recent decrease in reported crime, but it was his revelation that hundreds of guns from unlocked cars are now in the hands of criminals that concerned residents. Some of those firearms were even taken from unlocked police cars, Chitwood said.

“I didn’t think the number would be staggering. That’s 300 guns out in the street,” Chitwood said.

A recent incident involved a deputy who went to the movies and left firearms in his personal vehicle. When he got out of the movies, he discovered his firearm was gone, Chitwood said.

Chitwood was familiar with the local gun theft problem during his decade as Daytona Beach police chief, but said he didn’t expect the numbers of guns taken out of unlocked vehicles to be that high.

Between January 2016 and March 2017, of the 300 weapons taken more than 280 were handguns, the majority were semi-automatic pistols. One AR-15 rifle, at least 15 shotguns, five rifles and one crossbow were stolen, according to statistics provided by the Volusia Sheriff's Office.

Investigators with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office started looking at gun store burglaries in Central Florida and worked closely with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Out of that investigation, deputies looked at the number of cars left unlocked with firearms in them. They found that mostly handguns were taken from the center consoles, under seats and from back seats of unlocked cars, Chitwood said.

“Those guns aren’t falling into the hands of lawful gun owners,” Chitwood said. “They are out there with thugs and criminals who aren’t supposed to have firearms that are in turn used against citizens.”

Flagler County reports seven guns have been stolen out of cars so far this year.

According to a 2015 national survey and study by researchers at Harvard and Northeastern universities private owners have about 270 million guns in the United States and about 2.5 percent of owners reported getting guns stolen in the five prior years. That accounts for about 400,000 stolen guns every year, according to the study.

Chitwood said car owners could make a huge impact on the car burglary epidemic if they took that extra second to lock a car.

Residents in Deltona asked the sheriff during the meeting Thursday if charges could be levied against people who leave guns in unlocked cars. Chitwood said there is no law against leaving guns in cars and he doesn't know of any legislation being considered regarding this issue.

“Our appeal is to the common sense of gun owners, overwhelmingly, gun owners are law abiding folks who follow the law,” Chitwood said. “But sometimes you have to follow more than the law and that’s common sense.”

The report that a large number of guns on the streets with criminals worries Jose Corrales, a 31-year resident of Deltona. Corrales said that people who leave their cars unlocked with a gun in them have a problem.

“They need to grow up and start thinking that all they are doing is giving the bad people out there those guns,” Corrales said. “I mean, sometimes I leave my garage door open and I’m out there. A car can pull up with those guns that were stolen and rob me.”