DID YOU KNOW? Substantial numbers of guns are diverted from a relatively small number of corrupt and/or negligent gun dealers to the illegal market.

• Only 1 percent of gun dealers account for almost 60 percent of crime guns recovered by police and later traced (ATF, February 2000, p. A-23).
  
  
• 94 percent of licensed dealers approached as part of undercover stings at gun shows in Ohio, Tennessee, and Nevada, completed sales to people who appeared to be criminals or straw purchasers (Mayors Against Illegal Guns, p. 7).
  
  
• A survey of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms  (ATF) trafficking investigations over an 18-month period showed: 
  
  - 40,365 guns trafficked directly by corrupt or negligent gun dealers (ATF, June 2000, p. 13)
  
  - 25,741 guns trafficked by straw purchasers buying guns at corrupt or negligent gun dealers (ATF, June 2000, p. 13).
  
  
• In one year, at least 30,000 guns were “lost” out of gun dealer inventories (Brady Center, 2008).

• Many guns are recovered in crime shortly after their first retail purchase. Thirty-four (34) percent of crime guns recovered in 1999 had been purchased new at a gun dealer within the past 3 years. (Pierce, p. 38).  A short “time-to-crime” is regarded by ATF as a strong indicator that a gun has been trafficked (ATF, February 2000, p. 22).


• Guns with a short “time-to-crime” are disproportionately represented among crime guns. Guns manufactured and sold 3 years prior to recovery by police in crime make up 34 percent of recovered and traced crime guns, but only 14 percent of the U.S. gunstock. (Pierce, p. 38).
     
• Guns sold as part of a multiple sale at a gun dealer (more than one gun at a time), were up to 64 percent more likely to be used in crime than guns not part of such sales (Koper, p. 6). 

DID YOU KNOW? Private sales exempt from Brady background checks are a substantial problem in trafficking of guns from the legal to the illegal market:

• 63 percent of private sellers approached as part of undercover stings at gun shows in Ohio, Tennessee, and Nevada, sold guns to purchasers who stated they probably could not pass a background check (Mayors Against Illegal Guns, p. 6).
  
  
• “No-check” sales account for an estimated 40 percent of gun sales in the U.S. (National Institute of Justice).
  
  
• ATF gun trafficking investigations revealed that over an 18-month period: 
  
  - Trafficking by unregulated private sellers accounted for 22,508 guns (ATF, June 2000, p. 13);
  
  - Trafficking in firearms at gun shows and flea markets, where background checks are not required for every sale, accounted for 25,862 guns (ATF, June 2000, p. 13).
  
  
• You can see direct photographic and video evidence of assault weapons and other guns for sale without background checks at gun shows from multiple sources:

- Virginia Tech survivor Colin Goddard visited gun shows in the summer of 2009 and caught private sales, including sales of assault weapons, on camera;

- New York City officials mounted undercover stings at guns shows in Ohio, Tennessee, and Nevada in 2009;

- University of California researcher Garen Wintemute conducted an academic study of 78 gun shows in 19 states between 2005 and 2008, producing photographs and video of private sales;

- Cinncinnati, OH, TV station WLWT reported on private sales with no background checks at a 2007 gun show in Kentucky.

To see a diagram of gun trafficking, click here. 

SOLUTION: We make it too easy for dangerous people to obtain dangerous weapons.  There are only a few gun control laws on the books, and even those have loopholes.  We should make it harder for convicted felons, the dangerously mentally ill, and youth to get the guns in the first place. We can do this by passing effective laws that make sense. 

Sources