New Data Show New Jersey Laws Make It Harder For Criminals To Get Guns, While Pennsylvania Dealers Supply Thousands Of Crime Guns

Jun 5, 2008

Washington, DC - New Jersey’s strong gun laws restrict the flow of guns to criminals, while just a short bridge ride away, Pennsylvania’s weaker laws allow gun dealers to readily supply the illegal market, according to data recently released by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) and analyzed by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
 
Because New Jersey law erects numerous barriers to the movement of guns from legal sale at gun shops to illegal street sale, New Jersey criminals had to rely on out-of-state sources for nearly three out of every four crime guns recovered by law enforcement and successfully traced in the state in 2007. 
    
At the same time, more than 80 percent of crime guns recovered in Pennsylvania in 2007 came from Pennsylvania gun dealers.  Pennsylvania was the top source state for New Jersey crime guns traced to out-of-state dealers.

Illegal guns generally flow from states with weak gun laws to states with stronger gun laws.  In New Jersey, for example, only 27.9 percent of 2007 crime guns came from in-state dealers.  In 2007, 1,467 New Jersey crime guns were traced to out-of-state gun dealers. Of these, 285 crime guns originated from Pennsylvania gun dealers. In states with strong gun laws, criminals frequently must obtain firearms from gun traffickers supplied by out-of-state gun dealers.  This fuels the so-called “iron pipeline” described in past Federal law enforcement reports.  

“The people of Pennsylvania and New Jersey are paying a price for the weak gun laws in one jurisdiction that allow crime guns to spill across political borders,” said Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence President Paul Helmke.  “This shows why we need to pass common sense gun measures nationally, as well as in more states, to make it harder for dangerous people to access dangerous weapons.”
 
Bryan Miller, Executive Director of CeasefireNJ, said: “The Garden State has strong and effective gun laws which diminish both trafficking in illegal guns and the damage it wreaks because our political leaders long ago decided that the public safety was more important than the blandishments of the gun lobby.  But, Jerseyans suffer from gun trafficking that originates in Pennsylvania.  We hope PA’s leaders will take courage and take action to make communities in both states safer through stronger gun laws.”

“This data once again proves what we've long known - that Pennsylvania’s gun problem is home-grown,” said Joe Grace, Executive Director of CeasefirePA.  “The legislature has long been unwilling or unable to enact sensible handgun laws, and its inaction has resulted in gun violence not only in our state, but in our neighbor states as well.  Measures aimed at combating illegal gun trafficking, like the reporting of lost or stolen handguns, are long overdue in Pennsylvania.”

Pennsylvania and New Jersey by the numbers:
 
Total 2007 crime guns recovered nationwide sold by gun dealers in:

Pennsylvania - 5,601
New Jersey - 604
 
Percent of 2007 crime guns recovered in-state sold by in-state gun dealers:
 
Pennsylvania - 80.4 percent
New Jersey - 27.9 percent
 
Ranking of states with the highest percent of crime guns recovered in that state in 2007 and sold by in-state gun dealers:

Pennsylvania - 6th
New Jersey - 50th
 
Gun death rate, per 100,000 people:

Pennsylvania - 10.9
New Jersey - 5.0
 
Brady Campaign 2007 Scorecard rating:

Pennsylvania - 26 out of 100 possible
New Jersey - 63 out of 100 possible 
 
The Brady scorecards are designed so that states can score up to 100 points across five major categories of laws: Curbing Firearm Trafficking; Strengthening Brady Background Checks; Child Safety; Banning Military-style Assault Weapons; and making it harder to carry Guns In Public Places. The Brady national state-by-state scores are available in complete category-by-category detail at www.stategunlaws.org/.

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