Publication Date: August 2001
What does it say?
Comprehensive state gun control measures, including licensing gun owners and registering guns, are associated with substantially lower levels of gun availability to criminals. The impact of strong gun laws is undermined by the lack of such controls in other states.
Researchers used crime gun trace data on all crime guns recovered from 25 cities in the United States. Researchers estimated the correlation between state gun law categories and an indicator of gun availability to criminals, the proportion of crime guns recovered in crime and sold first by in-state gun dealers.
In the cities located in states with mandatory licensing and registration (5 cities), an average of 33.7% of crime guns were sold first by in-state dealers, a much lower percentage than cities that require registration or licensing, but not both (7 cities) (72.7% of crime guns were first sold by an in-state dealer) or the 13 cities without licensing or registration (84.2% of crime guns first sold by in-state dealers). Additional analysis suggested that comprehensive laws, including licensing and registration, are more likely to have a substantial impact on availability of guns to criminals.
How can I use it?
Use the results of this study to advocate the adoption of comprehensive strong gun laws, including extending Brady background checks to all gun sales, limiting bulk sales, licensing owners, and registering guns.
Citation
Webster DW, Vernick JS, Hepburn LM, “Relationship Between Licensing, Registration, and Other State Gun Sales Laws and the Source State of Crime Guns,” Injury Prevention 2001;7(3): 184-9.
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