Title: Selling Crime: High Crime Gun Stores Fuel Criminals

Publication Date: January 2004

What does it say?

Past research has shown that only 1 percent of the nation’s gun dealers account for 57 percent of crime gun traces. This report looks at a subset of these “bad apple” dealers and identifies them by name and state, under the proposition that the public has a right to know if gun dealers in their communities are consistently sources of crime guns.

Using data from a lawsuit against the gun industry, researchers identified federally licensed gun dealers that each accounted for over 200 suspicious crime gun traces from 1996 to 2000. 

Suspicious crime gun traces are defined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as a handgun or assault rifle recovered from a criminal or in a crime that has at least one of the following trafficking indicators:

• An obliterated serial number (between 5% and 10% of crime guns have had their serial numbers defaced),
• Was recovered in a crime within 3 years of first being sold (about 35% of all crime guns are three years of age or younger),
• Was part of a multiple purchase in which more than one handgun was sold to one individual (a handgun bought in a multiple purchase is 4 times more likely to be used in a crime than other guns),
• Was recovered in a state other than where it was bought (about 35% of all crime guns crossed state lines before being recovered by police in a crime),
• Was one of several firearms recovered in a crime that was traced to the same buyer,
• Was sold by a dealer who is habitually unhelpful to police in completing crime gun traces, or
• Was traced back to a store that repeatedly reports firearm thefts.

In addition to the ATF trafficking indicators, the data set was screened using two additional indicators:

• Having more than one federal firearm license for the same retail location, and
• Buying guns that were later used in crime from a licensed dealer far from the stated address of the buyer.

The report also documents the poor record of enforcement of gun dealer license laws during the Bush Administration, allowing many of these stores to operate with impunity.

How can I use it?

Crime gun trace data is no longer available to the public. Congress blocked access to it starting in 2004. Use the data in this report to advocate repealing the Tiahrt Amendment and to implement a common sense comprehensive policy to help law enforcement prevent gun trafficking including, giving law enforcement new legal authority to crack down on corrupt gun dealers. Finally, urge any dealers mentioned in this report to adopt the Brady Center Legal Action Project’s gun dealer Code of Conduct to build support for legislation.

Citation

Americans for Gun Safety Foundation, Selling Crime: High Crime Gun Stores Fuel Criminals (January 2004)

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