The report "examines troves of new data released to Mayors Against Illegal Guns by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and for the first time demonstrates the connection between laws designed to deter illegal trafficking and lower crime gun export rates."
Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, and Georgia were the ten states that supplied crime guns at the highest rates - each of them supplying guns used in crimes at a rate more than twice the national average.
Not only do they supply a disproportionate amount of crime guns, but these states are also more likely to be the source of guns recovered in crimes within two years of the original sale, which the ATF says is a key sign of illegal trafficking.
The stakes are high: 12,000 people per year are murdered with guns in the United States. If one state ignores a gap in its laws, other states have to deal with the deadly consequences.At their interactive site tracetheguns.org (HERE), you can read the full report and you can click on a state to get export and import data and click on a law to see which states have enacted it and how the law is linked to illegal gun trafficking. The ten laws listed include:
-- Allows Criminal Penalties for Buying a Gun for Someone who Can't
-- Allows Criminal Penalties for Buying a Gun with False Information
-- Allows Criminal Penalties for Selling a Gun without a Proper Background Check
-- Requires Background Checks for all Handgun Sales at Gun Shows
-- Requires Purchase Permit for All Handgun Sales
-- Grants Law Enforcement Discretion in Issuing Concealed Carry Permits
-- Prohibits Violent Misdemeanor Criminals from Possessing Guns
-- Requires Reporting Lost or Stolen Guns to Law Enforcement
-- Allows Local Communities to Enact Gun Laws
-- Allows Inspections of Gun Dealers
The interactivity is a little clunky making it a but unwieldy to navigate but hopefully that will improve over time.
