Data Shows Weak State Gun Laws Enable Gun Trafficking
By Peter Hamm
WASHINGTON --- States with weak gun laws supply guns to criminals in other states at a rate five times higher than dealers in states with stronger gun laws, according to a Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence analysis of newly released crime gun trace data.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recently released nationwide crime gun trace data for 2009 crime guns recovered by police and traced back to the dealer that sold the gun.
The data shows that Mississippi, for the second year in a row, had the highest rate of crime guns exported to other states, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Alabama. In contrast, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, all states with strong gun laws, had the lowest rates of crime gun exports, with rates less than one crime gun export per 100,000 people. The Brady Center analysis ranks states on their contribution to interstate gun trafficking, calculating the rate of crime gun exports based on the number of guns sold by in-state gun dealers, which are traced and recovered in crime in another state (per capita rate calculated per 100,000 people).
Georgia, for the second year running, had the highest sheer volume of crime guns exported to other states, with 2,771 crime guns sold in Georgia that were recovered in crime in other states. The other top five states with the highest total numbers of crime gun exports were Florida, Virginia, Texas, and Ohio. Each of these states earned fewer than 20 points on the Brady Campaign 2009 scorecard and has weak gun laws making it easy for criminals to get guns.
“Weak gun laws are a gun trafficker’s best friend,” said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
“Elected leaders in these states need to close the loopholes in their gun laws that allow criminals easy access to deadly weapons, and we need to take steps at the national level as well.”
The Brady Center also ranked the states based on their per capita rate of all crime gun sales based on the number of crime guns traced to gun dealers in a state and recovered in crime both in-state and out of state.
Louisiana claims the number one spot on this measure for the second year in a row, followed by Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, and Virginia.
Each of these states scores fewer than 20 points out of 100 on the Brady Campaign 2009 scorecard.
By contrast, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, had the lowest rates of crime guns per capita. Each of these states scores in the top ten on the Brady Campaign 2009 state scorecard.
The ATF crime gun trace data that was released is at http://www.atf.gov/statistics/.
The Brady Center determined state rankings based on ATF crime gun trace data recently released on its website. The Brady Center analysis determined that gun dealers in states with weak gun laws supply criminals in other states with guns at a rate more than five times higher than in states with stronger gun laws by comparing 2009 per capita crime gun trace rates among the states having the strongest gun laws and weakest gun laws on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence’s 2009 annual state scorecard. States earning zero stars on the scorecard had a per capita crime gun trace export rate five times higher than states that scored 3 or 4 stars. Crime gun data represents guns recovered in crime and successfully traced back to the gun dealer that sold the gun.
The Brady state scorecards rate each state on the strength of its gun laws. They are available at http://www.bradycampaign.org/stategunlaws/scorecard?s=1.
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And as usual, the gun nuts and the NRA will pretend that the facts about weak firearms laws don't exist. All the NRA wants really is massive political power for itself. The best way to get that is to have a very large membership. People who don't own guns won't join (why should they, really?) so conning and bribing state governments to enact laws that are pro-guns is the best they can do. Imagine how powerful they would be if they had their way and every man, woman and child in the U.S. owned firearms. They pay nothing but lip service to the problem of gun violence in our society , considering innocent victims to be nothing more than collateral damage, sacrificial lambs on the alter of a constitutional right. Never mind that the framers of said document were dealing with a very different society than the one we have now. I really don't think they would go along with the idea of ordinary citizens stockpiling weapons like those nutjobs in the "Tremors" movies .
I'm an NRA member and I don't own any guns . Want to know why? Because I've been left disarmed and defenceless by my own government ! You see, I'm from the UK and have seen the effect the little nibbles that our political elite have had on our firearms rights over 100 years until they gobbled up the whole pie. I think it's a shame that I, a foreigner, care more about your civil rights than some Americans !
Ever heard of 'Eddie the Eagle'? No? Because your liberal media won't credit the NRA funding the most effective early years gun safety program reaching 4 million children since it's inception. They've saved more lives than Hemke and Bloomberg have cost with their anti-gun rhetoric. And no they don't hand out NRA membership or AK47 to pre-schoolers either. Eddie's motto? STOP! DON'T TOUCH! LEAVE THE AREA! CALL AN ADULT! Take it on board the next time you are around common sense why don't you.
Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics. Proven very well in this story.
Samuel Clemons would be proud!!
...is the "time to crime " (or, more accurately, time to trace) of guns recovered.
For example: New Jersey's average time to trace for recovered guns was over 13 years.
In other words, Sure, some of the guns recovered were originally purchased in other states...over 13 years ago.
Who knows how many times they've changed hands in that time either through sales, or being stolen and trafficked.
These numbers do nothing to demonstrate the relative effectiveness of gun control .
And, as the previous commenter pointed out, the fact that most traced guns originated from the state in which they were traced...even in states with strict gun control, pretty dramatically demonstrates the INeffectiveness of gun control in those states.
And the Brady Campaign stubbornly continues to demonstrate its irrelevancy and impotence.
I noticed you didn' include the numbers of weapons that came from inside the state itself.
For instance, New York had 10,184 guns traced. Of all those guns, the bulk came from inside the state. California had 32,069 guns traced, with the bulk (some 11,767) coming from inside the state itself.
The same can be said of every state. Of course we all know that a trace request does not automatically make a gun a ' crime gun'. Trace requests are not indicative of anything other than cops are running trace requests.
Gotta hand it to you, it looks good on paper, much like everything else you put out, but doesn't really pass the smell test once it's seen the light of day.
I really enjoyed this comment.
The Brady Bunch always puts out misleading data on gun trace requests and how certain states are the "Iron Pipeline", running guns from one state into one of their pet states like New York.
Every year, they put this drivel out, and every year they get schwacked by not pointing out that the bulk of the guns traced in any given state come from inside the state itself. They are quick to point out states like Mississipi or Georgia feed a huge problem across the country, but are silent on the largest source.
Typical misdirection on their part. If you can't make an argument stick with real facts, just manipulate the data to try and make your point.