MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS RELEASES GROUNDBREAKING REPORT SHOWING A STRONG CONNECTION BETWEEN WEAK GUN LAWS AND INTERSTATE GUN TRAFFICKING

www.TracetheGuns.org Features Interactive Maps and 50-State Analysis of Crime Gun Exports

Report Confirms that States with Weakest Gun Laws are the Top Sources of Guns Recovered in Out-of-State Crimes

Ten States - Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, and Georgia - Continue to Supply Interstate Crime Guns at the Highest Rates and New "Time-to-Crime" Data Confirm These States Source a Greater Proportion of Guns Likely to Have Been Illegally Trafficked

The bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today released, Trace the Guns: the Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Gun Trafficking, a report analyzing 2009 crime gun trace data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).  The report, which examines previously unreleased data provided by ATF to Mayors Against Illegal Guns, shows that states with weak gun laws are disproportionately the top sources of guns recovered in out-of-state crimes. The report shows that states with weak gun laws disproportionately supply guns recovered in out-of-state crimes.  In a first-of-its-kind analysis, the report also finds that that states with weak gun laws are a source of a greater proportion of guns recovered in crimes shortly after their initial purchase -- a measure considered by ATF to be a key indicator of illegal trafficking. The report is available at http://www.tracetheguns.org/report.pdf. 

"Gun trace data is an invaluable tool for the over 500 mayors in our coalition along with the police chiefs and prosecutors they work with every day," said coalition co-chair and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "Our report reveals that states with weak gun laws are the top sources of guns recovered in out-of-state crimes. The stakes are high: 12,000 people per year are murdered with guns in the United States. There is urgent work to be done by policy makers at all levels to strengthen enforcement of the laws we have on the books, and to close gaps in state and federal law." 

"Our coalition has been fighting for access to trace data from the beginning," said Mayors Against Illegal Guns co-chair Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston.  "With the release of this report, multi-year trends in trace data confirm that the illegal market for guns is driven, in part, by weak gun laws.  It's a wake-up call to state legislators and Washington to close gaps in the laws that give criminals easy access to guns."

According to the 2009 trace data analyzed in the report, ten states accounted for nearly half - 49% - of the guns that crossed state lines before being recovered in crimes.  To make more accurate comparisons between states, the report also studied the rate at which certain states "export" crime guns by controlling for population. The ten states with the highest crime gun export rates in 2009 were: Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, and Georgia.  These ten states also are the source of a greater proportion of guns that were recovered in crimes less than two years after their initial purchase - a measure known as the gun's "time-to-crime."  According to ATF, a time-to-crime of less than two years is a strong indicator the gun was illegally trafficked.  To determine each states' propensity to be the source of short time-to-crime guns, this report analyzed previously unreleased time-to-crime data provided by ATF to Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

To understand why some states supply more interstate crime guns, the coalition's report examined the relationship between state gun laws designed to deter illegal firearms trafficking and a state's export rate and guns with a short time-to-crime. The ten gun laws examined were: (1) state criminal penalties for straw purchasers; (2) state criminal penalties for falsifying purchaser information; (3) state criminal penalties for failing to conduct dealer background checks; (4) background checks for all handgun sales at gun shows; (5) purchase permits for all handgun sales; (6) gun possession by violent misdemeanants; (7) local law enforcement discretion to deny concealed carry permits; (8) reporting lost or stolen guns to law enforcement; (9) local control of firearms regulation; and (10) state inspections of gun dealers. 

This analysis confirmed the conclusion in the coalition's 2008 report, The Movement of Illegal Guns in America, that states with weak gun laws are more often the source of the guns recovered in out-of-state crimes.  This report also reveals that states with weak gun laws supply a greater proportion of guns with a short time-to-crime. The ten states that supply guns at the highest rates have, on average, 1.4 of the ten laws designed to deter illegal trafficking in place, compared to 8.2 in the ten states that supply interstate crime guns at the lowest rates.

About ATF Trace Data

Trace the Guns examined data that was published by the ATF and data that was provided by ATF directly to Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Until 2007, this data was not available because Congress had implemented restrictions, known as the "Tiahrt Amendments," that prohibited ATF from releasing crime gun trace data. However, in 2007 and 2009, after national campaigns by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and over 30 police organizations, Congress relaxed these restrictions on sharing crime gun trace data. Although there are still significant restrictions on the use of ATF crime gun trace data, the recent reforms allowed ATF to provide to Mayors Against Illegal Guns the data set that formed the basis for this report.

About TraceTheGuns.org

In conjunction with the publication of Trace the Guns, Mayors Against Illegal Guns is launching a new interactive website: www.TraceTheGuns.org.  With more than 5,000 data points on the movement of illegal guns, the website features interactive, state-by-state maps that show at a glance each state's crime gun exports, imports and time-to-crime trends.  It also provides information about states that have passed laws designed to curb illegal gun trafficking and how those laws affect crime gun exports.

About Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Since its inception in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 mayors to over 500. Mayors Against Illegal Guns has united the nation's mayors around these common goals: protecting their communities by holding gun offenders and irresponsible gun dealers accountable, demanding access to trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking, and working with legislators to fix gaps, weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other prohibited purchasers to get guns.

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