Lax Gun Laws and the Link to Crime

by Matt Kelley · 2010-09-28 10:35:00 UTC
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When a violent crime is committed with a gun in the U.S., there's a good chance that the weapon came from one of 10 states with weak gun control laws.

A new report from a coalition of big-city mayors crunches data on guns used in crime and finds that these 10 states supplied the guns used in 49 percent of out-of-state crimes, controlled for population. The states are Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada and Georgia -- and they have, on average, just one or two of the 10 laws used by other states to deter gun trafficking.

It’s a groundbreaking report on behalf of a cause that some mayors -- most notably, New York City's Michael Bloomberg -- have pushed for years: stricter gun laws By examining and digesting this previously secret government data, the mayors have landed a blow in the gun-reform movement by providing evidence that loose gun laws lead to crime.

The group launched an interactive mapping feature to allow us to slice the data for our state and region -- I urge you to check out your state at www.tracetheguns.org. (Read more after the jump.)

States in the southeast stand out as particularly  egregious perpetrators. For at least four years, Georgia has topped the list of the raw number of guns used in illegal out-of0state crime, supplying nearly 3,000 crime guns each year. But when the data is adjusted for population, Mississippi, Kentucky and West Virginia rise to the top of the list for crime guns recovered per 100,000 residents. In all, 102,000 guns recovered in crimes nationwide were bought in the same state and 43,000 were from out-of-state. Half of those 43,000 came from the top 10 supply states.

The report examines 10 key anti-trafficking laws in the states and finds a correlation between the states with lax laws and guns used in crime. The laws include local regulations against purchasing in bulk, permit requirements at gun shows and dealer inspections -- and this report strongly suggests that the failure to enact these laws means more guns will be used in crimes. The top 10 crime gun supply states have an average of 1.6 of the 10 key laws, while the bottom ten states average 8.4 of the 10 laws.

More than 12,000 people died from gun murders last year. No number of laws will ever stop all gun violence, but this report suggests that anti-trafficking laws stop crime and save lives. I hope those 10 states are listening.

Download the full Mayors Against Illegal Guns report here.

Via The Crime Report

Image Credit: Mayors Against Illegal Guns

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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