Report: Lax gun laws boost killings, gang gun traffic

Thanks to Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-Wichita), ATF data on guns used in crimes were not available to policymakers or law enforcement. That provision was repealed, and a report by an association of mayors finds that:

States with lax gun laws had higher rates of handgun killings, fatal shootings of police officers, and sales of weapons that were used in crimes in other states ... 10 states, including Virginia, supplied 57 percent of the guns that were recovered in crimes in other states in 2007. ...

The study, which will be released this month, found:

· The 10 states with the highest crime-gun export rates had nearly 60 percent more gun homicides than the 10 states with the lowest rates. The high-export states also had nearly three times as many fatal shootings of police officers.

· States requiring background checks for handgun sales at gun shows have an export rate nearly half the national average. None of the 10 highest export states, including Virginia, requires the checks, according to the report. Maryland does.

· States requiring gun buyers to get a purchase permit have a lower export rate. Gun owners in Maryland and Virginia are not required to have purchase permits.

· States requiring gun owners to report their weapons lost or stolen to law enforcement authorities export crime guns at less than one-third the rate of states that do not mandate reporting. Seven states have such a requirement; Maryland and Virginia do not.

These problems can largely be resolved using existing laws, but requiring background checks at gun shows would clearly be a good way to reduce the traffic in illegal (or illegally used) firearms. Similarly, requiring the reporting of lost and stolen guns looks like a good way to limit illegal trade in firearms. The guns used in the study are those recovered after being used in crimes, and most were stolen, purchased through intermediaries at gun shows, or bought on behalf of criminals by a "straw purchaser," who buys the gun and transfers it to the criminal.

As the Post notes:

To increase oversight of gun dealers, nearly two dozen states, including Maryland and Virginia, as well as the District, allow or require state inspections. In those that do not, crime guns are exported at a rate 50 percent higher than in states that allow or mandate inspections.

"Leaving it up to federal law and ATF is insufficient to really hold gun dealers accountable," [Daniel]Webster [co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore] said.

States that are sources for illegally used firearms clearly need to tighten up their state laws, as they are leaving loopholes that are destroying inner cities across the country. Given the clear interstate nature of this traffic, Congress would be entitled to act, but the problem could be solved through state action, and doing so would be a better solution.