What Are the Gun Pushers Trying to Hide?

Rather than adopt the Sgt. Joe Friday ("Just the facts,") approach to crime, specifically the sources and distribution channels of guns used in crimes, the gun pushers work to keep this information from the public.

The recent summit on January 23, 2007 of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition -- which is now supported by over 150 mayors from around the nation and whose goals have been adopted as policy by the U.S. Conference of Mayors -- adopted as their top priority the elimination of federal provisions which restrict information about the sources of guns used in crime from being available to local law enforcement.

The public has an interest in this information as well. Before Congress adopted these appropriations provisions a few years back restricting the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ("ATF") to disclose information it maintains in the National Tracing Center's firearms trace database, elected officials, policy makers, reporters, academics, and the rest of us were able to discover information such as:

• Almost 60% of crime guns originate with only 1% of the Nation's licensed gun dealers.
• 30% of traced crime guns move so quickly from licensed gun dealers into crime that they likely have been trafficked from dealers.
• Handguns sold in multiple sales account for 20% of traced crime guns.
• In cities and states with strong gun laws, crime guns frequently originate with licensed gun dealers in other states, thus showing that strong gun laws make it more difficult for criminals to access local sources of guns.

Crime gun trace data also has enabled communities to know which gun dealers are contributing the most guns to the illegal market. In short, ATF crime gun trace data has enabled the public to know that the illegal market is continuously supplied by guns diverted quickly to gun traffickers from a relatively small number of licensed gun dealers, through multiple gun sales, straw purchases and other means.

Not knowing where criminals get their guns and how those guns find their way from the manufacturers to the dealers to the street makes it difficult to address violent crime in this country.

When I was mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, if we had tried to fight drugs by just focusing on the users and ignored those who sold the drugs and those who brought the drugs into the community from other cities and countries, we would have had no chance of making progress. Focusing just on the criminal who uses the gun and not on the traffickers in those illegal guns is similarly shortsighted. When we know that most licensed gun dealers obey the law and follow the rules, it's all the more important to learn which dealers are aiding and abetting those who commit violent crime. (For more information see the report "Without A Trace" from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.)

We've seen the federal government keep more and more information from the public in recent years, and hiding this information on gun traffickers is just one example. Similar things have also been occurring at the state level. For example, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper recently ran a series of stories exposing serious flaws in Florida's twenty-year old law allowing individuals to carry loaded hidden handguns in public places. The reporters found that these permits had been given to some 1400 individuals who had pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies, 216 others with outstanding warrants, 128 named in active domestic violence infractions, and six registered sex offenders. It will be difficult to learn if Florida can correct this problem, however, since they now refuse to disclose this type of information.

We have public disclosure laws for good reasons. Among other things, we need to know that those who traffic in illegal guns and have guns illegally aren't having their identities hidden from scrutiny. What are the gun pushers trying to hide?

(Note to readers: this blog entry, as well as past blog entrees, are co-posted on www.bradycampaign.org)