Illegal Firearms: How Criminals Get Their Guns

[Charlie T Waite]

[Snakebite]

A 2019 survey conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that some 43 percent of criminals had bought their firearms on the black market, 6 percent acquired them via theft, and 10 percent made a retail purchase – 0.8 percent purchased a weapon from a gun show. In 11 percent of cases, the criminal had someone else buy a gun for them – known as a straw purchase – while an additional 15 percent got guns from a friend or relative. Some 12 percent of weapons found on a crime scene had been brought there by someone else.

The survey says that 6% were acquired via theft. It doesn't really indicate how many of the 43% that were bought on the Black Market had been stolen. 

 

I happen to believe in reasonable gun laws with strict enforcement. That doesn't mean I don't support the right for every upstanding citizen to own, carry and use guns for sport AND protection. It just means that if you have a gun you SHOULD be responsible for maintaining it. Any gun you own should either be under lock and key, or DIRECTLY under your control. If you keep a gun in your sock drawer and it is stolen while you are away, I think that you are in the wrong. If you own guns, you should own a safe, and use it. I realize that may not be a popular opinion here on the wire, but it is my opinion. 

 

Snakebite