Washington — More than 68,000 firearms illegally trafficked into the United States passed through unlicensed dealers who are not required to conduct background checks over a five-year period, according to new data released Thursday by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
That represents 54% of gun trafficking illegally in the United States between 2017 and 2021, Justice Department officials said. The guns were used in 368 shooting cases, which are more difficult to investigate because unlicensed dealers are not required to keep records of their sales that could allow federal agents to trace the gun to the buyer original, said ATF Director Steve Dettelbach.
The report commissioned by Attorney General Merrick Garland is the first in-depth analysis of gun trafficking investigations in more than 20 years. It examined more than 9,700 closed ATF gun trafficking investigations that began between 2017 and 2021. Gun trafficking occurs when firearms are deliberately introduced into the illegal market for criminal purposes or possession.
The second largest share of gun trafficking cases the ATF has investigated involves straw purchases, when a person buys a gun for someone who cannot legally obtain it themselves .
The report also shows that the recipients of the trafficked firearms were people who had previously been convicted of a crime in nearly 60 percent of the cases in which investigators were able to identify the prior history of the gun. RECIPIENT. Additionally, trafficked firearms were used to commit additional crimes in nearly 25 percent of cases, Dettelbach said. This includes more than 260 murders and more than 220 attempted murders, according to the report.
“So the data shows that those who illegally traffic guns, whether from a safe, at a gun show, or online, are responsible for real violence in this country,” he said. Dettelbach said. “In short, you cannot illegally help arm violent people and not be responsible for the violence that follows,” he said.
The report found that the average number of guns trafficked per deal was 16. People who obtained them from unlicensed dealers bought 20 guns on average, compared to 11 guns for straw buyers, according to the report.
The Biden administration has separately proposed a rule that would require thousands more gun sellers to obtain licensing and complete background checks. The Justice Department says it’s aimed at gun sellers, but the proposal quickly drew protests from gun rights groups, who say it could trap gun sellers. ordinary people who sometimes sell their own weapons.
This rule, which has not yet been finalized, is expected to affect between 24,500 and 328,000 sellers. Over the five years documented in the report, 3,400 unlicensed dealers were investigated by the ATF.
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