Posts Tagged ‘Gun Trafficking’

We hear stories of gun violence every day. Domestic disputes turning deadly. Street crimes taking the lives of innocent people. Mass shootings wreaking havoc in our public spaces. Suicides and fatal accidents devastating families across the country. The unrelenting toll of America’s gun violence epidemic leaves 100,000 people injured or killed every year in communities nationwide.¹ But while the number of people affected by this crisis is staggering – 86 people die by guns every single day – it’s almost equally shocking to find that legislators nationwide aren’t doing everything in their power to prevent the killings.

Plenty of widely supported policies can reduce gun violence, but, in many states, they aren’t being adopted.² In fact, a number of states have chosen to pass measures that actually make it more difficult for law enforcement, doctors, and local officials to work to reduce gun deaths and injuries.

Click on each state’s initials in the map below to see our analysis of the gun laws in that state.

Grades have been assigned based on the strength of each state’s gun laws. A state in blue (or orange) has one of the ten lowest (or highest) gun death rates of all fifty states.

See a larger, non-clickable version of this map.

State gun laws are critical because our federal gun laws are extremely weak and leave enormous gaps. For example, 40% of all gun sales can be completed without background checks because federal law doesn’t require checks for firearm sales between private parties.³ Unless states step in and adopt their own smart laws, federal gaps like these allow guns to easily flow into the hands of criminals.

READ MORE »

1. Nat’l Ctr. for Injury Prevention & Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-Based Injury Statistics Query & Reporting System (WISQARS) Injury Mortality Reports, 1999-2010, for National, Regional, and States; Nat’l Ctr. for Injury Prevention & Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-Based Injury Statistics Query & Reporting System (WISQARS) Nonfatal Injury Reports. [↩]
2. For model legislation on a number of critical gun violence prevention polices, see our publication Model Laws for a Safer America. [↩]
3. Philip J. Cook & Jens Ludwig, Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms, U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice Research in Brief 6-7 (May 1997). See our Federal Law on Private Sales page for more information. [↩]

Your calls and emails paid off last week: the California Legislature heard you and passed our bill to curb illegal gun trafficking. But the work isn’t over yet.

We have been working all year on SB 1366, which would give law enforcement an important tool to fight the flow of illegal guns in California. The bill would require gun owners to report lost and stolen guns to the police — guns that are often trafficked into the hands of criminals.

This bill is now on Governor Brown’s desk and just one step away from becoming law.
We need your help NOW for this final, critical push.

Please call Governor Brown TODAY at (916) 445-2841 and tell him:

“I support SB 1366 because it gives law enforcement
what they need to fight gun trafficking!”

If the line is busy, you can click here to e-mail the governor with your message.
Be sure to select “SB01366\Firearms: lost or stolen: reports” under “Please Choose Your Subject” and select “Pro” for your position when prompted.

California is close to enacting this important bill into law. Your voice can help keep guns out of the wrong hands in our state.

Let’s ensure that Governor Brown makes the right decision to protect our communities.
Call or email him right now.

We have a deep amount of research on this topic. For more, read about the benefits of lost and stolen firearm reporting.

Image from the Associated Press

Today, the House voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the ATF program dubbed “Fast and Furious.” In case you’ve missed the news, “Fast and Furious” is the term used for an ATF investigative tactic that involved allegedly refraining from seizing guns that ATF agents believed were headed to criminals in Mexico. According to Republicans in Congress, ATF agents refused to seize these guns, even though they knew they were likely to be used in crimes, because they wanted to follow the guns to the criminal ringleaders. However, an article released yesterday in Fortune magazine suggests that the real reason the ATF agents didn’t intercede was because ATF’s legal advisors – the prosecutors who would have had to justify seizing the weapons in court – pointed out that no gun laws were being broken.

No gun laws were being broken? Considering the recent bloodshed in Mexico, this may appear hard to believe. Between 2006 and 2010, more than 23,000 people were killed in drug cartel violence south of the border. When the guns that are used in these crimes are traced, it turns out that 90% of these guns originated from gun dealers in the United States. Almost all of the guns being used by the cartels had originally been purchased at gun shops in the U.S. (mainly in Texas, Arizona, and California), then passed from hand to hand until they reached criminals in Mexico. Surely, you say, this level of gun trafficking can’t be legal. READ MORE »

On Tuesday, June 12, 2012, an LCPGV co-sponsored bill to require the reporting of lost or stolen firearms in California passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee in a 4-2 vote.  SB 1366 (DeSaulnier) is a critical  measure to help fight the illegal trafficking of crime guns and prevent gun violence in our communities.  The bill is co-sponsored by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and the California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and is supported by the California Police Chiefs Association, the California State Sheriffs’ Association, and mayors and gun violence prevention groups statewide.

Find out more about this important issue with Lost & Stolen Reporting: Why SB 1366 Matters.  SB 1366 now proceeds to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Yesterday, our priority bill to combat illegal gun trafficking and keep guns out of the wrong hands passed the California State Senate by a vote of 23-14.  Co-sponsored by LCPGV, SB 1366 (DeSaulnier) would require gun owners to alert local law enforcement when their firearms are lost or stolen, providing law enforcement with a much-needed tool to curb gun trafficking. SB 1366 now proceeds to the Assembly. READ MORE »

Great news! Early next week, we expect the California State Senate to vote on a critical bill that will help stop illegal gun trafficking and keep guns out of the wrong hands.  

Now we need your help to tell the Senate how important this measure is! 

Co-sponsored by LCAV, SB 1366 (DeSaulnier) would require gun owners to alert local law enforcement when their firearms are lost or stolen, providing law enforcement with a much-needed tool to curb gun trafficking.

Without a reporting law in place, individuals whose guns are recovered at crime scenes can falsely claim that their weapons innocently disappeared in order to hide their involvement in criminal activity.

Please call your State Senator TODAY and tell him or her,  

“I support SB 1366 to fight gun trafficking!”.

You can find your State Senator and the number to call by following this link. READ MORE »

LCPGV is pleased to report that the California State Senate has taken a critical step to help stop illegal gun trafficking and keep guns out of the wrong hands.

The LCPGV-co-sponsored bill SB 1366 (DeSaulnier) was passed by the California State Senate’s Public Safety Committee in a hearing earlier today. SB 1366 would require gun owners to alert local law enforcement within 48 hours when their firearms are lost or stolen.

Requiring the reporting of lost or stolen guns will provide law enforcement with a critical tool to curb illegal gun trafficking. Without a reporting law in place, individuals whose guns are recovered at crime scenes can falsely claim that their weapons innocently disappeared in order to hide their involvement in criminal activity.

READ MORE »

Seven states, the District of Columbia, and nine cities in California currently require firearm owners to report to law enforcement when their firearms are lost or stolen. The State of California does not.

Currently, firearms dealers and manufacturers must report any lost or stolen firearms within 48 hours, and local law enforcement must enter reports of lost or stolen firearms into the state’s Automated Property System database. However, firearm owners whose guns are lost or stolen are not required to do anything. As a result, law enforcement efforts to investigate gun crimes and disarm dangerous criminals are significantly hindered.

The public overwhelmingly supports laws requiring the reporting of lost or stolen firearms. A nationwide poll in 2011 found that 94% of Americans surveyed, including 94% of gun owners, favor laws to require the reporting of lost or stolen firearms.

In California, 2,972 residents died from firearm related injuries in 2009, and 3,545 others were treated for non-fatal gunshot wounds. Of the 1,811 Californians murdered in 2010, 1,257, or 69%, were killed with firearms. READ MORE »