Lawful gun owners commit less than a fifth of all gun crimes, according to a novel analysis released this week by the
University of Pittsburgh.

In the study, led by epidemiologist Anthony Fabio of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health, researchers partnered
with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police to trace the origins of all 893 firearms that police recovered from crime scenes in the
year 2008.

They found that in approximately 8 out of 10 cases, the perpetrator was not a lawful gun owner but rather in illegal possession
of a weapon that belonged to someone else. The researchers were primarily interested in how these guns made their way
from a legal purchase — at a firearm dealer or via a private sale — to the scene of the crime.

"All guns start out as legal guns," Fabio said in an interview. But a "huge number of them" move into illegal hands. "As a public-
health person, I'd like to be able to figure out that path," he added.

More than 30 percent of the guns that ended up at crime scenes had been stolen, according to Fabio's research. But more than
40 percent of those stolen guns weren't reported by the owners as stolen until after police contacted them when the gun was
used in a crime.

One of the more concerning findings in the study was that for the majority of guns recovered (62 percent), "the place where the
owner lost possession of the firearm was unknown."

"We have a lot of people with a lot of guns," Fabio said, referencing statistics on the large number of guns in circulation. "And some
of them aren't keeping track of them for different reasons — maybe because they have a lot of them and they don't use them that often."

A number of factors could lead to legal firearms entering the black market. Owners could misplace them, or they could be stolen —
either through carelessness on the owner's part (leaving a gun in an unlocked car, for instance) or determination on the part of thieves.

It's also likely that many guns on the black market got there via straw purchases — where a person purchases a gun from a dealer without
disclosing that they're buying it for someone else. This is illegal under federal law. One potential sign that straw purchasing is a factor in
the Pittsburgh data: Forty-four percent of the gun owners who were identified in 2008 did not respond to police attempts to contact them.

The top-line finding of the study — that the overwhelming majority of gun crimes aren't committed by lawful gun owners — reinforces a
common refrain among gun rights advocacy groups. They argue that since criminals don't follow laws, new regulations on gun ownership
would only serve to burden lawful owners while doing little to combat crime.

But Fabio's research suggests that this strict dichotomy between "good guys" and "bad guys" isn't necessarily helpful for figuring out how
to keep "good" guns — those purchased legally — from getting into "bad" hands. And there may be modest, non-burdensome ways to
help keep guns in the hands of the good guys.

For instance, 10 states plus the District of Columbia have laws in place requiring gun owners to report the theft or loss of firearms to law
enforcement, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a group that advocates for stronger firearm regulations. But in the
majority of states, no such law is in place.

Additionally, past research has demonstrated that a small fraction of gun dealers are responsible for the majority of guns used in crimes
in the United States. A 2000 report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that in 1998, more than 85 percent of gun
dealers had no guns used in crimes trace back to them. By contrast, 1 percent of dealers accounted for nearly 6 in 10 crime gun traces
that year.

The firearms bureau knows exactly who these gun dealers are — but they're not allowed to share that information with policymakers or
researchers due to a law passed by Congress in 2003. As a result, solutions for stanching the flow of guns from these dealers to crime
scenes remain frustratingly out of reach for public-health researchers.

"There's not much federal funding out there to do research on firearm and firearm safety," Fabio said. As a result, "there's not a lot of good
research out there. The process of getting it done has been hindered by a lot of limits on academics and how they can do firearms research."

In the meantime, researchers have to be creative — like partnering with local law enforcement agencies to find answers to their questions.

Additionally, past research has demonstrated that a small fraction of gun dealers are responsible for the majority of guns used in crimes
in the United States. A 2000 report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that in 1998, more than 85 percent of gun
dealers had no guns used in crimes trace back to them. By contrast, 1 percent of dealers accounted for nearly 6 in 10 crime gun traces
that year.

The firearms bureau knows exactly who these gun dealers are — but they're not allowed to share that information with policymakers or
researchers due to a law passed by Congress in 2003. As a result, solutions for stanching the flow of guns from these dealers to crime
scenes remain frustratingly out of reach for public-health researchers.

So why aren't they shut down and brought to justice?  Maybe the agenda doesn't want them to stop that activity?  Local fast and furious? HMMMM...

So why aren't they shut down and brought to justice?  Maybe the agenda doesn't want them to stop that activity?  Local fast and furious? HMMMM...

Because selling a gun used in a crime is not illegal, Unless they can prove that they are knowingly doing so .

I was wondering how many guns are getting in from out of the country. Illegal immigrants make it in every day. Hell, we can’t even keep illegal aerials (explosive) out.

Do we get a lot of guns brought in illegally from outside the country?

I have seen that Mexico was having a problem with drug gang members using rifles purchased from the USA and brought in to Mexico.

Like from the Obama admin?......

Not sure, could have been. They just showed some AR-15s I think. Could have been from fast and furious. Seems plausible that people could purchase guns in America and sneak them back across the border to Mexico though.

Not sure, could have been. They just showed some AR-15s I think. Could have been from fast and furious. Seems plausible that people could purchase guns in America and sneak them back across the border to Mexico though.

OMG

Did a quick search to see if I could find numbers but apparently 90 percent of drug cartel weapons come from the USA.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4695848&page=1

From 2009 to 2014 73,000 guns were seized that came from the USA.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/12/462781469/in-mexico-tens-of-thousands-of-illegal-guns-come-from-the-u-s

Those are all Obama years but did the fast and furious program really put that many guns into circulation?