Relationship between Illegal Use of Handguns and Handgun Sales Volume

Author: Wintemute, G. J.
Publication: The Journal of the American Medical Association
Topics: Crime Legislation and Policy State Supply Surveillance / Data Collection.
Keywords: firearms sales volume illegal gun use
Bibliographic information +

To determine if the number of illegally used handguns traced to a federally licensed firearms dealer is a reflection of the dealer’s sales volume, the author examined U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) data on all 1998 handgun traces linked to federally licensed firearms dealers in California and California Department of Justice data on handgun sales for the period 1996 through 1998 for all federal licensees registered with the state in 1999. Overall, the results show that the number of handgun traces was strongly correlated with the number of handgun sales. However, a small minority of firearms dealers was associated with more handgun traces than would be predicted by their sales volume, and these accounted for a substantial majority of all traced handguns. According to the author, the findings suggest that increasing surveillance of dealers selling a disproportionate number of crime guns could decrease the incidence of handgun violence.