The Illegal Supply of Firearms

The case for focusing regulatory and enforcement efforts on the illegal supply of firearms to criminals rests on the belief that a supply-side approach has the potential to reduce the use of guns in violence. The case against this focus follows from the belief that guns in America are so readily available, and from such a variety of sources, that efforts to restrict the supply are futile. Individuals who are proscribed from buying guns legally (because of their criminal record or youth) tend to acquire firearms from "point" sources, such as illegal traffickers and scofflaw dealers, and "diffuse sources," including all sorts of informal transfers from the vast stock of weapons in private hands. Both are important. The mix within a jurisdiction appears to depend on the prevalence of gun ownership and the stringency of state regulations. A variety of promising supply-side measures are available, and some have been tried. Lessons have been learned-for example, that gun "buybacks" are ineffective-but for the most part any conclusions necessarily are speculative. Systematic "experimentation" with different tactics appears warranted.

[1]  Philip J. Cook,et al.  State Programs for Screening Handgun Buyers , 1981 .

[2]  C. Koper,et al.  Impacts of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban : 1994 – 96 by , 1999 .

[3]  G. Kleck.  BATF Gun Trace Data and the Role of Organized Gun Trafficking in Supplying Guns to Criminals , 1999 .

[4]  F. Zimring.  FIREARMS, VIOLENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY , 1991 .

[5]  Philip J. Cook,et al.  Regulating Gun Markets , 1995 .

[6]  S. Decker,et al.  Illegal Firearms: Access and Use by Arrestees , 1997 .

[7]  FOREWORD OF THE DIRECTOR , 2000 .

[8]  Franklin E. Zimring,et al.  Street crime and new guns: Some implications for firearms control , 1976 .

[9]  P. Cook,et al.  Homicide and suicide rates associated with implementation of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. , 2000, JAMA.

[10]  Alan J. Lizotte,et al.  Gun Ownership and Gang Membership , 1995 .

[11]  Jv Domino.  Armed and Considered Dangerous - A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms , 1989 .

[12]  A. Braga.  More Gun Laws or More Gun Law Enforcement , 2001 .

[13]  Franklin E. Zimring,et al.  Firearms and Federal Law: The Gun Control Act of 1968 , 1975, The Journal of Legal Studies.

[14]  F P Rivara,et al.  Money for guns: evaluation of the Seattle Gun Buy-Back Program. , 1994, Public health reports.

[15]  F. Rivara,et al.  Effectiveness of denial of handgun purchase to persons believed to be at high risk for firearm violence. , 1999, American journal of public health.

[16]  James D. Wright,et al.  Gun Acquisition and Possession in Selected Juvenile Samples. Research in Brief. December 1993. , 1993 .

[17]  G. Mauser.  Gun control in the United States , 1991 .

[18]  James D. Wright,et al.  In the Line of Fire: Youth, Guns, and Violence in Urban America , 1995 .

[19]  G. Wintemute,et al.  Prior misdemeanor convictions as a risk factor for later violent and firearm-related criminal activity among authorized purchasers of handguns. , 1998, JAMA.

[20]  Philip J. Cook,et al.  Gun Violence: The Real Costs , 2000 .

[21]  Mark H. Moore,et al.  Keeping Handguns From Criminal Offenders , 1981 .

[22]  James D. Wright.  Public Opinion and Gun Control: A Comparison of Results From Two Recent National Surveys , 1981 .

[23]  L. Sherman,et al.  Problem-Oriented Policing , 2009 .

[24]  Tobacco,et al.  Project identification : a study of handguns used in crime , 1976 .

[25]  James D. Wright,et al.  Kids, guns, and killing fields , 1992 .

[26]  A. Piehl,et al.  Youth violence in Boston: Gun markets, serious youth offenders, and a use-reduction strategy , 1996 .

[27]  Jim Leitzel,et al.  “Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy”: An Economic Analysis of the Attack on Gun Control , 1996 .

[28]  Mark H. Moore,et al.  The Police and Weapons Offenses , 1980 .

[29]  G. Lauver,et al.  Presale Handgun Checks, the Brady Interim Period, 1994-98: (387862004-001) , 1999 .

[30]  Tom W. Smith.  1999 National Gun Policy Survey of the National Opinion Research Center: Research Findings , 1997 .

[31]  David M. Kennedy,et al.  The illicit acquisition of firearms by youth and juveniles , 2001 .

[32]  D S Weil,et al.  Effects of limiting handgun purchases on interstate transfer of firearms. , 1996, JAMA.

[33]  M. Moore.  Buy and bust: The effective regulation of an illicit market in heroin , 1977 .

[34]  Colin Loftin,et al.  Easing Concealed Firearms Laws: Effects on Homicide in Three States , 1995 .

[35]  Tom W. Srrlith.  National Gun Policy Survey of the National Opinion Research Center: Research Findings , 1998 .

[36]  Gary D. Kleck,et al.  Armed and Considered Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms.By James D. Wright and Peter H. Rossi. Aldine de Gruyter. 247 pp. Cloth, $36.95; paper, $14.95 , 1988 .

[37]  Julius Wachtel,et al.  Sources of crime guns in Los Angeles, California , 1998 .

[38]  James D. Wright,et al.  Armed and considered dangerous , 1986 .

[39]  P. Cook,et al.  Guns in America: Results of a Comprehensive National Survey on Firearms Ownership and Use , 1996 .

[40]  A. Piehl,et al.  Problem-Oriented Policing, Deterrence, and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of Boston's Operation Ceasefire , 2001 .

[41]  A. Blumstein.  Criminal careers and "career criminals" , 1986 .

[42]  H. Goldstein.  PROBLEM-ORIENTED POLICING , 2002 .

[43]  James B. Jacobs,et al.  Keeping Guns out of the Wrong Hands: The Brady Law and the Limits of Regulation , 1995 .