Update, September 7 – A new report by Mayors Against Illegal Guns reveals that Texas and other border states are the top sources of U.S. crime guns recovered in Mexico. The issue brief, which examines previously unavailable ATF data about guns recovered in Mexico and traced back to the U.S, finds that roughly 75% of the U.S. crime guns recovered in Mexico originate from the four border states - with roughly 40% originating from Texas alone. When controlling for population, three of the four border states - Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico - supply guns recovered in Mexico at a rate three times greater than the rate of the fourth border state, California. In addition, the time between the original sale of guns at U.S. gun dealers and the recovery of those guns at Mexican crime scenes is decreasing - a sign of ever more sophisticated gun trafficking.
Download the Full Issue Brief (in PDF)
Read the Press Release

Gun trace data, which is collected and maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is a critical tool for law enforcement to track illegal gun crimes and trafficking.

This online Trace Data Center collects trace data and related reports released by ATF and provides the public, including local, state and federal officials, with the coalition's analysis of this data.

The Trace Data Center also includes the coalition's own report, The Movement of Illegal Guns in America: The Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Gun Trafficking, which analyzes ATF trace data and finds that states that supply crime guns at the highest rates have comparatively weak gun laws.

The Trace Data Center also provides data recently released by the FBI to the coalition about the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is the federal database through which background checks are done by federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs).

Traced firearms do not represent all crime guns. While there is a strong relationship between the number of guns that are traced and the number of guns used in crime, these figures are not identical. This disparity occurs in large part because all guns used in crimes are not recovered and there are differences in tracing practices among police departments; some jurisdictions trace all guns while others do not.

Not all efforts to trace guns are successful. In order to trace a gun, ATF relies on accurate record-keeping by gun manufacturers, gun wholesalers, and gun retailers. Failure to keep complete records or failure to comply with ATF requests can make it impossible to trace particular firearms. In a significant number of trace attempts, ATF is not able to determine all the relevant information about the initial retail sale of the subject firearm.

Not all source states are identified in ATF trace reports. For every recovery state, the ATF trace reports released in 2006 and 2007 identify the 15 states that are the largest sources for crime guns. For guns that come from states that are not among the top 15 sources, ATF provides only generic identification that these guns came from out-of-state sources. In 2007, ATF reported the identity of 80.5% of the 42,450 crime guns that crossed state lines before being recovered in a crime.