|
Restricting Bulk Handgun Sales to Deter Illegal Trafficking
HB 203 (sponsored by Rep
William D. Burns
-
Barbara Flynn Currie
-
Karen A. Yarbrough
-
Kenneth Dunkin
-
Camille Y Lilly
and
Daniel Biss)
What does it mean?
Laws restricting bulk sales and purchases of
handguns are designed to reduce the number of guns entering the illegal
market and to stem the flow of firearms between states. Gun traffickers
often buy firearms in bulk, then turn around and sell them on the street,
often in states with more restrictive gun laws. Studies show that
handguns sold in bulk sales to the same individual purchaser are
frequently used in crime.1 Research
has shown that limiting gun purchases to no more than one per month can
reduce interstate gun trafficking.2
What would it really do?
Laws that limit handgun sales and purchases to
one per person per month impose reasonable limits on the number of
handguns that may be sold at one time to a single purchaser, thereby
preventing traffickers from buying guns in bulk to resell to criminals.
Law-abiding citizens who want to defend their families against
intruders would be able to purchase as many as twelve handguns each year,
or 24 handguns in the case of a married couple. Collectors could seek an
exemption to enable them to purchase larger quantities. Additionally,
hunters and sportsmen would not be affected, as this policy is aimed at
preventing handgun trafficking and therefore does not regulate shotguns
and rifles.
HB 203
(sponsored by Rep
William D. Burns
-
Barbara Flynn Currie
-
Karen A. Yarbrough
-
Kenneth Dunkin
-
Camille Y Lilly
and
Daniel Biss)
What does the public think?
- Nearly 3 out of 4
(72%) Illinois voters favor limiting the number of handguns an individual
can purchase to one handgun per month, with a majority (55%) strongly in
support of such a measure. To read more polling results from the 2007
Voter Survey on Gun Regulations,
click here.
- An April 2008 Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and The Tarrance Group survey conducted on behalf of Mayors Against Illegal Guns found that 65% of Americans favor limiting the number of handguns an individual can purchase to one per month.3
What are the facts?
- Of all firearm homicides in 2002 in which the type of gun was
known, 77% were committed with handguns.4
- A study of ATF crime gun trace data revealed that 22% of
all handguns recovered in crime in 1999 had been transferred to a
purchaser involved in a multiple sale.5 Crime
gun trace data from 2000 showed that 20% of all retail handguns
recovered in crime were purchased as part of a multiple sale.6
- A 1995 study of Virginia’s one-gun-a-month law found the
percent of guns traced back to a Virginia gun dealer after the law went
into effect was reduced by 71% for guns recovered in New York and 72%
for guns recovered in Massachusetts.7
Have Other States or Jurisdictions Enacted Similar
Legislation?
California, Maryland, and Virginia have all
enacted legislation which restricts handgun sales or purchases to one
per person per month to help stop bulk sales of handguns for
trafficking.8 Cook
County, Riverdale and Elmwood Park prohibit firearms dealers from
transferring more than one firearm per transferee in any thirty day
period.9
Final Thought
Prosecuting gun traffickers occurs after a
crime has been committed. By cutting off a source of illegal handguns, a limit on bulk
handgun sales is meant to prevent trafficking and gun violence before
they occur.
1 See, e.g., Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S.
Department of the Treasury, Youth Crime Gun Interdiction
Initiative, Crime Gun Trace Reports (2000) National Report 52
(2002); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Department of
the Treasury, Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative, Crime Gun
Trace Reports (1999) National Report 37 (2000).
2 Daniel W. Webster, ScD, MPH, Center for Gun Policy and
Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Baltimore,
MD, How Cities Can Combat Illegal Guns and Gun Violence 3,
(Updated October 23, 2006).
3 Greenlan Quilan Rosner Research & The Tarrance Group,
Americans Support Common Sense Measures to Cut Down on Illegal Guns, April 2008.
4 Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice,
Crime in the United States 2002: Uniform Crime Reports 22 (2003).
5
Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative, Crime Gun Trace
Reports (1999) National Report, supra note 9, at 37.
6
Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative, Crime Gun Trace
Reports (2000) National Report, supra note 1.
7 Douglas Weil & Rebecca C. Knox, Evaluating the Impact of
Virginia’s One-Gun-A-Month Law, The Center to Prevent Handgun
Violence, Executive Summary & 7 (Aug. 1995).
8 Legal Community Against Violence,
Regulating Guns in America: An Evaluation and Comparative Analysis of Federal, State and Selected Local Gun Laws, 2008 Edition.
9
Legal
Community Against Violence
|
