States with softer gun laws have higher rates of handgun killings, fatal shootings of police officers, and sales of weapons that were used in crimes in other states, according to a study due out in January 2009. The study’s 38-page report, underwritten by a group of over 300 mayors and obtained by the Washington Post, focused on tracking guns used in crimes back to the retailers that first sold them.

Based on an analysis of annual crime-gun data compiled by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the study found:

• The 10 states with the highest export rates of guns used in crimes had nearly 60 percent more gun homicides than the 10 states with the lowest rates. The high-export states also had nearly three times as many fatal shootings of police officers.

• 10 states supplied 57% of the guns that were used in crimes in other states in 2007.

• States requiring background checks for handgun sales at gun shows have an export rate nearly half the national average. None of the 10 highest export states requires the checks, according to the report.

• States requiring gun buyers to get a purchase permit have a lower export rate.
(C. Thompson, “Report Links State Gun Laws To Rates of Slayings, Trafficking,” Washington Post, December 5, 2008; source: Mayors Against Illegal Guns). See Deterrence and Studies.

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