Georgia guns still showing up at crime scenes in other states

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By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For the second year in a row, guns sold in Georgia were recovered at more crime scenes outside its borders than any other state, according to a report issued by the anti-gun group the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

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AJC file, Philadelphia Inquirer For 2nd year in a row, Georgia is the No. 1 source of most guns recovered at crime scenes in other states.

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AJC file photo The Brady Center says Georgia is the No. 1 source of most guns recovered at crime scenes in other states.

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This report was only the second one the Washington-based group has issued using “trace” data compiled by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Both times Georgia was No. 1.

“More crime guns are traced back to Georgia than any other state,” Daniel Vice, senior attorney at the Brady Center, told WSB radio.

“Georgia’s weak gun laws are a gun trafficker’s best friend,” Vice told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

At the same time, gun rights advocates say the information from ATF is misleading and used only to support criticism of Georgia’s relatively liberal gun laws.

“If you have a state like Georgia, which is fairly gun-friendly in terms of the hurdles it takes to buy one, there are going to be a lot of transactions,” John Monroe of GeorgiaCarry.com said. “It’s not possible to take that trace information and correlate it with guns recovered at crime scenes. They’re [The Brady Center] trying to show Georgia is a bad place, and that’s not true. It would be more meaningful to look at gun crimes per capita if they are trying to show something about Georgia in general.”

The records ATF can release is limited. ATF can only release aggregated numbers concerning traces of weapons recovered at crime scenes. The information is incomplete if there is break in the chain from the manufacturer to the distributor and then to the gun dealer.

The ATF numbers do not include Georgia sales made at gun shows or between individuals. Also, all law enforcement agencies do not necessarily initiate a trace when they recover a gun.

The Brady Center also says the data is skewed. But it under-represents guns recovered at crime scenes because not all law enforcement agencies ask for a trace on weapons they seize.

Georgia has long been considered a “source state” for guns traded in other states because of relatively weak laws and access to interstates, especially I-95, which has been known as “the iron pipeline” because it is a route used to ship guns from the Southeast to northeastern states with much tougher laws.

In 2006, a frustrated New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg decided he had had enough and brought federal lawsuits against eight gun shops in Georgia and 19 in other states with relatively lax laws.

It was based on the findings of undercover teams making "straw purchases," one member of the team obviously buying it for the other who supposedly was ineligible to buy a firearm.

The last of the 27 cases was resolved in 2008 when Smyrna-based Adventure Outdoors declined to defend the case, clearing the way for the federal judge to rule against the owner, Jay Wallace. The cases against two Virginia dealers were dismissed. A Norcross gun shop went out of business soon after the suit was filed. A dealer in South Carolina defaulted. The remaining cases were settled with New York City.

According to the Brady Center study, Georgia was the source of more guns found at crimes scenes than any other state.

Vice said 2,771 of the 34,617 crime scene guns recovered nationwide last year were first sold in Georgia. Behind Georgia were Florida (2,636), Virginia (2,333) and Texas (2,220).

Vice also did an analysis of state guns laws and Georgia ranked among the bottom when scored on a 100-point scale.

Based on criteria such child protection laws, background checks and restrictions on dealers and the number of guns that can be bought at one time, Georgia earned eight points out of 100. California had the highest score with 79 points.

That analysis, however, did not include the most recent change to Georgia law.

“It’s still too easy in Georgia for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center.

Earlier this month, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a law removing the restriction on guns at “public gatherings.” The law does not allow civilians to have weapons in churches, jails and prisons, or government buildings, such as courthouses or schools. The new law, which took effect June 4, also allows guns in airport parking lots and curbside passenger pickup areas, but it does not specifically ban them inside terminals up to security checkpoints.

Legislation is pending in Congress to prohibit firearms inside unsecured areas in airports.