Center for Gun Policy and Research

Legal Issues
Legal Issues
The Center monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of major gun laws, including those related to: "Saturday night special" handguns; handgun registration and licensing; child access prevention; and minimum purchase and possession age. More
Gun Trafficking
Gun Trafficking
The Center is committed to studying and reducing illegal firearm trafficking. The Center's work in this area focuses on the role of gun dealers, straw purchases, and firearm theft in the transfer of guns from legal to illegal markets. More
Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence
The Center studies policies and behaviors related to gun violence perpetrated by domestic violence offenders. Center research seeks to identify whether current legal practices effectively keep guns out of the hands of batterers. More
Keeping Guns from Youth
Keeping Guns from Youth
The Center studies policies and behaviors related to gun access and carrying among youth. Center research focuses on trends and prevention of youth homicide, suicide, violence, and unintentional injury by firearms. More

Gun Dealer Regulation and Oversight

The Center for Gun Policy and Research is committed to studying and reducing the transfer of firearms from legal to illegal markets. The Center’s work in this area focuses on the role of gun dealers in supplying traffickers and facilitating illegal straw purchases of firearms.

A recent analysis of U.S. firearm commerce uncovered that only 1% of licensed dealers were responsible for nearly 60% of guns traced to crime. Responding to the need for improved regulations, Center experts consulted to help develop a 10-point gun dealer code of conduct adopted by Wal-Mart in 2008. This set of policies includes mandatory video recording of all firearm transactions, a computerized log of crime gun traces relating to the retailer, criminal background checks for all employees selling or handling firearms, and strict control of firearm inventory. Center research has continued to be used by mayors and state legislators to develop and advocate for policies to reduce criminally obtained illegal guns.

As corrupt retail gun dealers accounted for more guns diverted into the illegal market than any other single trafficking channel, investigation of gun dealer regulation and oversight is a principal effort of the Center for Gun Policy and Research.

Center Research

POLICIES TO PREVENT FIREARM TRAFFICKING
Vernick JS, Webster DW
Injury Prevention 2007;13:78-79.

REGULATING FIREARMS DEALERS IN THE UNITED STATES: AN ANALYSIS OF STATE LAW AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
Vernick JS, Daniel DW, Bulzacchelli MT
Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics 2006;34:765-775

EFFECTS OF POLICE STINGS OF GUN DEALERS ON THE SUPPLY OF NEW GUNS TO CRIMINALS
Webster DW, Zeoli AM, Bulzacchelli MT, Vernick JS
Injury Prevention 2006;12:225-30

EFFECTS OF A GUN DEALER’S CHANGE IN SALES PRACTICES ON THE SUPPLY OF GUNS TO CRIMINALS
Webster DW, Vernick JS, Bulzacchelli MT
Journal of Urban Health 2006;83:778-787

For more research on gun trafficking, click here to browse the database of scholarly works by Center faculty.

Highlighted Research

J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2010 Jan;19(1):93-8.
Women with protective orders report failure to remove firearms from their abusive partners
Shootings are the most common method by which women are killed by an intimate partner in the United States. More
Am J Public Health. 2010 Oct;100(10):1856-60.
Fatally flawed study yields misleading results
A widely publicized study of the relationship between gun shows and gun violence is being cited in debates about the regulation of gun shows and gun commerce. We believe the study is fatally flawed. More
J Urban Health. 2010 May;87(3):352-64.
Risk factors for criminal use of handguns recently purchased under conditions that suggest trafficking
Our findings should help law enforcement's illegal gun units to consider which of the thousands of crime gun traces to follow up with an investigation of possible trafficking. More
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