Massaging the numbers

According to this article:

A gun safety group says nearly one in seven guns linked to crimes or considered suspicious from 1996 through 2000 can be traced back to the same 120 gun stores.

Later in the article, it says:

Kessler says the 120 gun stores are located in 22 states and make up less than 1 percent of all individuals and stores licensed to sell guns during the five-year period. Yet the stores supplied nearly 15 percent of guns recovered in crime, according to Kessler's group.

This does sound alarming. And there may, in fact, be a problem. However, as Kim Du Toit points out, what if it's just because these stores simply sell that percentage of the guns sold in that 22 state area? From his post on the subject:

So if the sales from the 120 stores reflected, say, 20% of all handguns sold in the area, then the "guns used in crime" percentage is essentially meaningless. The number of "crime" guns is just a factor of their gross sales volume -- just as Chevrolets are used by many bank robbers, because more Chevys are sold than Audis.

He goes on to say:

All that said, there may a problem -- but it can't be solved by additional legislation (which is what those gun-controlling dickheads at AGS want).

If the salesmen at Don's, Chuck's and Badger are selling to "straw purchasers" -- people who buy guns and then resell them to criminals, then the ATF should go after the individuals, not the gun stores.

I've worked in a gun store before, and let me tell you, you can't tell whether the person you sell a gun to isn't going to turn around and sell or give it to someone else. You may have an idea, of course -- but you try to refuse a sale to Lakeesha Washington or Maria Lopez, just because they're poorly-dressed and fit the profile of a gang-banger's girlfriend. Can you say "ACLU", children? If they pass the NICS check, you are required to sell them the guns they want -- which is as it should be.

It's an insoluble problem. Even if the ATF manages to close down these three stores, or all one hundred and twenty, the scumbags will just go to other stores.

All very good points. As I and other proponents of gun rights say over and over again, laws that limit access to guns only do so for law-abiding people. Criminals, by definition, don't obey the law so they have no problem violating laws that say they can't have guns.