John –

For decades, the gun lobby prevented the public from seeing even basic numbers on crime gun trace data – we couldn’t know where crime guns were coming from nor which dealers were irresponsible gun sellers.

Until now.

Brady worked arduously to obtain and analyze crime gun trace data in Pennsylvania and it confirmed many of the pillars of our work to stem the flow of crime guns in our communities: Only a small number of Pennsylvania gun dealers are responsible for a large portion of crime guns recovered by law enforcement. And the House Oversight Committee is finding similar trends in other states.

The numbers don’t lie, John: Data from 2014-2020 shows that 50% of crime guns traced based to Pennsylvania dealers were sold by just 1% of dealers and 90% were traced back to 20% of dealers. In Philadelphia, only six small retailers sold more than 11,000 weapons that were later confiscated by law enforcement. The largest number of crime guns linked to a single dealer in the full database? 3,652.

This is exactly why Brady is focusing on a supply-side approach to our nation’s gun violence epidemic. Our report highlights the importance of addressing gun violence at the source: increasing transparency, reforming industry practices, and holding the irresponsible gun dealers and manufacturers accountable for the tragedy they’ve contributed to. We’re fighting tirelessly to stop the flow of illegal guns and make even more trace data available to the public.

We’ll keep fighting this deadly epidemic from all angles and it’s because of your support that we can continue.

Thank you.

– Team Brady

Read the full report here.

Read our article in the New York Times.