Retail Gun Dealers, Gangs, and Gun Crime in Chicago

• In Event: Policy Panel: Policing Underground Gun Markets in "Gang" Cities

Abstract

In this paper we seek to help guide law enforcement activities targeting gun acquisition by high-risk people, by examining two potentially important sources of crime guns – licensed retail dealers, and trafficking. One contribution of the present paper is to assemble a unique dataset that combines five years (2009 – 2013) of crime-gun trace requests submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Tracing Center (NTC) by the Chicago Police Department (CPD), linked to other CPD data sources about the person who was caught with the gun. From these data we are able to identify which of the violators are or have been gang members, and compare their guns with those of violators who are not gang members. We focus in particular on how gang members obtain guns, since this population is at highest risk for shooting and being shot. We conclude that if enforcement is to be effective at reducing access to guns by gang members, a likely focus is on the intermediaries in the underground market – straw purchasers, brokers, and traffickers. Gathering information on these intermediaries will require interviews with the violators in addition to further analysis of trace data.

Authors

• Phil Cook, Duke University

• Richard Harris, University of Chicago Crime Lab

• Jens Ludwig, University of Chicago

• Harold Pollack, University of Chicago