Multi-city, Multi-method Underground Gun Market Study: A Qualitative Understanding of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

As part of the University of Chicago Crime Lab’s multi-city, multi-method illegal gun market study, researchers across sites have undertaken interviews with gun offenders and ethnographic community interviews to shed light on the underground gun market with a focus on illegal transactions, pricing, and motivations among those most at-risk for violence. This panel features findings from jail surveys and ethnographic work conducted in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. By conducting parallel inquiries in several cities, we not only hope to identify frictions in the particular markets for illicit firearms transactions but also to develop a sense of how much variability exists in the supply of firearms in these underground gun markets and to what extent we can develop generic approaches to disrupting gun markets in and across urban environments. In addition to focusing on the supply-side of the market, we do believe strategies for increasing the legal risks to would-be shooters and other plausible “demand-side” interventions may emerge as a result of this work.

Sub Unit

• Area I. Causes of Crime and Criminal Behavior / 6. Neighborhood Effects and Urban Change

Individual Presentations

• A Qualitative Understanding of LA's Illegal Gun Market - Natalie Pifer, University of California, Irvine; Kelsie Chesnut, University of California, Irvine; Melissa Barragan, University of California, Irvine

• Chicago’s Underground Gun Market: Interviews with Cook County Gun Offenders - Harold Pollack, University of Chicago

• An Ethnographic Assessment of Illegal Gun Markets Among Boston Street Gangs - David Hureau, Harvard University

• A Qualitative Exploration of Gun Use, Identity, and Legal Consciousness - Laura Zlotowski, University of California, Irvine; Nicole Sherman, University of California, Irvine; Keramet Reiter, University of California, Irvine

Discussant

• Sudhir Venkatesh, Columbia University