The Social and Passive Nature of Illegal Gun Transactions in Los Angeles

• In Event: Understanding the Underground Gun Market: How Violent Offenders Obtain Guns and Ammunition in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston

Abstract

California—and the City of Los Angeles in particular—has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country, both in terms of their punitiveness and restriction of access. In part because of the punitiveness of California criminal laws, Los Angeles has a large population of restricted possessors (e.g., felons). This population, however, is also likely to be one with strong incentives to obtain firearms for many reasons related to safety concerns. The current study was designed to examine the ways in which gun offenders and members of the communities in which they live navigate the complex legal landscape around gun sales in Los Angeles. Interviews with 140 gun offenders in LA County jails highlighted the importance of trust and social networks in a market that is saturated with illegal purchase opportunities. Most importantly, we found that a non-trivial proportion of purchases discussed by our respondents were not initiated by the buyers but were described as passive transactions arising from chance opportunities encountered during the course of their routine activities. We believe these findings have important policy implications.

Authors

• George Tita, University of California, Irvine

• Keramet Reiter, University of California, Irvine

• Natalie A. Pifer, University of California, Irvine

• Jason Gravel, University of California, Irvine

• Nicole Sherman, University of California, Irvine

• Melissa Barragan, University of California, Irvine

• Kelsie Chestnut, University of California, Irvine