Unlike some states that have seen a surge in violence from guns brought in from other states, nearly half of firearms used in California crimes are traced to the Golden State, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In 2014, the majority of crime guns traced in CA were sourced from within state: https://t.co/ar2RpOPXcu pic.twitter.com/KLR7JBzNIA
— ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) December 3, 2015
The ATF, conducting a trace of the two rifles and two handguns used in Wednesday’s potentially terrorist killings in San Bernardino, said Thursday that California supplied 15,169 of the 34,890 firearms recovered in crimes and traced in 2014.
Some 545 came from San Bernardino.
By comparison, Illinois, which is in the midst of a crime spree, especially in Chicago, has blasted neighboring states for letting guns come across the border. In the newly-released 2014 data, of 11,568 guns traced in Illinois, only 3,590 came from the state.
In California, pistols were the dominant guns traced by ATF, at 15,570.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
