Posted by Phil Lee (216.250.238.180) on August 29, 2003 at 17:03:
Let me point to several problems in your gun trace data from the ATF that you might not understand. First, ATF gun trace data should not be used for statistical analysis. In particular "... samples of guns submitted by law enforcement agencies for tracing by BATF are not a representative sample of guns used in crime, while guns that are successfully traced are even less representative. Trace samples therefore cannot be used to infer how crime guns in general are acquired by criminals, where criminals get guns, what share of crime guns had out-of-state origins, or what share of crime guns had been manufactured within any given period in the past." (from Gary Kleck , "BATF GUN TRACE DATA AND THE ROLE OF ORGANIZED GUN TRAFFICKING IN SUPPLYING GUNS TO CRIMINALS," St. Louis University Public Law Review Gun Control Symposium vol 18, no. 1, 1999: 23)