When Mayors Against Illegal Guns issued two reports on the movement of illegal guns in America, the gun control organization rated Nevada as having one of the nation's highest rates of exported firearms used to commit crimes elsewhere.
The first report, relying on 2007 data, placed Nevada ninth with 23.7 guns exported per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 11.3 per capita nationally. Nevada also placed fifth with 867 guns exported per 100,000 background checks by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System compared to 348 per capita nationwide.
The second report, based on 2009 data, also placed Nevada ninth in its rate of gun exports but those exports had grown to 30.6 per 100,000 residents compared to 14.1 per capita nationally. In 2009, Nevada exported barely more guns recovered by law enforcement agencies in other states, 808, than were purchased elsewhere but recovered in this state, 781.
State Exported Crime Guns Per 100,000 Residents 2009
| 1. | Mississippi | 50.3 |
| 2. | West Virginia | 46.8 |
| 3. | Kentucky | 34.9 |
| 4. | Alaska | 33.4 |
| 5. | Alabama | 33.2 |
| 6. | South Carolina | 33 |
| 7. | Virginia | 32.4 |
| 8. | Indiana | 31.3 |
| 9. | Nevada | 30.6 |
| 10. | Georgia | 28.3 |
| | U.S. Average | 14.1 |
Among Nevada's exported guns, 26.8 percent were recovered within two years of the original sale. That compared to 22.6 percent of exported crime guns nationally that were recovered within two years of initial purchase.
Some 36.8 percent of guns found in Nevada in 2009 were imported from other states, compared to a U.S. average of 29.8 percent of recovered guns that were imported.
Among firearms originally purchased in Nevada, law enforcement agencies recovered 3,484 in nearby states from 2006 through 2011, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That included 2,824 found in California.
Many, but not all, of the recovered firearms were used in crimes. It is also possible for a firearm to have changed owners from the time it was originally purchased in Nevada to the time it was used in a crime elsewhere. Yet for tracing purposes, ATF would still credit Nevada as the original source of that weapon.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns is co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. The organization, which includes more than 725 mayors nationwide but none from Nevada, noted in its first report that the Silver State as of 2008 didn't have any of the following state laws: required background checks for all handgun sales at gun shows; required purchase permits for all handgun purchases; required reporting of lost or stolen guns; local control of gun regulations; or provisions for dealer inspections.
In its second report, the organization mentioned five other state laws that Nevada didn't have as of 2010. These included: gun bans against violent offenders guilty of misdemeanors; giving local law enforcement agencies discretion to deny concealed carry permits; prosecution of individuals who buy firearms for others; prosecution of those who falsify purchaser information; and prosecution of firearms dealers who fail to conduct background checks of prospective buyers.
Nevada is one of only 12 states that doesn't have any of those 10 laws, according to the organization. The others are Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia. New Jersey and New York, on the other end of the spectrum, are the only states with all 10 of those laws.
But Nevada does give counties limited authority to regulate firearms, which Clark County exercises through an ordinance that requires residents to register pistols with Metro Police within 72 hours of receipt of such guns. The county also requires a 72-hour cooling off period before a dealer will deliver the pistol to the purchaser. Pistols, under those ordinances, are defined as firearms capable of being concealed that can be aimed and fired with one hand.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns said in its initial report that states requiring background checks for all handgun sales at gun shows had only 5.7 crime gun exports per 100,000 residents compared to 13 per 100,000 in states that didn't have those requirements. Similarly, the report found that crime gun exports were also considerably higher in states that didn't have any of the other laws Mayors Against Illegal Guns is advocating to reduce gun violence.
"The key finding of this report is that states that supply crime guns at the highest rates have comparatively weak gun regulations," the organization concluded. "This association strongly suggests that gun traffickers favor these states as sources."
