More than 68,000 illegally trafficked firearms in the U.S. came through unlicensed dealers who aren’t required to perform background checks, representing 54% of the illegally trafficked firearms in the U.S. between 2017 and 2021, reports the Associated Press. The guns were utilized in 368 shooting cases, which are hard to investigate because unlicensed dealers aren't required to keep records, making it difficult to trace the weapons to their original buyers.
The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) report examining firearm trafficking is the first in-depth one in 20 years. Firearm trafficking is when guns are purposefully put into the illegal market. The report also shows that the recipients of trafficked firearms were people who had previously been convicted of a felony in almost 60% of the cases. Trafficked guns were used to commit additional crimes in almost 25% of the cases. People who got guns through unlicensed dealers bought 20 weapons on average. The ATF also investigated 3,400 unlicensed dealers during the five years documented in the report.