A study by researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center has found that 1.3 percent of the licensed gun
retailers in the state sell 39.4 percent of the handguns used in violent
crime, and that those retailers share similar profiles -- pawn shops and
retailers with a high rate of background-check failure are at higher risk
for selling a handgun that will be used in a criminal act.

While both sides of the gun control debate have agreed that a few retailers
were responsible for a high percentage of crime guns, many dismissed it as
simply a result of sales volume -- large volume retailers would surely sell
more crime guns than their smaller counterparts. The UC Davis study,
published in the December issue of Injury Prevention, refutes that belief.
It also shows that there is no correlation between crime gun sales and a
community's social and demographic characteristics or neighborhood crime
rates.

"We hope our work helps law enforcement and community agencies better
allocate their resources, allowing them to set up programs that deal with
problem retailers and keep guns out of the hands of those people who will
use them in acts of violence," said Garen Wintemute, professor of
epidemiology and preventative medicine and director of the Violence
Prevention Research Program at UC Davis Medical Center.

Wintemute and his team used California Department of Justice records to
identify all handguns sold by retailers in the study between 1996 and 2000
and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gun-tracing data to
determine which of these guns had been recovered by law enforcement in the
United States or elsewhere, and traced by September 30, 2003. They used the
data to look for factors at the retailer level and within the community
that were associated with frequent and disproportionate sales of handguns
later used in violent and firearm-related crime.

The study comes at a time of heightened interest in gun control and gun
manufacturer/retailer liability, with city leaders in nearby San Francisco
squaring off against gun advocates over a new municipal ban on handguns and
new federal government policies offering liability protection to gun
retailers. Also, while the state homicide rate has fallen over the last 10
years, the California Attorney General's office reported guns are still the
most common weapons for homicides in the state.

"The next step is to look at how we can apply the California profile to the
national scene," said Wintemute. "We know that nationally just over 1
percent of retailers sell nearly 60 percent of crime guns. If similar
retailer profiles are discovered, then law enforcement can begin to address
national crime gun sales more efficiently."

This research was supported with a grant from the National Institute of
Justice, with preliminary work supported by the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.

The UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program is a multi-disciplinary
effort researching the causes and prevention of serious violence with an
emphasis on firearm violence. In addition to the handgun retailer study,
other recent projects include: evaluations of the effectiveness of denying
firearm purchase to previously convicted criminals, the relationship
between gun design and gun violence, the effectiveness of gun buyback
programs, and the risk for a violent death associated with the purchase of
a handgun. Researchers work actively to inform the public and government
leaders about the nature and prevention of violence and the evaluation of
violence prevention policies. More information is available at
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/vprp.

UC Davis Health System is an integrated, academic health system
encompassing UC Davis School of Medicine, the 530-bed acute-care hospital
and clinical services of UC Davis Medical Center, and the 800-member
physician group known as UC Davis Medical Group.