Mayors Against Illegal Guns & The Crime Report & The White House – 2010-11-17 21:54:52
http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org
Obama Appoints ‘Top Cop’ to Control Flow of Illegal Guns
Mayors Against Illegal Guns
WASHINGTON (November 16, 2010) — Thousands of supporters joined over 500 Mayors from across the country in calling on President Obama to nominate a top cop on illegal guns. And yesterday, President Obama answered our call, nominating a Andrew Traver as the newest Director to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives — a position that has been vacant for four years.
Since the Senate still has to confirm Mr. Traver, our fight isn’t over yet. But it’s clear that when supporters like you come together and speak out against illegal guns, our leaders in Washington pay attention.
Thank you for taking action and urging President Obama to take this critical step. Let’s keep up this powerful momentum and keep our communities safe.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Obama Chooses Andrew Traver To Head Federal Firearms Agency
The Crime Report
WASHINGTON (November 16, 2010) — Andrew Traver, agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago, has been chosen by President Obama to head the agency. He joined the agency in 1987, working from 2001 to 2004 as agent in charge in San Francisco and from 2000 to 2001 in New Orleans. Traver is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.
ATFE has been headed on an interim basis by Kenneth Melson, a former prosecutor. The agency has had a series of interim directors since Carl Truscott resigned in 2006 amid an investigation into questionable spending on a new headquarters and other items.
President Obama Announces
More Key Administration Posts
The White House Office of the Press Secretary
WASHINGTON (November 15, 2010) — Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:
Daniel L. Shields III, Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam, Department of State
Joseph M. Torsella, United States Representative to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform
Andrew Traver, Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives at the Department of Justice
President Obama said, “These outstanding men and women are welcomed and valued additions to this Administration. I am confident that they will greatly serve the American people in their new roles and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”…
Andrew Traver, Nominee for
Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms, and Explosives
Andrew Traver is currently the Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE) in the US Department of Justice.
Since 2004, Mr. Traver has overseen all investigations of the illicit use and trafficking of firearms and explosives and the commission of arson, and directed all ATF law enforcement programs within the state of Illinois.
From 2001 to 2004, he served as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the San Francisco Field Division of ATFE, where he supervised criminal enforcement offices in the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, California.
From 2000 to 2001, Mr. Traver served as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the New Orleans Field Division of ATFE, where he coordinated all criminal enforcement efforts throughout the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. From 1998 to 2000, he was a criminal investigator in the Office of Inspection in ATF Headquarters in Washington, DC.
From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Traver served as a Group Supervisor in the Philadelphia Field Division of ATF. In 1987, he joined ATF and began his career as a special agent in the Chicago Field Division. Mr. Traver served as a board member of the Illinois Drug Enforcement Officers Association and the Great Lakes Law Enforcement Executives Advisory Committee. He was also a member of the Returning Combat Veterans Research Project.
Mr. Traver holds a B.A. degree from Northern Illinois University, where he graduated summa cum laude. He is also a Naval Officer Candidate School graduate and served aboard the USS Benjamin Stoddert in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Groundbreaking Report Shows
Strong Connection between
Weak Gun Laws and
Interstate Gun Trafficking
Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Report Confirms that States with Weakest Gun Laws are the Top Sources of Guns Recovered in Out-of-State Crimes
Ten States — Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, and Georgia — Continue to Supply Interstate Crime Guns at the Highest Rates and New “Time-to-Crime” Data Confirm These States Source a Greater Proportion of Guns Likely to Have Been Illegally Trafficked
www.TracetheGuns.orgFeatures Interactive Maps and 50-State Analysis of Crime Gun Exports
(September 27, 2010) — The bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today released, Trace the Guns: the Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Gun Trafficking, a report analyzing 2009 crime gun trace data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
The report, which examines previously unreleased data provided by ATF to Mayors Against Illegal Guns, shows that states with weak gun laws are disproportionately the top sources of guns recovered in out-of-state crimes.
The report shows that states with weak gun laws disproportionately supply guns recovered in out-of-state crimes. In a first-of-its-kind analysis, the report also finds that that states with weak gun laws are a source of a greater proportion of guns recovered in crimes shortly after their initial purchase — a measure considered by ATF to be a key indicator of illegal trafficking. The report is available at http://www.tracetheguns.org/report.pdf.
“Gun trace data is an invaluable tool for the over 500 mayors in our coalition along with the police chiefs and prosecutors they work with every day,” said coalition co-chair and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “Our report reveals that states with weak gun laws are the top sources of guns recovered in out-of-state crimes.
The stakes are high: 12,000 people per year are murdered with guns in the United States. There is urgent work to be done by policy makers at all levels to strengthen enforcement of the laws we have on the books, and to close gaps in state and federal law.”
“Our coalition has been fighting for access to trace data from the beginning,” said Mayors Against Illegal Guns co-chair Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston. “With the release of this report, multi-year trends in trace data confirm that the illegal market for guns is driven, in part, by weak gun laws. It’s a wake-up call to state legislators and Washington to close gaps in the laws that give criminals easy access to guns.”
According to the 2009 trace data analyzed in the report, ten states accounted for nearly half — 49% — of the guns that crossed state lines before being recovered in crimes.
To make more accurate comparisons between states, the report also studied the rate at which certain states “export” crime guns by controlling for population. The ten states with the highest crime gun export rates in 2009 were: Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, and Georgia.
These ten states also are the source of a greater proportion of guns that were recovered in crimes less than two years after their initial purchase — a measure known as the gun’s “time-to-crime.”
According to ATF, a time-to-crime of less than two years is a strong indicator the gun was illegally trafficked. To determine each states’ propensity to be the source of short time-to-crime guns, this report analyzed previously unreleased time-to-crime data provided by ATF to Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
To understand why some states supply more interstate crime guns, the coalition’s report examined the relationship between state gun laws designed to deter illegal firearms trafficking and a state’s export rate and guns with a short time-to-crime.
The ten gun laws examined were:
(1) state criminal penalties for straw purchasers;
(2) state criminal penalties for falsifying purchaser information;
(3) state criminal penalties for failing to conduct dealer background checks;
(4) background checks for all handgun sales at gun shows;
(5) purchase permits for all handgun sales;
(6) gun possession by violent misdemeanants;
(7) local law enforcement discretion to deny concealed carry permits;
(8) reporting lost or stolen guns to law enforcement;
(9) local control of firearms regulation; and
(10) state inspections of gun dealers.
This analysis confirmed the conclusion in the coalition’s 2008 report, The Movement of Illegal Guns in America, that states with weak gun laws are more often the source of the guns recovered in out-of-state crimes.
This report also reveals that states with weak gun laws supply a greater proportion of guns with a short time-to-crime. The ten states that supply guns at the highest rates have, on average, 1.4 of the ten laws designed to deter illegal trafficking in place, compared to 8.2 in the ten states that supply interstate crime guns at the lowest rates.
About ATF Trace Data
Trace the Guns examined data that was published by the ATF and data that was provided by ATF directly to Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Until 2007, this data was not available because Congress had implemented restrictions, known as the “Tiahrt Amendments,” that prohibited ATF from releasing crime gun trace data. However, in 2007 and 2009, after national campaigns by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and over 30 police organizations, Congress relaxed these restrictions on sharing crime gun trace data.
Although there are still significant restrictions on the use of ATF crime gun trace data, the recent reforms allowed ATF to provide to Mayors Against Illegal Guns the data set that formed the basis for this report.
About TraceTheGuns.org
In conjunction with the publication of Trace the Guns, Mayors Against Illegal Guns is launching a new interactive website: www.TraceTheGuns.org.
With more than 5,000 data points on the movement of illegal guns, the website features interactive, state-by-state maps that show at a glance each state’s crime gun exports, imports and time-to-crime trends. It also provides information about states that have passed laws designed to curb illegal gun trafficking and how those laws affect crime gun exports.
About Mayors Against Illegal Guns
Since its inception in April 2006, Mayors Against Illegal Guns has grown from 15 mayors to over 500. Mayors Against Illegal Guns has united the nation’s mayors around these common goals: protecting their communities by holding gun offenders and irresponsible gun dealers accountable, demanding access to trace data that is critical to law enforcement efforts to combat illegal gun trafficking, and working with legislators to fix gaps, weaknesses and loopholes in the law that make it far too easy for criminals and other prohibited purchasers to get guns.
Contact:
Mayor Bloomberg’s Press Office, (212) 788-2958
Mayor Menino’s Press Office, (617) 635-446
