The Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund has published a new “Straight to the Source” report offering one of the clearest pictures yet of the top cities where crime guns originate nationwide. The report follows Everytown’s previous reporting naming the top manufacturers of crime guns and outlining how gun dealers made at least $695 million selling guns that were trafficked and recovered from crime scenes.
Using city-level crime gun trace data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the report identifies the 25 U.S. cities where licensed gun dealers sold the highest number of firearms later recovered and traced in criminal investigations between 2017 and 2021. Together, gun dealers in these cities were linked to 209,748 crime guns — roughly 14 percent of all crime guns recovered and traced nationwide during that period.
For years, the public has had little access to detailed information about which gun dealers are repeatedly supplying firearms that later show up at crime scenes. Congressional restrictions have largely blocked ATF from publicly releasing dealer-level crime gun trace data, leaving communities in the dark about which local sellers may be fueling gun trafficking. This report offers a rare look into where those guns are coming from, and why local leaders may need to step in as federal oversight continues to weaken.
KEY FINDINGS FROM THE REPORT
According to the report, Houston ranked as the nation’s top source city for crime guns. Between 2017 and 2021, dealers in Houston sold 22,799 firearms later recovered and traced in criminal investigations, the highest of any city in the country. Houston was followed by Las Vegas (15,944), Phoenix (14,612), Memphis (12,966), and San Antonio (12,875).
Population size alone does not explain why these cities account for so many crime guns. The report found no clear correlation between a city’s population or number of licensed gun dealers and its crime gun totals. Instead, it notes that a small number of bad actor dealers operating within each city are likely driving a disproportionate share of crime gun recoveries.
The report offers Jonesboro, Georgia, as one of the clearest examples of one dealer’s outsized impact. With an adult population of just 4,000 residents and an average of nine licensed gun dealers active from 2017 to 2021, Jonesboro ranked 11th nationwide for crime guns. The report points to one former Jonesboro dealer, Arrowhead Pawn, as a likely driver. Authorities previously traced more than 1,700 crime guns back to the store, which had been repeatedly cited for violations during ATF inspections before closing in 2023. Employees reportedly told inspectors they were too “busy” and “got distracted by other customers” to properly conduct firearm sales.
SIGNS of ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING
The report notes that one of the strongest trafficking indicators is “time-to-crime” (TTC), the amount of time between when a firearm is sold by a dealer and when it is recovered in connection with a crime. Law enforcement generally considers a TTC of less than three years to be a strong indicator of trafficking.
Across the top source cities, many median TTCs fell well below that threshold:
| Source City | Crime Guns Recovered 2017-2021 | Median TTC (years) |
|---|---|---|
| Houston, TX | 22,799 | 1.9 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 15,944 | 2.2 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 14,612 | 1.4 |
| Memphis, TN | 12,966 | 1.4 |
| San Antonio, TX | 12,875 | 1.9 |
| Jacksonville, FL | 11,014 | 3.4 |
| Tucson, AZ | 9,595 | 2.6 |
| Louisville, KY | 8,484 | 1.9 |
| Indianapolis, IN | 8,347 | 2.4 |
| Columbus, OH | 7,667 | 2.4 |
| Jonesboro, GA | 7,592 | N/A |
| Dallas, TX | 7,526 | 2.3 |
| Tampa, FL | 6,742 | 3.0 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 6,411 | 1.8 |
| Baton Rouge, LA | 6,312 | 2.5 |
| Columbia, SC | 6,063 | 1.7 |
| Miami, FL | 5,819 | 4.2 |
| Orlando, FL | 5,404 | 2.4 |
| Albuquerque, NM | 5,267 | N/A |
| Charlotte, NC | 5,226 | 1.7 |
| St. Louis, MO | 5,048 | 1.3 |
| Mesa, AZ | 4,879 | 3.3 |
| Tulsa, OK | 4,677 | 2.6 |
| Cincinnati, OH | 4,318 | 1.8 |
| Wichita, KS | 4,161 | 2.4 |
The report also found that in many cases, the person found with the firearm was not the original purchaser, another indicator often associated with straw purchasing or illegal resale.
According to state-level ATF data cited in the report, in every state containing one of these source cities, at least half of recovered crime guns were originally sold by a dealer within 25 miles of where they were later recovered. Nearly a third were recovered within just 10 miles of purchase.
the report’s recommendations
The report notes that because 96 percent of crime guns begin as part of a licensed dealer’s inventory, gun dealers play a central role in preventing firearms from being diverted into illegal markets. It outlines several warning signs dealers should be trained to identify, including repeat purchases of similar firearm models, bulk purchases over short periods of time, large cash payments, and buyers coordinating with another person during the sale.
In the face of the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks and gun industry handouts on the federal level, the report urges state and local governments to strengthen oversight of gun dealers by improving crime gun tracing, analyzing trafficking data, holding bad actor dealers accountable, and ensuring public funds do not go to dealers linked to trafficking patterns.
To that end, the report identifies 155 gun dealers in the top 25 source cities “who may warrant a closer look by law enforcement or regulatory authorities.” These dealers are still active but were previously subject to an ATF program designed to monitor dealers who had 25 or more crime guns traced back to them in a calendar year with a TTC of three years or less. The Trump administration quietly ended that ATF program last year, making it necessary for state and local authorities to fill the gap and protect their communities from bad actor dealers.