The Suppliers Of America's Gun Violence Epidemic

NEW DATA REVEALS THE 2% OF U.S. GUN DEALERS SUBJECT TO THE ATF'S DEMAND LETTER 2 PROGRAM

The Demand Letter 2 program was created to identify firearms dealers that sell the most crime guns and to aid law enforcement investigations.

Understanding the source of America’s gun violence epidemic is essential to building effective solutions to prevent it.

Due to laws passed at the behest of the gun industry that have shielded important information from public view, it has been nearly impossible to understand how, and from where, guns are funneled into the criminal market.

That's why, in an effort to better understand how guns make their way from the legal marketplace to ultimately being used in crime, Brady has used Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to gain access to the list of federal firearm dealers subject to the ATF's Demand Letter 2 (DL2) program.

Absent complete transparency into the gun industry’s role in supplying firearms that fuel our nation’s gun violence epidemic, the list of dealers subject to the ATF's DL2 program is the best indicator we have as to which gun dealers are fueling crime.

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THIS DATA IS THE CLEAREST LOOK WE’VE HAD IN TWO DECADES AS TO WHICH GUN DEALERS SELL THE MOST CRIME GUNS.

WHAT IS THE DEMAND LETTER 2 PROGRAM?

The ATF's Demand Letter 2 (DL2) program includes dealers that have:

  • sold at least 25 guns recovered in crime during the past year;
  • that were found to have taken less than three years to make it from point of sale to being recovered in that crime;
  • and were traced by law enforcement.

These behaviors are considered by the ATF to be indicators of firearms trafficking. Dealers in the program are required to submit information on used firearms that they acquire to assist the Bureau in more efficiently tracing recovered guns —information that other dealers are not required to submit.

KEY FINDINGS

  • There were 1,199 dealers in the DL2 program in 2022
  • There were 1,323 dealers in the DL2 program in 2023
  • There were 1,520 unique dealers in the DL2 program from 2022-2023
  • Pawnbroker dealers are 3x more likely to be in the DL2 program than retail dealers
  • A dealer’s business practices have a direct correlation with the number of crime guns traced back to them
  • States with weaker gun sale regulations have more dealers in the DL2 program relative to their population
  • A significant number of dealers who received DL2s in 2022 or 2023 were also identified as top suppliers of crime guns two decades ago
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Recommendations

If America is to reduce gun violence and gun trafficking, information on the sources of crime guns must be made public once again. Transparency is the only way that the public can accurately understand the sources of gun violence in their communities and allow policymakers to develop targeted strategies to reduce gun violence.

  • Repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which ATF interprets to block public access to most data on the paths of trafficked firearms and dealers who are top sources of crime guns

  • Publish more trace reports. Where state law allows, adopt a robust gun dealer inspection program to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local gun laws.

  • Study the associations between state and local gun safety laws and the number of DL2 dealers in those jurisdictions; and the effect any voluntary reforms adopted by a DL2 dealer has on their likelihood to continue to qualify for DL2s.

  • Interpret the Tiahrt Amendment’s restrictions more narrowly to allow for the release of aggregated data on top source dealers of crime guns in annual reports and in response to FOIA requests.

  • Implement responsible firearms procurement practices.

  • Adopt and implement voluntary reforms shown to reduce gun trafficking and violence, including, but not limited to, those outlined in Brady’s Gun Dealer Code of Conduct. Distributors, importers, and manufacturers— monitor distribution chains to ensure they are only selling guns to dealers that have adopted safe business practices and are not disproportionately supplying the criminal market.

Key Terms

Important terms to know

  • A gun that has been recovered by law enforcement after being used in a crime, that is suspected of being used in a crime, and/or that of which its possession itself is a crime.

  • The length of time between the date of a firearm’s last known purchase to the date of its recovery in a crime.

  • Data that links a gun used in crime and recovered by law enforcement to the location of its first retail sale.

  • Authored in 2003 at the gun industry’s behest, the Tiahrt Amendment aims to prohibit the use of federal funds to make raw trace data available to the public.

  • Review the Data

    Explore data of all 1,520 unique dealers in the Demand Letter 2 program from 2022-2023.

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  • Review 2022 Demand Letter 2s

    Explore all Demand Letter 2s sent to federal firearm licensees in 2022.

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  • Review 2023 Demand Letter 2s

    Explore all Demand Letter 2s sent to federal firearm licensees in 2023.

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