December 10, 2008

A study obtained by the Washington Post says Virginia's gun laws are lax, and along with nine other states supply a majority of the weapons used in crimes in other states.

The ATF has all the records, then they will go back and find the gun store that it was bought from and then they notify the agency who has the gun in their possession where it was bought," said Lt.Gary Pleasants of the Charlottesville Police.

Compiled from annual crime gun data from the ATF, a study done by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, says that ten states including Virginia supplied 57% of the guns used in crimes in other states, many of them stolen, but almost all were initially purchased legally.

"Normally when we recover the guns we find that those guns were stolen, that they were legally owned. Stolen in a burglary or stolen from a car or a straw purchase was done," said Pleasants.

The study blames lax gun laws and says the ten states had higher rates of handgun killings, as well as fatal shootings of police officers. Using guns stolen from homes, stores, or cars and bought through a practice called a straw purchase, a practice familiar to police.

"Yes unfortunately we see that quite often. A straw purchase is when someone who cannot legally purchase a gun gets someone who can legally purchase a gun to buy that gun for them," said Pleasants.

Police say that gun owners can be part of the solution, by making it harder for criminals to gain access to them.

"Yes we'd like people obviously who can legally own guns to take care of them. Don't leave them in your cars, when you can lock them up, do so. Keep your serial numbers recorded. But just take care of them, don't make it easy for someone to take them," said Pleasants.

And according to that report over 2,000 guns were sold in Virginia that were used in crimes in other states last year.