Gangs Look To The Suburbs For Guns

Both the Tribune and Sun-Times report on a new study commissioned for the Chicago Police Department by the University of Chicago Crime Lab that shows where street gangs obtain their guns.

The study, gathered from data provided to the Police Department by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, showed that most of the guns came from the Cook County suburbs; the Sun-Times noted that one out of every five came from a gun shop in south suburban Riverdale. It’s believed that the guns were largely purchased by straw buyers with no criminal records.

The study also contradicts the perception that most of the guns being obtained by local street gangs come from the so-called “Dixie Pipeline” of gun traffickers in the South. The U of C study found that 42.3 percent of the guns seized by Chicago police came from Illinois. Cook County gun dealers accounted for 45 percent of that number.

U of C Crime Lab director Roseanna Ander told the Sun-Times the study can help law enforcement agencies crack down on dealers like Chuck’s Gun Shop (the Riverdale guns shop responsible for most of the sales), but admitted they would have a long row to hoe given the powerful gun lobby and a federal enforcement policy that lacks bite.

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