Thousands of guns illegally leave Alabama every year. Here's where they go.

By Daniel Schmidt

Oct. 27, 2022

AUBURN, Ala. - According to tracing data recently published by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), disparities in firearm legislation between states such as Alabama and other regions in the United States continue to have an impact at the street level.

In 2021, 9,649 of 361,587, or 2.7%, domestic traces run by the ATF were sourced from Alabama. Comparatively, in 2021, Alabama’s estimated population of 5,039,877 made up just over 1.5% of the U.S.’s 326.7 million citizens.

Although the vast majority of those traces were recovered in Alabama, this disparity between the number of traces and the population from which those firearms originated is indicative of a broader issue.

While a sizeable number of traces came from states that share direct a direct border with Alabama, there were several states that sourced hundreds of firearms from the Yellowhammer State: California, Illinois and New York.

Outside of the substantial populations that reside in those states, legislation enacted by Democratic-led governments in previous years to curb gun violence has caused criminal syndicates to turn to firearms from states with less-stringent restrictions.

In Republican-led states, particularly those like Alabama in the South, those under the age of 21 may purchase rifles and shotguns, unlike in California, Illinois and New York, no waiting times to receive a firearm after successfully completing a background check and no limits on magazine capacity.

Without such restrictions, states like Alabama have become desirable locations for criminals to source weapons that they use to maintain control over illicit trades such as the distribution of narcotics and human trafficking.

"The message is that New York's laws, which require permits for handguns, are working. The bad guys aren't even trying to buy guns in New York,” former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in 2016. “They know they have to get them from gun traffickers or travel to other states with weaker gun laws.”