Episode Description
New reporting from The Trace has shed light on an important question in the gun violence prevention space: Why are firearms sold by certain retailers showing up in criminal investigations at disproportionately high rates?
In this week’s episode, we take a deep dive into data connecting California-based firearm retailer Turner’s Outdoorsman to a higher-than-expected number of guns later recovered as crime guns. According to reporting by The Trace, firearms sold by the retailer have consistently appeared in crime gun traces at rates that exceed expectations, raising questions about firearm diversion and gun trafficking patterns.
We also examine the concept of “time-to-crime,” a metric developed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that measures the time between a firearm’s initial retail sale and its recovery by law enforcement. A short time-to-crime can be an important indicator for investigators seeking to identify potential straw purchasing schemes and other forms of firearm trafficking.
Joining us is Arron Mendelson, Data Journalist at The Trace, who walks us through the reporting, explains how crime gun tracing data is analyzed, and discusses what these findings may reveal about the movement of firearms from legal sales into criminal activity. We also explore the limitations of the data, the broader role of gun retailers in preventing firearm diversion, and what policymakers, researchers, and advocates can learn from these trends.
Whether you’re interested in gun violence prevention, firearm trafficking, public safety, criminal justice, or investigative journalism, this conversation provides an in-depth look at how data can help uncover patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Listen now to learn:
- What crime gun tracing data can tell us about firearm trafficking
- Why Turner’s Outdoorsman has drawn attention from researchers and journalists
- How the ATF’s time-to-crime metric works
- What short time-to-crime rates may indicate
- The challenges and limitations of analyzing crime gun data
- What these findings mean for public safety and gun violence prevention efforts